are revealed.

Some suggestions are: the opening

sequence of Spirited Away, the scene in which WALL-E
meets EVE in WALL-E, the sequence in Bolt when Bolt
and Mittens meet Rhino, and the
short Luxo Jr. You might also have
your students compare the
enchanted objects in Beauty and the
Beast with their human
manifestations. How do the
animators give the same personality
to each? In contrast, how do the
animators of Coraline show the
differences between Coralines real
parents and her other parents?
Activity Three
IMAGINING
ACTION
C
el animation is the most familiar
type of animation, but a good
animator can bring clay models,
sand, paper, puppets, or pins to life.
Shapes or figures are cut out and photographed
against a backlight for silhouette animation or
arranged and shot from above to create collage
animation. A more three-dimensional effect can be
achieved by using stop-motion photography to
animate movable figures made of clay, wood, or other
materials.
In the two types of animation called time-lapse
photography and pixilation, a camera is set to snap
one frame at regular intervals. Time-lapse compresses
time, reducing the blooming of a flower, for instance,
to a few seconds of screen time. Pixilation works in a
similar manner, but with actors performing in real
time. When the film is played back, the action appears
jerky, something like an old silent movie when it is
projected at the speed of sound movies.
Animated films can also be made by drawing or
scratching directly on the film, painting scenes on
glass, moving wire-thin black pins on a white pinboard
or even by using the photocopying machine.
No matter what the material, each step of an
animated film is worked out beforehand on
storyboards, a representation of a film in outline form,
using sketches, small drawings, and captions. Since every
second of a typical animated film involves 12 to 24
changes (more than 50,000 visuals for a 70-minute
film), it is too expensive and time-consuming to
complete an entire animation sequence and then scrap
it. Even if the animator is not telling a story but has an
abstract design in mind, he or she plans in detail the
progression of images and how they can be combined
to achieve the desired effect.The storyboard is an
indispensable tool for the animator and is revised often.
Comic strips, with their captions, close-ups, long
shots, and other storytelling techniques, are similar to
storyboards and can help your students understand
the format. Encourage them to study comic strips or
graphic novels to learn the components of visual
storytelling. Discuss the way pacing, dialogue, color,
line, shape, and composition
create moods, convey emotion
and move the story forward.
Consider the way movement is
depicted in a still drawing. Then
have students storyboard the
key moments in a sequence
from one of their own stories
or from a selected animated
film, using some of the
techniques they have studied.
Supplementary Activity:
Show students a sequence or short
film made without the use of cels.
Some suggestions from the list at
the beginning of this teachers guide
are Crac (pastel-on-paper drawings),
Closed Mondays, Creature Comforts, A
Close Shave, and Wallace & Gromit in
The Curse of theWere-Rabbit (all four done in clay), The Street
(washes of watercolor and ink), The Sand Castle (sand),
Mindscape (pinboard), Neighbours (pixilation), Pas de Deux
(optical printing), and Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox (stop-
motion puppets). Have students create a short animated film
using an alternative medium like one of the above, or by using
puppets, dolls, silhouettes, shadows, or construction paper.
Activity Four
MOVEMENT in
THREE DIMENSIONS
U
sing computer generated imagery (CGI), an
animator can reproduce the three-dimensional
effects of stop-motion photography or the two-
dimensional effects of hand-drawn animation. Instead
of pen and ink, paint, clay, paper, or cels, computer
animators use a monitor, computer tools, and
software that includes complex mathematical
formulas. Rather than sketching out characters and
objects like traditional animators, computer animators
build a three-dimensional model that can be viewed
from different angles. CGI can imitate camera moves
and angles that would be difficult or impossible to
achieve with traditional cel animation: the swoop from
the chandelier to the dancing couple in the ballroom
scene of Beauty and the Beast, for example. Because of
its ability to mimic reality, CGI is also used to produce
special effects in live-action films. CGI can create
digital tears or blood, embellish backgrounds and sets,
make a small crowd seem large, or touch up the
actors wrinkles and flaws.
The 1982 film Tron, which combined live action
with animation, was the first film to use CGI on a
large scale. When the Academy instituted the Best
Animated Feature Film award in 2001, the first
CREATING
MOVEMENT
FRAME by FRAME
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Oscar went to the CGI-animated film Shrek. Early computer

graphics looked unappealingly flat, but recent improvements in
technology make it possible to create more realistic surfaces. The
most difficult task facing the special effects animators who created
the character Gollum for the live-action film The Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers was developing new computer codes to provide the
creature with translucent, lifelike skin.
Having the use of a computer does not necessarily mean less work
for the animator. It took four years to complete Toy Story, the first
completely CGI-animated feature; coincidentally, it took the same
amount of time for the Disney studio to finish SnowWhite and the
Seven Dwarfs. CGI may never completely replace traditional animation,
because some animators still prefer the latters personal touch and
slight irregularities. For others, using CGI can be compared to using a
word processor instead of a typewriter for writing, in that the new
tool allows the animator to manipulate ideas and images with greater
freedom.
CGI and stop-motion animated films are sometimes also referred
to as 3D films because those techniques create a more lifelike illusion
of three-dimensional characters and backgrounds. Many animated
features are now stereoscopic films films with 3D effects. Through
the use of digital equipment, specially designed movie screens and
polarized lenses, viewers are fooled into experiencing a movie as a
three-dimensional space rather than as images on a flat screen.
Part A. Have your students compare hand-drawn or stop-motion
animation to CGI animation, using selections from the following groups
of films. SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs, Lilo & Stitch,The Secret of Kells,
and Fantasia employ hand-drawn cel animation. Coraline and Fantastic
Mr. Fox use stop-motion photography. Happy Feet and Up use CGI
animations.You may also have them compare different scenes within a
particular animated film. Most of Beauty and the Beast was drawn on
cels, but the ballroom scene is a good example of early computer
animation. CGI was used to create the stampede scene in The Lion
King, an otherwise hand-drawn film. Ask your students if they notice
differences between CGI and traditional animation. Have them
consider why animators might choose a traditional method of
animation if CGI animation can duplicate traditional effects.
Part B. Each year, an outstanding array of new animated films is
released. Some are especially appropriate for families, some are
appealing to teens, and some are geared toward adult audiences. If you
or the parents of your students feel that some, or even all of this
years nominated films might be inappropriate for viewing by young
people, you can modify this activity. Ask your students to view one of
the films nominated for achievement in animation and analyze it in
terms of how its storytelling, character development, and animation
contributed to the total effect of the film. Students may also view
Academy Award-nominated and -winning films from past years to
complete the exercises. A list of those films appears at the beginning
of this teachers guide.
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2011 AMPAS
ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES
Additional Resources
Acting for Animators: A Complete Guide to Performance Animation
Revised Edition, by Ed Hooks. Heinemann, 2003.
The Animation Book: A Complete Guide to Animated Filmmaking from
Flip-Books to Sound Cartoons to 3-D Animation New Digital
Edition, by Kit Laybourne. Crown, 1998.
Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital
Animator, by Tony White. Focal, 2006.
Animation: From Script to Screen, by Shamus Culhane. St. Martins, 1988.
The Animators Survival Kit Expanded Edition, by Richard Williams.
Faber and Faber, 2009.
Blue Sky:The Art of Computer Animation Featuring Ice Age and Bunny,
by Peter Weishar. Harry N. Abrams, 2002.
Chuck Amuck:The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, by Chuck
Jones. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989.
Clay Animation: American Highlights 1908 to the Present, by Michael
Frierson. Twayne, 1994.
Muybridges Complete Human and Animal Locomotion, by Eadweard
Muybridge. Dover Books, 1979.
Cracking Animation:The Aardman Book of 3-D Animation, by Peter
Lord, and Brian Sibley. Thames & Hudson, 2010.
The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings, by Charles Solomon.
Wings Books, 1994.
The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation, by Frank Thomas and Ollie
Johnston. Hyperion, 1995.
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons
Revised Edition, by Leonard Maltin. New American Library, 1987.
Toy Story:The Art and Making of the Animated Film, by John Lasseter
and Steve Daly. Hyperion, 1995.
SOURCES FOR SHORTANIMATED FILMS
DVDs:
Leonard Maltins Animation Favorites from the National Film
Board of Canada includes Mindscape and Pas de Deux (only
available on VHS)
Collection of 2005 Academy Award Nominated Short Films (also
released in 2006 and 2007)
Pixar Short Films Collection, includes Luxo Jr., Geris Game and
Lifted
And the Winner is (Oscar winning and Nominated Short Films
from the National Film Board of Canada), includes The Danish
Poet, Ryan,Walking, and My Grandmother Ironed the Kings Shirts.
Web Sites:
www.oscars.org for more information about the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
www.filmeducation.org for teaching resources, free education
packets and additional reading from the British Film Institute
memory.loc.gov/ammem/oahtml/oahome.html Includes
samples of very early animated films on repository at the Library
of Congress that can be viewed on the computer.
www.nfb.ca/nfbstore National Film Board of Canada films
Mindscape, Neighbours, Pas de Deux,The Sand Castle,The Street
and Walking
www.aardman.com Creature Comforts, A Close Shave and Wallace &
Gromit inThe Curse of theWere-Rabbit. This site also has pictures and
information about making stop-motion animated films.
www.youtube.com
www.ymiclassroom.com
Dear Educator:
Young Minds Inspired, in cooperation with the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, is proud to present this newest addition to
our series of study guides that focus on different branches of the
Academy. In this guide, students will learn about animation. The kit has
been designed for students in high school English, language arts, visual
arts and communications courses. The activities capitalize on students
natural interest in current films and the excitement generated by the
Academy Awards

. They are designed to teach valuable lessons in

critical thinking.
The Academy, organized in 1927, is a professional honorary
organization composed of more than 6,000 motion picture craftsmen
and women. Its purposes include advancing the art and science of
motion pictures, promoting cooperation among creative leaders for
cultural, educational and technological progress; recognizing
outstanding achievements; and fostering educational activities between
the professional community and the public. Academy members are the
people who create moviesthe cream of the industrys actors,
animators, art directors, cinematographers, costume designers,
directors, film editors, documentarians, make-up artists, composers,
producers, sound- and visual-effects experts and writers.
Please share this material with other teachers in your school.
Although the material is copyrighted, you may make as many
photocopies as necessary to meet your students' needs.
To ensure that you receive future mailings, please contact Randy
Haberkamp at [email protected]. Also, feel free to e-mail
us at [email protected] to comment about the
program at any time. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions.
Sincerely,
Roberta Nusim, Publisher
Teachers Resource Guide
is the only company developing free, innovative
classroom materials that is owned and directed by
award-winning former teachers.Visit our website at
www.ymiclassroom.com to send feedback and download
more free programs.
[ ]
Computer-Generated Image Model
Program Components
1. This instructional guide
2. Four student activity masters in English and Spanish
3. A four-color wall poster for classroom display
4. A response card for teacher comments
Target Audience
This program has been designed for students in
secondary school English, language arts, visual arts, and
communications courses.
Program Objectives
1. To enhance student interest in and knowledge about
the motion picture development and production process
2. To encourage students to use critical thinking as they
learn how animators work
3. To engage students in an exploration of film as an art
form and a medium of communication
4. To help students become more visually literate
Introduction
About the Academy and its Awards
The first Academy Awards were handed out on
May 16, 1929, not long after the advent of talkies.
By 1930, enthusiasm for the ceremonies was so great
that a Los Angeles radio station did a live, one-hour
broadcast, and the Awards have enjoyed broadcast
coverage ever since. The number and types of awards
have grown and changed over the years to keep up with
the development of the motion picture industry. Awards
of MeritOscarsare presented in each (or in
subdivisions) of the following categories: acting,
animation, art direction, cinematography, costume design,
directing, documentary film, film editing, foreign language
film, make-up, music, best picture, short film, sound, visual
effects, and writing. In an age when awards shows seem
as common as nightly news programs, the Academy
Awards are unique because the judgesthe
approximately 6,000 Academy membersare the top
filmmakers from around the world. The question, Who
gets the Oscar? is decided by a true jury of peers. The
awards process provides a wonderful opportunity to
teach your students about the many craft areas and the
many communications techniques that play a part in
creating a motion picture. Filmmaking is by nature a
collaborative process, with each creative area supporting
and being supported by the others. Because our space is
limited, this kit focuses on just one of those areas
animation.
Selecting Films
for Student Viewing
Students may select the films they wish to view for the
following activities, or you may wish to suggest films that
are appropriate.
The following animated feature films have won
Academy Awards, are available on DVD and may be
appropriate for your students: SnowWhite and the Seven
Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1941), Who Framed Roger Rabbit
(1988), Toy Story (1995), Shrek (2001), Spirited Away
(2002), Finding Nemo (2003), Wallace & Gromit in The
Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Happy Feet (2006),
WALL-E (2008), and Up (2009).
Other animated features that have been nominated
for Academy Awards and are available on DVD include:
Beauty and the Beast (1991), Ice Age (2002), Jimmy
Neutron: Boy Genius (2001), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Lilo &
Stitch (2002), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), Treasure
Planet (2002), The Triplets of Belleville (2003), Howls Moving
Castle (2005), Persepolis (2007), Bolt (2008), Coraline
(2009), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and The Secret of Kells
(2009).
Academy Award-nominated and winning short films
available on DVD include: Walking (1969), The Crunch Bird
(1971), Closed Mondays (1974), The Street (1976), The Sand
Castle (1977), Crac (1981), Luxo Jr. (1986), The ManWho
PlantedTrees (1987), Creature Comforts (1990), A Close Shave
(1995), La Maison en Petits Cubes (2008), and Logorama
(2009).
Additional animated films that may be suitable for your
students including the features: Alice inWonderland (1951), Sleeping
Beauty (1959), The Nightmare before Christmas (1993), Princess
Mononoke (1997), The Iron Giant (1999), Chicken Run (2000), and
Waltz with Bashir (2008); and the short films Neighbours (1952),
Pas de Deux (1968), Mindscape (1976), Guard Dog (2004), and
Oktapodi (2008).
Activity One
The ORIGINS
of ANIMATION
F
rom the beginning, animation has been an important
part of film history. Even before the invention of the
motion picture camera, photographer Eadweard
Muybridge used sequential photographs to analyze
animal and human movement. Early 19th century
mechanical devices such as the thaumatrope,
praxinoscope and zoetrope anticipated motion picture
animation by quickly flashing a calibrated sequence of still
pictures past the viewer. These devices took advantage of a
phenomenon called persistence of vision in which the brain reads a
rapid series of images as an unbroken movement. Animated films work
on the same principle. Each frame of an animated film is a separate still
picture, individually exposed. Drawings or props are moved slightly
between exposures, creating an illusion of movement when the film is
projected.
In 1892, mile Reynaud opened his popular Thtre Optique in
Paris, where he projected films that had been drawn directly on
transparent celluloid, a technique that would not be used again until
the 1930s. The trick-films of Parisian magician Georges Mlis mixed
stop-motion and single-frame photography with live-action film for
magical effect. By the early 20th century, animators such as J. Stuart
Blackton and Winsor McCay in the U.S. and mile Cohl in France were
making animated films composed entirely of drawings. Brothers Max
and Dave Fleischer, creators of
Betty Boop, patented the
rotoscope in 1917, enabling
animators to copy the
movement of live action by
tracing filmed live-action
images frame by frame.
Raoul Barr and Bill Nolan
opened the first animation
studio in NewYork in 1914.
Soon studios in NewYork,
California and elsewhere were
producing short films that
screened in theaters before the
main feature. Over the next
few decades, cartoon series
flourished, featuring popular
characters such as Felix the
Cat, Disneys Mickey Mouse,
Walter Lantzs Woody
Woodpecker and Warner Bros.
Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote. In the 1940s, George Pals Puppetoons
represented one of the few examples of commercial animation using
three-dimensional materials.
In 1923, Walt and Roy Disney, Ub Iwerks, and other animators
formed a company that would dominate animation for many years. Not
only did the studios animators produce finely drawn films, but they
emphasized unique, specific characters and movement that revealed the
characters personalities. The Disney studio produced Steamboat Willie
(1928), the first cartoon to synchronize sound with movement, and the
short three-color Technicolor film Flowers and Trees, which won the first
Oscar for animation in 1932. In 1938, SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs,
the first American feature-length animated film, received a Special
Academy Award for significant screen innovation. More than half a
century later, the Walt Disney Company was still breaking new ground:
1991s Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture alongside
four live-action films, a feat that was repeated in 2009, when the
Disney Pixar animated film Up was one of ten Best Picture nominees.
In 1995, Disney released the Pixar production Toy Story, the first
feature-length computer-animated film, which the Academy honored
with a special award to its creator John Lasseter.
Animated and live-action films have in common such basic film
devices as scripts, camera moves, close-ups and long shots. Although
many people think of animation as limited to fantasy or to childrens
stories, its also an effective technique for filmmakers dealing with more
complex, adult issues and themes. The 2008 animated feature Waltz
with Bashir, for example, uses animation to explore soldiers suppressed
memories of events in the Middle East. What ultimately separates
animated and live-action techniques (though the two are often
combined in the current age of computer-generated imagery) are the
different ways they are put on film. In live-action films, the camera
captures an action in continuous time, as events unfold, although the
films editor may later change the continuity. In an animated film,
however, it is the camera that creates the movement, frame by frame,
and each step is carefully planned before filming begins.
Students can practice several animation techniques as well as
demonstrate persistence of vision by making a flipbook. Review the
animation terms for this activity.The beginning, middle, and ending
drawings of a flipbook are similar to what animators call extremes or
key frames and the drawings that link them could
be considered inbetweens. By stacking index
cards and using a metal clip to fasten them or by
using a pad of paper, the student will make a simple
type of registration system, similar to that
traditionally used by animators to keep their
drawings lined up properly. Each page is comparable
to a frame of an animated film; flipping the pages is
similar to the action of a projector.
Have the students begin their flipbooks by
thinking of an action they would like to animate.
The action should have a beginning, middle, and
end. The image can be as simple as a growing
flower or a circle that mutates into a square and
then back into a circle, or as elaborate as the
students talent or interest allows. Using a pad of
heavy paper (small sizes work better) or a stack of
index cards, have your students draw their starting
image in pencil at the bottom of the last page. They
should draw a sequence of at least 24 visuals, which
is equal to one second of screen time, changing the
drawing slightly on each page. If they like, they can color or shade their
images. The more each drawing resembles the one preceding it, the
smoother the action will appear when the book is flipped. Have your
students remove every other image from their books and flip again,
noting the difference. Ask them to discuss the ways in which a flipbook
is similar to an animated film, using some of the criteria presented
above.
Supplementary Activity: If you have access to a DVD player
that can freeze frames, show a sequence from a selected animated film to
your students, advancing the action one frame at a time. Have the
students identify the extremes of the sequence and consider the way the
drawings progress from the beginning point to the ending point.
Activity Two
DRAWING
MOVEMENT
T
he development of cel animation greatly simplified the animators task.
Working on transparent celluloid or acetate sheets called cels freed
the animator from repeatedly drawing the same image and made it
unnecessary to redraw background images. Separate elements of the
drawing could be placed on individual cels and then assembled in layers of
two or three for the camera. For example, if one scene
showed only a moving arm, the animator might draw the
body on one cel and each progressive arm movement on
additional cels.Then the various movements could be
inserted on the same body visual in subsequent scenes. Cels
also enabled the animator to include more detail in the
characters and background, as one drawing could be used
multiple times without recopying.Today, similar functions can
be performed using a computer.
Part A. As hand-drawn animated films became longer
and more elaborate, an assembly line of sorts developed in
the studios. Certain animators specialize in backgrounds,
while others design and draw the extremes.
Inbetweeners then complete the numerous drawings
that connect the two extremes. Other animators fill in the
colors, clean up the drawings, and apply special effects
such as fire, smoke, water, shadows, and lighting.
The boxes on the activity sheet represent frames in an
animated film. In the first row, the beginning and ending
extremes of an action are shown. It takes planning to
get to the right position at the right time. Thought, as well
as imagination, is required to make something move in a
believable way. To illustrate the process, have your students
use the middle five boxes on that page to take the action
from its beginning to its end. Check that the midpoint of
the movement occurs in the middle box.
Next, in the second row, have your students complete the
action shown in the first two boxes. Ask them to consider
different ways of visualizing movement. For example, they
might act out a possible sequence, or they might observe
a similar action in real life. Have them change one element
of the series and discuss how that change affects the
outcome or the mood. Then have them add a special
effect.
Supplementary Activity: Have your students
analyze the scene they have just drawn to determine how
many different cels would be needed to film it. These
might include a background cel, cels for the changing
positions of the characters or objects, and a cel for a
special effect such as weather, shadows or reflections. Ask
them to consider what cels would have to be added or
changed for the actions to take place and what cels would
remain the same throughout the scene. Then have them
make cels on sheets of acetate or tracing paper and
experiment with exchanging them to create new scenes.
Part B. Like painters, animators use perspective and
scale to create depth, and color to enhance mood, but
most of the visual information in an animated film is
transmitted through movement. Before animating a scene,
animators study the way their subjects move, whether
they are animals, people or leafy trees. Although the
movements they draw are based on real life, animators
often caricature or exaggerate both movement and design.
Animated characters, like human actors, express
themselves with gestures, mannerisms, posture and facial
expressions as well as voice. A tilted head can indicate
surprise. A body slanted forward suggests speed. A
character freezes at a scary sound. Background movement
also conveys meaning. The gentle flutter of leaves signals a
breeze, but when the leaves toss and turn, it could mean a
storm is coming.
Animators use the term squash and stretch to
describe the effect of gravity on living creatures and
pliable material. Racing after the Road Runner, Wile E.
Coyote flies off a cliff and plummets downward. His body
smashes into the ground (squash) and then elongates into
a bounce (stretch). In this instance, the deformation is
used for comic effect, but in more realistic situations
squash and stretch lend weight to characters and make
expressions such as smiles or frowns convincing.
Choosing the right look for a character is important
for creating its personality. A cute character might be
drawn with characteristics that resemble a human babys,
such as a large head, small body, high forehead, big eyes
and short, plump arms and legs. A bully, on the other hand,
might have a small head, a thick or nonexistent neck, a big
chest, and short legs. Exaggerated features and a quirky
posture could indicate a comic character. The animator
can also use these traits to ridicule stereotypes. The
mutant toys in Toy Story, for example, turn out to be
selfless and helpful, not dangerous as they first seem to be.
Handsome Gaston in Beauty and the Beast is also
egotistical and mean.
Discuss with your students what animator Norman
McLaren meant by the statement, Animation is not the
art of drawings-that-move but rather the art of
movements-that-are-drawn. Have them think of an
emotion such as anger, fear, happiness, or surprise and act
it out in front of a mirror or the class. Ask them to
describe the facial and body movements that
communicated the emotion and explain why some people
consider animators the actors of an animated film.
Supplementary Activity: Show your students an
animated sequence and ask them to describe the
characters personalities and to list the ways in which they
First box Middle box Final box
First box Second box
Oscar Statuette AMPAS
Eadweard Muybridge Motion Study Circa 1872
Walter Lantz in his studio.
Program Components
1. This instructional guide
2. Four student activity masters in English and Spanish
3. A four-color wall poster for classroom display
4. A response card for teacher comments
Target Audience
This program has been designed for students in
secondary school English, language arts, visual arts, and
communications courses.
Program Objectives
1. To enhance student interest in and knowledge about
the motion picture development and production process
2. To encourage students to use critical thinking as they
learn how animators work
3. To engage students in an exploration of film as an art
form and a medium of communication
4. To help students become more visually literate
Introduction
About the Academy and its Awards
The first Academy Awards were handed out on
May 16, 1929, not long after the advent of talkies.
By 1930, enthusiasm for the ceremonies was so great
that a Los Angeles radio station did a live, one-hour
broadcast, and the Awards have enjoyed broadcast
coverage ever since. The number and types of awards
have grown and changed over the years to keep up with
the development of the motion picture industry. Awards
of MeritOscarsare presented in each (or in
subdivisions) of the following categories: acting,
animation, art direction, cinematography, costume design,
directing, documentary film, film editing, foreign language
film, make-up, music, best picture, short film, sound, visual
effects, and writing. In an age when awards shows seem
as common as nightly news programs, the Academy
Awards are unique because the judgesthe
approximately 6,000 Academy membersare the top
filmmakers from around the world. The question, Who
gets the Oscar? is decided by a true jury of peers. The
awards process provides a wonderful opportunity to
teach your students about the many craft areas and the
many communications techniques that play a part in
creating a motion picture. Filmmaking is by nature a
collaborative process, with each creative area supporting
and being supported by the others. Because our space is
limited, this kit focuses on just one of those areas
animation.
Selecting Films
for Student Viewing
Students may select the films they wish to view for the
following activities, or you may wish to suggest films that
are appropriate.
The following animated feature films have won
Academy Awards, are available on DVD and may be
appropriate for your students: SnowWhite and the Seven
Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1941), Who Framed Roger Rabbit
(1988), Toy Story (1995), Shrek (2001), Spirited Away
(2002), Finding Nemo (2003), Wallace & Gromit in The
Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Happy Feet (2006),
WALL-E (2008), and Up (2009).
Other animated features that have been nominated
for Academy Awards and are available on DVD include:
Beauty and the Beast (1991), Ice Age (2002), Jimmy
Neutron: Boy Genius (2001), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Lilo &
Stitch (2002), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), Treasure
Planet (2002), The Triplets of Bellville (2003), Howls Moving
Castle (2005), Persepolis (2007), Bolt (2008), Coraline
(2009), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and The Secret of Kells
(2009).
Academy Award-nominated and winning short films
available on DVD include: Walking (1969), The Crunch Bird
(1971), Closed Mondays (1974), The Street (1976), The Sand
Castle (1977), Crac (1981), Luxo Jr. (1986), The ManWho
PlantedTrees (1987), Creature Comforts (1990), A Close Shave
(1995), La Maison en Petits Cubes (2008), and Logorama
(2009).
Additional animated films that may be suitable for your
students including the features: Alice inWonderland (1951), Sleeping
Beauty (1959), The Nightmare before Christmas (1993), Princess
Mononoke (1997), The Iron Giant (1999), Chicken Run (2000), and
Waltz with Bashir (2008); and the short films Neighbours (1952),
Pas de Deux (1968), Mindscape (1976), Guard Dog (2004), and
Oktapodi (2008).
Activity One
The ORIGINS
of ANIMATION
F
rom the beginning, animation has been an important
part of film history. Even before the invention of the
motion picture camera, photographer Eadweard
Muybridge used sequential photographs to analyze
animal and human movement. Early 19th century
mechanical devices such as the thaumatrope,
praxinoscope and zoetrope anticipated motion picture
animation by quickly flashing calibrated sequence of still
pictures past the viewer. These devices took advantage of a
phenomenon called persistence of vision in which the brain reads a
rapid series of images as an unbroken movement. Animated films work
on the same principle. Each frame of an animated film is a separate still
picture, individually exposed. Drawings or props are moved slightly
between exposures, creating an illusion of movement when the film is
projected.
In 1892, mile Reynaud opened his popular Thtre Optique in
Paris, where he projected films that had been drawn directly on
transparent celluloid, a technique that would not be used again until
the 1930s. The trick-films of Parisian magician Georges Mlis mixed
stop-motion and single-frame photography with live-action film for
magical effect. By the early 20th century, animators such as J. Stuart
Blackton and Winsor McCay in the U.S. and mile Cohl in France were
making animated films composed entirely of drawings. Brothers Max
and Dave Fleischer, creators of
Betty Boop, patented the
rotoscope in 1917, enabling
animators to copy the
movement of live action by
tracing filmed live-action
images frame by frame.
Raoul Barr and Bill Nolan
opened the first animation
studio in NewYork in 1914.
Soon studios in NewYork,
California and elsewhere were
producing short films that
screened in theaters before the
main feature. Over the next
few decades, cartoon series
flourished, featuring popular
characters such as Felix the
Cat, Disneys Mickey Mouse,
Walter Lantzs Woody
Woodpecker and Warner Bros.
Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote. In the 1940s, George Pals Puppetoons
represented one of the few examples of commercial animation using
three-dimensional materials.
In 1923, Walt and Roy Disney, Ub Iwerks, and other animators
formed a company that would dominate animation for many years. Not
only did the studios animators produce finely drawn films, but they
emphasized unique, specific characters and movement that revealed the
characters personalities. The Disney studio produced Steamboat Willie
(1928), the first cartoon to synchronize sound with movement, and the
short three-color Technicolor film Flowers and Trees, which won the first
Oscar for animation in 1932. In 1938, SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs,
the first American feature-length animated film, received a Special
Academy Award for significant screen innovation. More than half a
century later, the Walt Disney Company was still breaking new ground:
1991s Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture alongside
four live-action films, a feat that was repeated in 2009, when the
Disney Pixar animated film Up was one of ten Best Picture nominees.
In 1995, Disney released the Pixar production Toy Story, the first
feature-length computer-animated film, which the Academy honored
with a special award to its creator John Lasseter.
Animated and live-action films have in common such basic film
devices as scripts, camera moves, close-ups and long shots. Although
many people think of animation as limited to fantasy or to childrens
stories, its also an effective technique for filmmakers dealing with more
complex, adult issues and themes. The 2008 animated feature Waltz
with Bashir, for example, uses animation to explore soldiers suppressed
memories of events in the Middle East. What ultimately separates
animated and live-action techniques (though the two are often
combined in the current age of computer-generated imagery) are the
different ways they are put on film. In live-action films, the camera
captures an action in continuous time, as events unfold, although the
films editor may later change the continuity. In an animated film,
however, it is the camera that creates the movement, frame by frame,
and each step is carefully planned before filming begins.
Students can practice several animation techniques as well as
demonstrate persistence of vision by making a flipbook. Review the
animation terms for this activity.The beginning, middle, and ending
drawings of a flipbook are similar to what animators call extremes or
key frames and the drawings that link them could
be considered inbetweens. By stacking index
cards and using a metal clip to fasten them or by
using a pad of paper, the student will make a simple
type of registration system, similar to that
traditionally used by animators to keep their
drawings lined up properly. Each page is comparable
to a frame of an animated film; flipping the pages is
similar to the action of a projector.
Have the students begin their flipbooks by
thinking of an action they would like to animate.
The action should have a beginning, middle, and
end. The image can be as simple as a growing
flower or a circle that mutates into a square and
then back into a circle, or as elaborate as the
students talent or interest allows. Using a pad of
heavy paper (small sizes work better) or a stack of
index cards, have your students draw their starting
image in pencil at the bottom of the last page. They
should draw a sequence of at least 24 visuals, which
is equal to one second of screen time, changing the
drawing slightly on each page. If they like, they can color or shade their
images. The more each drawing resembles the one preceding it, the
smoother the action will appear when the book is flipped. Have your
students remove every other image from their books and flip again,
noting the difference. Ask them to discuss the ways in which a flipbook
is similar to an animated film, using some of the criteria presented
above.
Supplementary Activity: If you have access to a DVD player
that can freeze frames, show a sequence from a selected animated film to
your students, advancing the action one frame at a time. Have the
students identify the extremes of the sequence and consider the way the
drawings progress from the beginning point to the ending point.
Activity Two
DRAWING
MOVEMENT
T
he development of cel animation greatly simplified the animators task.
Working on transparent celluloid or acetate sheets called cels freed
the animator from repeatedly drawing the same image and made it
unnecessary to redraw background images. Separate elements of the
drawing could be placed on individual cels and then assembled in layers of
two or three for the camera. For example, if one scene
showed only a moving arm, the animator might draw the
body on one cel and each progressive arm movement on
additional cels.Then the various movements could be
inserted on the same body visual in subsequent scenes. Cels
also enabled the animator to include more detail in the
characters and background, as one drawing could be used
multiple times without recopying.Today, similar functions can
be performed using a computer.
Part A. As hand-drawn animated films became longer
and more elaborate, an assembly line of sorts developed in
the studios. Certain animators specialize in backgrounds,
while others design and draw the extremes.
Inbetweeners then complete the numerous drawings
that connect the two extremes. Other animators fill in the
colors, clean up the drawings, and apply special effects
such as fire, smoke, water, shadows, and lighting.
The boxes on the activity sheet represent frames in an
animated film. In the first row, the beginning and ending
extremes of an action are shown. It takes planning to
get to the right position at the right time. Thought, as well
as imagination, is required to make something move in a
believable way. To illustrate the process, have your students
use the middle five boxes on that page to take the action
from its beginning to its end. Check that the midpoint of
the movement occurs in the middle box.
Next, in the second row, have your students complete the
action shown in the first two boxes. Ask them to consider
different ways of visualizing movement. For example, they
might act out a possible sequence, or they might observe
a similar action in real life. Have them change one element
of the series and discuss how that change affects the
outcome or the mood. Then have them add a special
effect.
Supplementary Activity: Have your students
analyze the scene they have just drawn to determine how
many different cels would be needed to film it. These
might include a background cel, cels for the changing
positions of the characters or objects, and a cel for a
special effect such as weather, shadows or reflections. Ask
them to consider what cels would have to be added or
changed for the actions to take place and what cels would
remain the same throughout the scene. Then have them
make cels on sheets of acetate or tracing paper and
experiment with exchanging them to create new scenes.
Part B. Like painters, animators use perspective and
scale to create depth, and color to enhance mood, but
most of the visual information in an animated film is
transmitted through movement. Before animating a scene,
animators study the way their subjects move, whether
they are animals, people or leafy trees. Although the
movements they draw are based on real life, animators
often caricature or exaggerate both movement and design.
Animated characters, like human actors, express
themselves with gestures, mannerisms, posture and facial
expressions as well as voice. A tilted head can indicate
surprise. A body slanted forward suggests speed. A
character freezes at a scary sound. Background movement
also conveys meaning. The gentle flutter of leaves signals a
breeze, but when the leaves toss and turn, it could mean a
storm is coming.
Animators use the term squash and stretch to
describe the effect of gravity on living creatures and
pliable material. Racing after the Road Runner, Wile E.
Coyote flies off a cliff and plummets downward. His body
smashes into the ground (squash) and then elongates into
a bounce (stretch). In this instance, the deformation is
used for comic effect, but in more realistic situations
squash and stretch lend weight to characters and make
expressions such as smiles or frowns convincing.
Choosing the right look for a character is important
for creating its personality. A cute character might be
drawn with characteristics that resemble a human babys,
such as a large head, small body, high forehead, big eyes
and short, plump arms and legs. A bully, on the other hand,
might have a small head, a thick or nonexistent neck, a big
chest, and short legs. Exaggerated features and a quirky
posture could indicate a comic character. The animator
can also use these traits to ridicule stereotypes. The
mutant toys in Toy Story, for example, turn out to be
selfless and helpful, not dangerous as they first seem to be.
Handsome Gaston in Beauty and the Beast is also
egotistical and mean.
Discuss with your students what animator Norman
McLaren meant by the statement, Animation is not the
art of drawings-that-move but rather the art of
movements-that-are-drawn. Have them think of an
emotion such as anger, fear, happiness, or surprise and act
it out in front of a mirror or the class. Ask them to
describe the facial and body movements that
communicated the emotion and explain why some people
consider animators the actors of an animated film.
Supplementary Activity: Show your students an
animated sequence and ask them to describe the
characters personalities and to list the ways in which they
First box Middle box Final box
First box Second box
Oscar Statuette AMPAS
Eadweard Muybridge Motion Study Circa 1872
Walter Lantz in his studio.
Program Components
1. This instructional guide
2. Four student activity masters in English and Spanish
3. A four-color wall poster for classroom display
4. A response card for teacher comments
Target Audience
This program has been designed for students in
secondary school English, language arts, visual arts, and
communications courses.
Program Objectives
1. To enhance student interest in and knowledge about
the motion picture development and production process
2. To encourage students to use critical thinking as they
learn how animators work
3. To engage students in an exploration of film as an art
form and a medium of communication
4. To help students become more visually literate
Introduction
About the Academy and its Awards
The first Academy Awards were handed out on
May 16, 1929, not long after the advent of talkies.
By 1930, enthusiasm for the ceremonies was so great
that a Los Angeles radio station did a live, one-hour
broadcast, and the Awards have enjoyed broadcast
coverage ever since. The number and types of awards
have grown and changed over the years to keep up with
the development of the motion picture industry. Awards
of MeritOscarsare presented in each (or in
subdivisions) of the following categories: acting,
animation, art direction, cinematography, costume design,
directing, documentary film, film editing, foreign language
film, make-up, music, best picture, short film, sound, visual
effects, and writing. In an age when awards shows seem
as common as nightly news programs, the Academy
Awards are unique because the judgesthe
approximately 6,000 Academy membersare the top
filmmakers from around the world. The question, Who
gets the Oscar? is decided by a true jury of peers. The
awards process provides a wonderful opportunity to
teach your students about the many craft areas and the
many communications techniques that play a part in
creating a motion picture. Filmmaking is by nature a
collaborative process, with each creative area supporting
and being supported by the others. Because our space is
limited, this kit focuses on just one of those areas
animation.
Selecting Films
for Student Viewing
Students may select the films they wish to view for the
following activities, or you may wish to suggest films that
are appropriate.
The following animated feature films have won
Academy Awards, are available on DVD and may be
appropriate for your students: SnowWhite and the Seven
Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia (1941), Who Framed Roger Rabbit
(1988), Toy Story (1995), Shrek (2001), Spirited Away
(2002), Finding Nemo (2003), Wallace & Gromit in The
Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Happy Feet (2006),
WALL-E (2008), and Up (2009).
Other animated features that have been nominated
for Academy Awards and are available on DVD include:
Beauty and the Beast (1991), Ice Age (2002), Jimmy
Neutron: Boy Genius (2001), Monsters, Inc. (2001), Lilo &
Stitch (2002), Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002), Treasure
Planet (2002), The Triplets of Bellville (2003), Howls Moving
Castle (2005), Persepolis (2007), Bolt (2008), Coraline
(2009), Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009), and The Secret of Kells
(2009).
Academy Award-nominated and winning short films
available on DVD include: Walking (1969), The Crunch Bird
(1971), Closed Mondays (1974), The Street (1976), The Sand
Castle (1977), Crac (1981), Luxo Jr. (1986), The ManWho
PlantedTrees (1987), Creature Comforts (1990), A Close Shave
(1995), La Maison en Petits Cubes (2008), and Logorama
(2009).
Additional animated films that may be suitable for your
students including the features: Alice inWonderland (1951), Sleeping
Beauty (1959), The Nightmare before Christmas (1993), Princess
Mononoke (1997), The Iron Giant (1999), Chicken Run (2000), and
Waltz with Bashir (2008); and the short films Neighbours (1952),
Pas de Deux (1968), Mindscape (1976), Guard Dog (2004), and
Oktapodi (2008).
Activity One
The ORIGINS
of ANIMATION
F
rom the beginning, animation has been an important
part of film history. Even before the invention of the
motion picture camera, photographer Eadweard
Muybridge used sequential photographs to analyze
animal and human movement. Early 19th century
mechanical devices such as the thaumatrope,
praxinoscope and zoetrope anticipated motion picture
animation by quickly flashing calibrated sequence of still
pictures past the viewer. These devices took advantage of a
phenomenon called persistence of vision in which the brain reads a
rapid series of images as an unbroken movement. Animated films work
on the same principle. Each frame of an animated film is a separate still
picture, individually exposed. Drawings or props are moved slightly
between exposures, creating an illusion of movement when the film is
projected.
In 1892, mile Reynaud opened his popular Thtre Optique in
Paris, where he projected films that had been drawn directly on
transparent celluloid, a technique that would not be used again until
the 1930s. The trick-films of Parisian magician Georges Mlis mixed
stop-motion and single-frame photography with live-action film for
magical effect. By the early 20th century, animators such as J. Stuart
Blackton and Winsor McCay in the U.S. and mile Cohl in France were
making animated films composed entirely of drawings. Brothers Max
and Dave Fleischer, creators of
Betty Boop, patented the
rotoscope in 1917, enabling
animators to copy the
movement of live action by
tracing filmed live-action
images frame by frame.
Raoul Barr and Bill Nolan
opened the first animation
studio in NewYork in 1914.
Soon studios in NewYork,
California and elsewhere were
producing short films that
screened in theaters before the
main feature. Over the next
few decades, cartoon series
flourished, featuring popular
characters such as Felix the
Cat, Disneys Mickey Mouse,
Walter Lantzs Woody
Woodpecker and Warner Bros.
Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote. In the 1940s, George Pals Puppetoons
represented one of the few examples of commercial animation using
three-dimensional materials.
In 1923, Walt and Roy Disney, Ub Iwerks, and other animators
formed a company that would dominate animation for many years. Not
only did the studios animators produce finely drawn films, but they
emphasized unique, specific characters and movement that revealed the
characters personalities. The Disney studio produced Steamboat Willie
(1928), the first cartoon to synchronize sound with movement, and the
short three-color Technicolor film Flowers and Trees, which won the first
Oscar for animation in 1932. In 1938, SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs,
the first American feature-length animated film, received a Special
Academy Award for significant screen innovation. More than half a
century later, the Walt Disney Company was still breaking new ground:
1991s Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture alongside
four live-action films, a feat that was repeated in 2009, when the
Disney Pixar animated film Up was one of ten Best Picture nominees.
In 1995, Disney released the Pixar production Toy Story, the first
feature-length computer-animated film, which the Academy honored
with a special award to its creator John Lasseter.
Animated and live-action films have in common such basic film
devices as scripts, camera moves, close-ups and long shots. Although
many people think of animation as limited to fantasy or to childrens
stories, its also an effective technique for filmmakers dealing with more
complex, adult issues and themes. The 2008 animated feature Waltz
with Bashir, for example, uses animation to explore soldiers suppressed
memories of events in the Middle East. What ultimately separates
animated and live-action techniques (though the two are often
combined in the current age of computer-generated imagery) are the
different ways they are put on film. In live-action films, the camera
captures an action in continuous time, as events unfold, although the
films editor may later change the continuity. In an animated film,
however, it is the camera that creates the movement, frame by frame,
and each step is carefully planned before filming begins.
Students can practice several animation techniques as well as
demonstrate persistence of vision by making a flipbook. Review the
animation terms for this activity.The beginning, middle, and ending
drawings of a flipbook are similar to what animators call extremes or
key frames and the drawings that link them could
be considered inbetweens. By stacking index
cards and using a metal clip to fasten them or by
using a pad of paper, the student will make a simple
type of registration system, similar to that
traditionally used by animators to keep their
drawings lined up properly. Each page is comparable
to a frame of an animated film; flipping the pages is
similar to the action of a projector.
Have the students begin their flipbooks by
thinking of an action they would like to animate.
The action should have a beginning, middle, and
end. The image can be as simple as a growing
flower or a circle that mutates into a square and
then back into a circle, or as elaborate as the
students talent or interest allows. Using a pad of
heavy paper (small sizes work better) or a stack of
index cards, have your students draw their starting
image in pencil at the bottom of the last page. They
should draw a sequence of at least 24 visuals, which
is equal to one second of screen time, changing the
drawing slightly on each page. If they like, they can color or shade their
images. The more each drawing resembles the one preceding it, the
smoother the action will appear when the book is flipped. Have your
students remove every other image from their books and flip again,
noting the difference. Ask them to discuss the ways in which a flipbook
is similar to an animated film, using some of the criteria presented
above.
Supplementary Activity: If you have access to a DVD player
that can freeze frames, show a sequence from a selected animated film to
your students, advancing the action one frame at a time. Have the
students identify the extremes of the sequence and consider the way the
drawings progress from the beginning point to the ending point.
Activity Two
DRAWING
MOVEMENT
T
he development of cel animation greatly simplified the animators task.
Working on transparent celluloid or acetate sheets called cels freed
the animator from repeatedly drawing the same image and made it
unnecessary to redraw background images. Separate elements of the
drawing could be placed on individual cels and then assembled in layers of
two or three for the camera. For example, if one scene
showed only a moving arm, the animator might draw the
body on one cel and each progressive arm movement on
additional cels.Then the various movements could be
inserted on the same body visual in subsequent scenes. Cels
also enabled the animator to include more detail in the
characters and background, as one drawing could be used
multiple times without recopying.Today, similar functions can
be performed using a computer.
Part A. As hand-drawn animated films became longer
and more elaborate, an assembly line of sorts developed in
the studios. Certain animators specialize in backgrounds,
while others design and draw the extremes.
Inbetweeners then complete the numerous drawings
that connect the two extremes. Other animators fill in the
colors, clean up the drawings, and apply special effects
such as fire, smoke, water, shadows, and lighting.
The boxes on the activity sheet represent frames in an
animated film. In the first row, the beginning and ending
extremes of an action are shown. It takes planning to
get to the right position at the right time. Thought, as well
as imagination, is required to make something move in a
believable way. To illustrate the process, have your students
use the middle five boxes on that page to take the action
from its beginning to its end. Check that the midpoint of
the movement occurs in the middle box.
Next, in the second row, have your students complete the
action shown in the first two boxes. Ask them to consider
different ways of visualizing movement. For example, they
might act out a possible sequence, or they might observe
a similar action in real life. Have them change one element
of the series and discuss how that change affects the
outcome or the mood. Then have them add a special
effect.
Supplementary Activity: Have your students
analyze the scene they have just drawn to determine how
many different cels would be needed to film it. These
might include a background cel, cels for the changing
positions of the characters or objects, and a cel for a
special effect such as weather, shadows or reflections. Ask
them to consider what cels would have to be added or
changed for the actions to take place and what cels would
remain the same throughout the scene. Then have them
make cels on sheets of acetate or tracing paper and
experiment with exchanging them to create new scenes.
Part B. Like painters, animators use perspective and
scale to create depth, and color to enhance mood, but
most of the visual information in an animated film is
transmitted through movement. Before animating a scene,
animators study the way their subjects move, whether
they are animals, people or leafy trees. Although the
movements they draw are based on real life, animators
often caricature or exaggerate both movement and design.
Animated characters, like human actors, express
themselves with gestures, mannerisms, posture and facial
expressions as well as voice. A tilted head can indicate
surprise. A body slanted forward suggests speed. A
character freezes at a scary sound. Background movement
also conveys meaning. The gentle flutter of leaves signals a
breeze, but when the leaves toss and turn, it could mean a
storm is coming.
Animators use the term squash and stretch to
describe the effect of gravity on living creatures and
pliable material. Racing after the Road Runner, Wile E.
Coyote flies off a cliff and plummets downward. His body
smashes into the ground (squash) and then elongates into
a bounce (stretch). In this instance, the deformation is
used for comic effect, but in more realistic situations
squash and stretch lend weight to characters and make
expressions such as smiles or frowns convincing.
Choosing the right look for a character is important
for creating its personality. A cute character might be
drawn with characteristics that resemble a human babys,
such as a large head, small body, high forehead, big eyes
and short, plump arms and legs. A bully, on the other hand,
might have a small head, a thick or nonexistent neck, a big
chest, and short legs. Exaggerated features and a quirky
posture could indicate a comic character. The animator
can also use these traits to ridicule stereotypes. The
mutant toys in Toy Story, for example, turn out to be
selfless and helpful, not dangerous as they first seem to be.
Handsome Gaston in Beauty and the Beast is also
egotistical and mean.
Discuss with your students what animator Norman
McLaren meant by the statement, Animation is not the
art of drawings-that-move but rather the art of
movements-that-are-drawn. Have them think of an
emotion such as anger, fear, happiness, or surprise and act
it out in front of a mirror or the class. Ask them to
describe the facial and body movements that
communicated the emotion and explain why some people
consider animators the actors of an animated film.
Supplementary Activity: Show your students an
animated sequence and ask them to describe the
characters personalities and to list the ways in which they
First box Middle box Final box
First box Second box
Oscar Statuette AMPAS
Eadweard Muybridge Motion Study Circa 1872
Walter Lantz in his studio.
are revealed. Some suggestions are: the opening
sequence of Spirited Away, the scene in which WALL-E
meets EVE in WALL-E, the sequence in Bolt when Bolt
and Mittens meet Rhino, and the
short Luxo Jr. You might also have
your students compare the
enchanted objects in Beauty and the
Beast with their human
manifestations. How do the
animators give the same personality
to each? In contrast, how do the
animators of Coraline show the
differences between Coralines real
parents and her other parents?
Activity Three
IMAGINING
ACTION
C
el animation is the most familiar
type of animation, but a good
animator can bring clay models,
sand, paper, puppets, or pins to life.
Shapes or figures are cut out and photographed
against a backlight for silhouette animation or
arranged and shot from above to create collage
animation. A more three-dimensional effect can be
achieved by using stop-motion photography to
animate movable figures made of clay, wood, or other
materials.
In the two types of animation called time-lapse
photography and pixilation, a camera is set to snap
one frame at regular intervals. Time-lapse compresses
time, reducing the blooming of a flower, for instance,
to a few seconds of screen time. Pixilation works in a
similar manner, but with actors performing in real
time. When the film is played back, the action appears
jerky, something like an old silent movie when it is
projected at the speed of sound movies.
Animated films can also be made by drawing or
scratching directly on the film, painting scenes on
glass, moving wire-thin black pins on a white pinboard
or even by using the photocopying machine.
No matter what the material, each step of an
animated film is worked out beforehand on
storyboards, a representation of a film in outline form,
using sketches, small drawings, and captions. Since every
second of a typical animated film involves 12 to 24
changes (more than 50,000 visuals for a 70-minute
film), it is too expensive and time-consuming to
complete an entire animation sequence and then scrap
it. Even if the animator is not telling a story but has an
abstract design in mind, he or she plans in detail the
progression of images and how they can be combined
to achieve the desired effect.The storyboard is an
indispensable tool for the animator and is revised often.
Comic strips, with their captions, close-ups, long
shots, and other storytelling techniques, are similar to
storyboards and can help your students understand
the format. Encourage them to study comic strips or
graphic novels to learn the components of visual
storytelling. Discuss the way pacing, dialogue, color,
line, shape, and composition
create moods, convey emotion
and move the story forward.
Consider the way movement is
depicted in a still drawing. Then
have students storyboard the
key moments in a sequence
from one of their own stories
or from a selected animated
film, using some of the
techniques they have studied.
Supplementary Activity:
Show students a sequence or short
film made without the use of cels.
Some suggestions from the list at
the beginning of this teachers guide
are Crac (pastel-on-paper drawings),
Closed Mondays, Creature Comforts, A
Close Shave, and Wallace & Gromit in
The Curse of theWere-Rabbit (all four done in clay), The Street
(washes of watercolor and ink), The Sand Castle (sand),
Mindscape (pinboard), Neighbours (pixilation), Pas de Deux
(optical printing), and Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox (stop-
motion puppets). Have students create a short animated film
using an alternative medium like one of the above, or by using
puppets, dolls, silhouettes, shadows, or construction paper.
Activity Four
MOVEMENT in
THREE DIMENSIONS
U
sing computer generated imagery (CGI), an
animator can reproduce the three-dimensional
effects of stop-motion photography or the two-
dimensional effects of hand-drawn animation. Instead
of pen and ink, paint, clay, paper, or cels, computer
animators use a monitor, computer tools, and
software that includes complex mathematical
formulas. Rather than sketching out characters and
objects like traditional animators, computer animators
build a three-dimensional model that can be viewed
from different angles. CGI can imitate camera moves
and angles that would be difficult or impossible to
achieve with traditional cel animation: the swoop from
the chandelier to the dancing couple in the ballroom
scene of Beauty and the Beast, for example. Because of
its ability to mimic reality, CGI is also used to produce
special effects in live-action films. CGI can create
digital tears or blood, embellish backgrounds and sets,
make a small crowd seem large, or touch up the
actors wrinkles and flaws.
The 1982 film Tron, which combined live action
with animation, was the first film to use CGI on a
large scale. When the Academy instituted the Best
Animated Feature Film award in 2001, the first
CREATING
MOVEMENT
FRAME by FRAME
A
N
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A
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I
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N
:

A
.
M
.
P
.
A
.
S
.

Oscar went to the CGI-animated film Shrek. Early computer

graphics looked unappealingly flat, but recent improvements in
technology make it possible to create more realistic surfaces. The
most difficult task facing the special effects animators who created
the character Gollum for the live-action film The Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers was developing new computer codes to provide the
creature with translucent, lifelike skin.
Having the use of a computer does not necessarily mean less work
for the animator. It took four years to complete Toy Story, the first
completely CGI-animated feature; coincidentally, it took the same
amount of time for the Disney studio to finish SnowWhite and the
Seven Dwarfs. CGI may never completely replace traditional animation,
because some animators still prefer the latters personal touch and
slight irregularities. For others, using CGI can be compared to using a
word processor instead of a typewriter for writing, in that the new
tool allows the animator to manipulate ideas and images with greater
freedom.
CGI and stop-motion animated films are sometimes also referred
to as 3D films because those techniques create a more lifelike illusion
of three-dimensional characters and backgrounds. Many animated
features are now stereoscopic films films with 3D effects. Through
the use of digital equipment, specially designed movie screens and
polarized lenses, viewers are fooled into experiencing a movie as a
three-dimensional space rather than as images on a flat screen.
Part A. Have your students compare hand-drawn or stop-motion
animation to CGI animation, using selections from the following groups
of films. SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs, Lilo & Stitch,The Secret of Kells,
and Fantasia employ hand-drawn cel animation. Coraline and Fantastic
Mr. Fox use stop-motion photography. Happy Feet and Up use CGI
animations.You may also have them compare different scenes within a
particular animated film. Most of Beauty and the Beast was drawn on
cels, but the ballroom scene is a good example of early computer
animation. CGI was used to create the stampede scene in The Lion
King, an otherwise hand-drawn film. Ask your students if they notice
differences between CGI and traditional animation. Have them
consider why animators might choose a traditional method of
animation if CGI animation can duplicate traditional effects.
Part B. Each year, an outstanding array of new animated films is
released. Some are especially appropriate for families, some are
appealing to teens, and some are geared toward adult audiences. If you
or the parents of your students feel that some, or even all of this
years nominated films might be inappropriate for viewing by young
people, you can modify this activity. Ask your students to view one of
the films nominated for achievement in animation and analyze it in
terms of how its storytelling, character development, and animation
contributed to the total effect of the film. Students may also view
Academy Award-nominated and -winning films from past years to
complete the exercises. A list of those films appears at the beginning
of this teachers guide.
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2011 AMPAS
ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES
Additional Resources
Acting for Animators: A Complete Guide to Performance Animation
Revised Edition, by Ed Hooks. Heinemann, 2003.
The Animation Book: A Complete Guide to Animated Filmmaking from
Flip-Books to Sound Cartoons to 3-D Animation New Digital
Edition, by Kit Laybourne. Crown, 1998.
Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital
Animator, by Tony White. Focal, 2006.
Animation: From Script to Screen, by Shamus Culhane. St. Martins, 1988.
The Animators Survival Kit Expanded Edition, by Richard Williams.
Faber and Faber, 2009.
Blue Sky:The Art of Computer Animation Featuring Ice Age and Bunny,
by Peter Weishar. Harry N. Abrams, 2002.
Chuck Amuck:The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, by Chuck
Jones. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989.
Clay Animation: American Highlights 1908 to the Present, by Michael
Frierson. Twayne, 1994.
Muybridges Complete Human and Animal Locomotion, by Eadweard
Muybridge. Dover Books, 1979.
Cracking Animation:The Aardman Book of 3-D Animation, by Peter
Lord, and Brian Sibley. Thames & Hudson, 2010.
The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings, by Charles Solomon.
Wings Books, 1994.
The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation, by Frank Thomas and Ollie
Johnston. Hyperion, 1995.
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons
Revised Edition, by Leonard Maltin. New American Library, 1987.
Toy Story:The Art and Making of the Animated Film, by John Lasseter
and Steve Daly. Hyperion, 1995.
SOURCES FOR SHORTANIMATED FILMS
DVDs:
Leonard Maltins Animation Favorites from the National Film
Board of Canada includes Mindscape and Pas de Deux (only
available on VHS)
Collection of 2005 Academy Award Nominated Short Films (also
released in 2006 and 2007)
Pixar Short Films Collection, includes Luxo Jr., Geris Game and
Lifted
And the Winner is (Oscar winning and Nominated Short Films
from the National Film Board of Canada), includes The Danish
Poet, Ryan,Walking, and My Grandmother Ironed the Kings Shirts.
Web Sites:
www.oscars.org for more information about the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
www.filmeducation.org for teaching resources, free education
packets and additional reading from the British Film Institute
memory.loc.gov/ammem/oahtml/oahome.html Includes
samples of very early animated films on repository at the Library
of Congress that can be viewed on the computer.
www.nfb.ca/nfbstore National Film Board of Canada films
Mindscape, Neighbours, Pas de Deux,The Sand Castle,The Street
and Walking
www.aardman.com Creature Comforts, A Close Shave and Wallace &
Gromit inThe Curse of theWere-Rabbit. This site also has pictures and
information about making stop-motion animated films.
www.youtube.com
www.ymiclassroom.com
Dear Educator:
Young Minds Inspired, in cooperation with the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, is proud to present this newest addition to
our series of study guides that focus on different branches of the
Academy. In this guide, students will learn about animation. The kit has
been designed for students in high school English, language arts, visual
arts and communications courses. The activities capitalize on students
natural interest in current films and the excitement generated by the
Academy Awards

. They are designed to teach valuable lessons in

critical thinking.
The Academy, organized in 1927, is a professional honorary
organization composed of more than 6,000 motion picture craftsmen
and women. Its purposes include advancing the art and science of
motion pictures, promoting cooperation among creative leaders for
cultural, educational and technological progress; recognizing
outstanding achievements; and fostering educational activities between
the professional community and the public. Academy members are the
people who create moviesthe cream of the industrys actors,
animators, art directors, cinematographers, costume designers,
directors, film editors, documentarians, make-up artists, composers,
producers, sound- and visual-effects experts and writers.
Please share this material with other teachers in your school.
Although the material is copyrighted, you may make as many
photocopies as necessary to meet your students' needs.
To ensure that you receive future mailings, please contact Randy
Haberkamp at [email protected]. Also, feel free to e-mail
us at [email protected] to comment about the
program at any time. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions.
Sincerely,
Roberta Nusim, Publisher
Teachers Resource Guide
is the only company developing free, innovative
classroom materials that is owned and directed by
award-winning former teachers.Visit our website at
www.ymiclassroom.com to send feedback and download
more free programs.
[ ]
Computer-Generated Image Model
are revealed. Some suggestions are: the opening
sequence of Spirited Away, the scene in which WALL-E
meets EVE in WALL-E, the sequence in Bolt when Bolt
and Mittens meet Rhino, and the
short Luxo Jr. You might also have
your students compare the
enchanted objects in Beauty and the
Beast with their human
manifestations. How do the
animators give the same personality
to each? In contrast, how do the
animators of Coraline show the
differences between Coralines real
parents and her other parents?
Activity Three
IMAGINING
ACTION
C
el animation is the most familiar
type of animation, but a good
animator can bring clay models,
sand, paper, puppets, or pins to life.
Shapes or figures are cut out and photographed
against a backlight for silhouette animation or
arranged and shot from above to create collage
animation. A more three-dimensional effect can be
achieved by using stop-motion photography to
animate movable figures made of clay, wood, or other
materials.
In the two types of animation called time-lapse
photography and pixilation, a camera is set to snap
one frame at regular intervals. Time-lapse compresses
time, reducing the blooming of a flower, for instance,
to a few seconds of screen time. Pixilation works in a
similar manner, but with actors performing in real
time. When the film is played back, the action appears
jerky, something like an old silent movie when it is
projected at the speed of sound movies.
Animated films can also be made by drawing or
scratching directly on the film, painting scenes on
glass, moving wire-thin black pins on a white pinboard
or even by using the photocopying machine.
No matter what the material, each step of an
animated film is worked out beforehand on
storyboards, a representation of a film in outline form,
using sketches, small drawings, and captions. Since every
second of a typical animated film involves 12 to 24
changes (more than 50,000 visuals for a 70-minute
film), it is too expensive and time-consuming to
complete an entire animation sequence and then scrap
it. Even if the animator is not telling a story but has an
abstract design in mind, he or she plans in detail the
progression of images and how they can be combined
to achieve the desired effect.The storyboard is an
indispensable tool for the animator and is revised often.
Comic strips, with their captions, close-ups, long
shots, and other storytelling techniques, are similar to
storyboards and can help your students understand
the format. Encourage them to study comic strips or
graphic novels to learn the components of visual
storytelling. Discuss the way pacing, dialogue, color,
line, shape, and composition
create moods, convey emotion
and move the story forward.
Consider the way movement is
depicted in a still drawing. Then
have students storyboard the
key moments in a sequence
from one of their own stories
or from a selected animated
film, using some of the
techniques they have studied.
Supplementary Activity:
Show students a sequence or short
film made without the use of cels.
Some suggestions from the list at
the beginning of this teachers guide
are Crac (pastel-on-paper drawings),
Closed Mondays, Creature Comforts, A
Close Shave, and Wallace & Gromit in
The Curse of theWere-Rabbit (all four done in clay), The Street
(washes of watercolor and ink), The Sand Castle (sand),
Mindscape (pinboard), Neighbours (pixilation), Pas de Deux
(optical printing), and Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox (stop-
motion puppets). Have students create a short animated film
using an alternative medium like one of the above, or by using
puppets, dolls, silhouettes, shadows, or construction paper.
Activity Four
MOVEMENT in
THREE DIMENSIONS
U
sing computer generated imagery (CGI), an
animator can reproduce the three-dimensional
effects of stop-motion photography or the two-
dimensional effects of hand-drawn animation. Instead
of pen and ink, paint, clay, paper, or cels, computer
animators use a monitor, computer tools, and
software that includes complex mathematical
formulas. Rather than sketching out characters and
objects like traditional animators, computer animators
build a three-dimensional model that can be viewed
from different angles. CGI can imitate camera moves
and angles that would be difficult or impossible to
achieve with traditional cel animation: the swoop from
the chandelier to the dancing couple in the ballroom
scene of Beauty and the Beast, for example. Because of
its ability to mimic reality, CGI is also used to produce
special effects in live-action films. CGI can create
digital tears or blood, embellish backgrounds and sets,
make a small crowd seem large, or touch up the
actors wrinkles and flaws.
The 1982 film Tron, which combined live action
with animation, was the first film to use CGI on a
large scale. When the Academy instituted the Best
Animated Feature Film award in 2001, the first
CREATING
MOVEMENT
FRAME by FRAME
A
N
I
M
A
T
I
O
N
:

A
.
M
.
P
.
A
.
S
.

Oscar went to the CGI-animated film Shrek. Early computer

graphics looked unappealingly flat, but recent improvements in
technology make it possible to create more realistic surfaces. The
most difficult task facing the special effects animators who created
the character Gollum for the live-action film The Lord of the Rings:
The Two Towers was developing new computer codes to provide the
creature with translucent, lifelike skin.
Having the use of a computer does not necessarily mean less work
for the animator. It took four years to complete Toy Story, the first
completely CGI-animated feature; coincidentally, it took the same
amount of time for the Disney studio to finish SnowWhite and the
Seven Dwarfs. CGI may never completely replace traditional animation,
because some animators still prefer the latters personal touch and
slight irregularities. For others, using CGI can be compared to using a
word processor instead of a typewriter for writing, in that the new
tool allows the animator to manipulate ideas and images with greater
freedom.
CGI and stop-motion animated films are sometimes also referred
to as 3D films because those techniques create a more lifelike illusion
of three-dimensional characters and backgrounds. Many animated
features are now stereoscopic films films with 3D effects. Through
the use of digital equipment, specially designed movie screens and
polarized lenses, viewers are fooled into experiencing a movie as a
three-dimensional space rather than as images on a flat screen.
Part A. Have your students compare hand-drawn or stop-motion
animation to CGI animation, using selections from the following groups
of films. SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs, Lilo & Stitch,The Secret of Kells,
and Fantasia employ hand-drawn cel animation. Coraline and Fantastic
Mr. Fox use stop-motion photography. Happy Feet and Up use CGI
animations.You may also have them compare different scenes within a
particular animated film. Most of Beauty and the Beast was drawn on
cels, but the ballroom scene is a good example of early computer
animation. CGI was used to create the stampede scene in The Lion
King, an otherwise hand-drawn film. Ask your students if they notice
differences between CGI and traditional animation. Have them
consider why animators might choose a traditional method of
animation if CGI animation can duplicate traditional effects.
Part B. Each year, an outstanding array of new animated films is
released. Some are especially appropriate for families, some are
appealing to teens, and some are geared toward adult audiences. If you
or the parents of your students feel that some, or even all of this
years nominated films might be inappropriate for viewing by young
people, you can modify this activity. Ask your students to view one of
the films nominated for achievement in animation and analyze it in
terms of how its storytelling, character development, and animation
contributed to the total effect of the film. Students may also view
Academy Award-nominated and -winning films from past years to
complete the exercises. A list of those films appears at the beginning
of this teachers guide.
A
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b
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2011 AMPAS
ACADEMY OF MOTION PICTURE ARTS AND SCIENCES
Additional Resources
Acting for Animators: A Complete Guide to Performance Animation
Revised Edition, by Ed Hooks. Heinemann, 2003.
The Animation Book: A Complete Guide to Animated Filmmaking from
Flip-Books to Sound Cartoons to 3-D Animation New Digital
Edition, by Kit Laybourne. Crown, 1998.
Animation from Pencils to Pixels: Classical Techniques for the Digital
Animator, by Tony White. Focal, 2006.
Animation: From Script to Screen, by Shamus Culhane. St. Martins, 1988.
The Animators Survival Kit Expanded Edition, by Richard Williams.
Faber and Faber, 2009.
Blue Sky:The Art of Computer Animation Featuring Ice Age and Bunny,
by Peter Weishar. Harry N. Abrams, 2002.
Chuck Amuck:The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, by Chuck
Jones. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1989.
Clay Animation: American Highlights 1908 to the Present, by Michael
Frierson. Twayne, 1994.
Muybridges Complete Human and Animal Locomotion, by Eadweard
Muybridge. Dover Books, 1979.
Cracking Animation:The Aardman Book of 3-D Animation, by Peter
Lord, and Brian Sibley. Thames & Hudson, 2010.
The History of Animation: Enchanted Drawings, by Charles Solomon.
Wings Books, 1994.
The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation, by Frank Thomas and Ollie
Johnston. Hyperion, 1995.
Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons
Revised Edition, by Leonard Maltin. New American Library, 1987.
Toy Story:The Art and Making of the Animated Film, by John Lasseter
and Steve Daly. Hyperion, 1995.
SOURCES FOR SHORTANIMATED FILMS
DVDs:
Leonard Maltins Animation Favorites from the National Film
Board of Canada includes Mindscape and Pas de Deux (only
available on VHS)
Collection of 2005 Academy Award Nominated Short Films (also
released in 2006 and 2007)
Pixar Short Films Collection, includes Luxo Jr., Geris Game and
Lifted
And the Winner is (Oscar Winning and Nominated Short Films
from the National Film Board of Canada), includes The Danish
Poet, Ryan,Walking, and My Grandmother Ironed the Kings Shirts.
Web Sites:
www.oscars.org for more information about the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
www.filmeducation.org for teaching resources, free education
packets and additional reading from the British Film Institute.
memory.loc.gov/ammem/oahtml/oahome.html Includes
samples of very early animated films on repository at the Library
of Congress that can be viewed on the computer.
www.nfb.ca/nfbstore National Film Board of Canada films
Mindscape, Neighbours, Pas de Deux,The Sand Castle,The Street
and Walking
www.aardman.com Creature Comforts, A Close Shave and Wallace &
Gromit inThe Curse of theWere-Rabbit. This site also has pictures and
information about making stop-motion animated films.
www.youtube.com
www.filmporium.com
www.ymiclassroom.com
Dear Educator:
Young Minds Inspired, in cooperation with the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, is proud to present this newest addition to
our series of study guides that focus on different branches of the
Academy. In this guide, students will learn about animation. The kit has
been designed for students in high school English, language arts, visual
arts and communications courses. The activities capitalize on students
natural interest in current films and the excitement generated by the
Academy Awards

. They are designed to teach valuable lessons in

critical thinking.
The Academy, organized in 1927, is a professional honorary
organization composed of more than 6,000 motion picture craftsmen
and women. Its purposes include advancing the art and science of
motion pictures, promoting cooperation among creative leaders for
cultural, educational and technological progress; recognizing
outstanding achievements; and fostering educational activities between
the professional community and the public. Academy members are the
people who create moviesthe cream of the industrys actors,
animators, art directors, cinematographers, costume designers,
directors, film editors, documentarians, make-up artists, composers,
producers, sound- and visual-effects experts and writers.
Please share this material with other teachers in your school.
Although the material is copyrighted, you may make as many
photocopies as necessary to meet your students' needs.
To ensure that you receive future mailings, please contact Randy
Haberkamp at [email protected]. Also, feel free to e-mail
us at [email protected] to comment about the
program at any time. We welcome your thoughts and suggestions.
Sincerely,
Roberta Nusim, Publisher
Teachers Resource Guide
is the only company developing free, innovative
classroom materials that is owned and directed by
award-winning former teachers.Visit our website at
www.ymiclassroom.com to send feedback and download
more free programs.
[ ]
Computer-Generated Image Model
T
he earliest animation used mechanical devices such as the
praxinoscope, the thaumatrope, and the zoetrope instead
of film. After the invention of the movie camera, filmmakers
such as Georges Mlis in Paris and J. Stuart Blackton in New
York mixed animation with live-action film for magical effect. In
1906, Blackton made the first completely hand-drawn animated
film, Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. In 1914, Raoul Barr and
Bill Nolan built the first studio devoted to animated films.
Winsor McCay took animation a step further with the
creation of Gertie the Dinosaur. He became one of the first
animators to use a distinctive style of movement to express an
animated characters personality. Then in 1922, a group of
animators headed by Walt Disney opened a studio in California
that would influence animated filmmaking for decades,
producing such works as Steamboat Willie (1928), Flowers and
Treeswhich
won the first
Oscar for
Cartoon Short
Subject in
1931/32Snow
White and the
Seven Dwarfs
(1937), Beauty
and the Beast
(1991), and The
Lion King (1994).
All animation,
whether
mechanical, on
film, or in a digital format, works because the human brain
perceives a quickly moving sequence of still images as
continuous action. This is called persistence of vision.
Animated films are assembled one frame at a time, each
frame or exposure representing a tiny change in the character
or scene being animated. When the film is projected, the
drawings appear to move. For traditional movies, 24 frames
add up to one second of viewing time when projected.
Think of an
object or action
you would like to
animate. Begin
your flipbook by
drawing the first
image on the last
page of a pad of
paper or a stack
of index cards.
On the next
page, trace over
the drawing, changing it slightly each time until you have
completed at least 24 pages. Think of each page as a frame of
film. When you have completed the drawings, you can darken
the lines with black ink, and color or shade the figures. Hold
the book together at the top and flip the pages from back to
front to see your image move.
What happens when you flip the pages slowly?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
How does the movement change when you remove some of
the pages?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
What happens if you mix up the pages?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
How is your flipbook similar to an animated film?
________________________________________________________________
Activity
1
Reproducible Master
2011 AMPAS
Basic Animation Terms
Frame: One exposure on the filmstrip. There are sixteen
frames in each foot of film and twenty-four frames per second
of running time on the screen.
Live Action: A motion picture of real people and things,
filmed in real time.
Persistence of Vision: The perceptual phenomenon
that creates an illusion of movement when a series of still
pictures flashes by in rapid succession.
Praxinoscope: An early animation device similar to a
zoetrope that uses mirrors instead of slits.
Registration: Any system that holds the drawings, cels,
or frames in place. In a flipbook, the binding of a pad of paper,
or the clip that holds a stack of index cards resembles the
pegs used by an animator to keep drawings lined up.
Rotoscope: A tool that enables an animator to trace live-
action footage frame by frame.
Thaumatrope: A flat disk with a different drawing on
each side. When the disk is rotated, the drawings appear to
combine. A common example has a bird on one side and a
cage on the other.
Zoetrope: A hollow cylinder containing a strip of paper
with sequential images. When the cylinder is spun, images seen
through regularly placed slits seem to move.
The ORIGINS
of ANIMATION
Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
Eadweard Muybridge Motion Study Circa 1872
2011 AMPAS
DRAWING MOVEMENT
Activity
2
Reproducible Master
Part B. Animator Norman McLaren said that
animation is not the art of drawings-that-move, but
rather the art of movements-that-are-drawn. Consider a
scene set in a forest. Each animal moves differently, from
the awkward steps of a young fawn to the energetic hops
of a cheerful rabbit. The gentle rustle of the leaves on the
trees tells us it is a fine day. A stream winds beneath the
trees, breaking slightly on the rocks under the surface.
What mood does the scene convey?
__________________________________________________
Imagine that something dangerous approaches. How
would that be reflected in the movements of the
characters and their surroundings?
____________________________________________________
Think of an emotion such as fear, surprise or happiness
and act it out in front of a mirror. What facial expressions
did you use? ______________________________________
__________________________________________________
How did your body move? ____________________________
____________________________________________________
What do you think McLaren meant by his statement?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Why do you think animators are called the actors of an
animated film?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
CEL ANIMATION TERMS
Cel: A clear piece of celluloid or acetate .005 of an inch thick,
on which animation drawings are traced or photocopied.
Extremes: The beginning and ending of an animated
action, also called key frames in computer animation.
Inbetweens: The drawings that take an action from
one extreme point to another.
Scene: Continuous action in a single location.
Sequence: A collection of individual scenes that tell a
specific part of the story.
Special Effect: Any added effect, such as weather,
shadows, reflections, or the like, that gives depth and
dimension to the animated drawings.
Squash and Stretch: Two opposing distortions
of an animated object that help create expression and
force of motion in animation.
U
ntil 1914, when Earl Hurd patentedcels (transparent sheets of
celluloid or acetate), animators limited themselves to simple line
drawings (like those depicting Gertie the Dinosaur).Without cels, the
entire scene, including the background, had to be redrawn every time a
character or object moved. Using cels, each part of the scene could be
drawn separately.For example,when a characters armmoved,the animator
would drawseveral cels with different armmovements and exchange themas
necessary,and the same background drawing could be used multiple times.The
thin cels were layered in stacks of three or four and,tothe camera,the images
looked as if they were drawn on the same page.
Part A. The beginning and ending drawings of the flipbook
you made in Activity One are similar to what animators call
extremes or key frames. The drawings that connect the
extremes are known as inbetweens. In the five boxes below,
draw or sketch the inbetweens. If you have trouble completing
the action, act it out in front of a mirror. Try to make the action
as lively as possible.
What happens in the scene?____________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Does the action move quickly or slowly?__________________
How does the speed of the action affect the mood of the scene?
________________________________________________________________________________
Every action in an animated film contributes to the story. By changing an
action, the animator changes the story. Imagine a character walking down
the street with his head in a book. If he bumps into a girl, he might anger
her, or they might share a laugh. If he avoids her without looking up, the
result would be completely different.The images in the first two boxes
below show the beginning of an action. Complete the action in the next
five boxes.
Now change one of the frames in the scene. How does this
affect the rest of the scene? ______________________________
What is the mood or atmosphere of the scene?______________
________________________________________________
Add a special effect such as weather, reflections or shadows.
How does this change the outcome of the story or its effect on
the audience? ____________________________________
________________________________________________
IMAGINING ACTION
Activity
3
Reproducible Master
2011 AMPAS.
Choose a comic strip from the Sunday newspaper, or a short
scene from a graphic novel or a comic book. Study the use of
color, the different sizes of the images, and the way the visuals
advance the story.
What happens in the scene?
__________________________________________________________
Describe the way the artist creates a sense of movement.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
What techniques does the artist use to develop mood and
emotion? ______________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Now, invent a simple story of your own. Identify its key
moments. On a separate piece of paper, note the moments
with a rough sketch and a caption or phrase. Then arrange the
key moments in order in boxes like those in Activity Two.
Title of film ______________________________________
What happens in the sequence? ______________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Are the characters animals, appliances, kids, adults? How will
this influence the story? ____________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Which frames are seen in closeup and which ones are seen
from a distance?__________________________________
______________________________________________
Why? __________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Indicate them on your storyboard. How does the action flow
from one key moment to another? ____________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Is the information clearly presented?____________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Where does the story take place?______________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Do your backgrounds make that the setting clear?__________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Who is the most important character in the sequence? How
would a viewer know that?__________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
STORYBOARD TERMS
Key Moment: The major points of a sequence, both of
action and story development.
Storyboard: Small drawings and captions arranged in
chronological order that show the action of the film step by
step and help the animator plan the films structure.
C
artoons are the most familiar kind of animation, but an
animator is not limited to drawn images. Paper, sand, glass,
pins, clay models, and puppets are some of the materials
animators have used to make films. Just about anything that can
be shifted, scattered, cut, rotated, or molded can be animated.
Silhouette, collage, and other forms of two-dimensional
animation are lighted from below or above for different results.
Animators of three-dimensional models and puppets use a
stop-motion camera, which may expose just one frame for each
change in position. Pixilation and time-lapse photography speed
up passing time for a comical or surreal effect. Materials for
animated films are limited only by your imagination.
All animated films, however, start with a storyboard, which
looks something like a comic strip. A storyboard is essentially a
visual outline of a film. It helps the animator plan the films action
and indicates color schemes, style, framing, and sometimes
dialogue as well. Using the storyboard, animators can discover
any potential problems before they begin to create the film.
Activity
4
Reproducible Master
2011 AMPAS
MOVEMENT in
THREE DIMENSIONS
I
nstead of pen and ink, animators working with Computer
Generated Imagery (CGI) use a variety of computer hardware and
software tools. Rather than sketching out characters and objects like
traditional animators, computer animators build a three-
dimensional model that can be viewed from different
angles. CGI was first used to create special effects in
live-action films and to make short animated
films, cartoons and commercials. Toy Story
(1995) was the first full-length, totally
computer animated film. Early
computer animation was sometimes criticized for
looking crude or lifeless, but technical advances make
contemporary CGI animation more convincing. Using
CGI, animators can reproduce the look of most
traditional animation techniques. Toy Story, for
example, looks similar to stop-motion puppet
animation, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
uses software to simulate paper cutouts while The
Lion King (1994) combines CGI and hand-drawn
animation.
Computer Animation Terms
Computer Generated Imagery
(CGI): Screen images that are animated using
computers and software containing complex mathematical formulas.
Model: A three-dimensional virtual character created on the
computer, which can be viewed from various angles.
Part A. View the sequences your teacher has chosen.
Titles of films: __________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
What differences do you notice between traditional animation and
CGI animation?____________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Which do you prefer and why? ________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Why might animators choose to use traditional methods and
materials if they are able to get similar results using CGI? __________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Part B. In the previous activities, we learned that
the animators job is to create rather than record the
illusion of movement. Now its time to look at the films
that were nominated for animation in previous years.
Go to http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/
ampas_awards to find a complete list of winners
and nominees.
Pick one film that you would like to see from the
list of nominated films or another film that
was recognized for achievement in
animation in a previous year. As you watch the film,
consider some of the guidelines that the members of
the Academy follow when making their award
selections:
Is the storytelling clear and focused?
Are the characters well-developed and believable?
Is the animation well-executed?
Does the animation style enhance the story?
Is the pacing smooth?
After viewing the film, describe on the back of this
sheet why you think the film won the award or was
nominated. Put yourself in the shoes of an Academy
member. Using what you know about each of this
years nominated filmseither from seeing them or
reading about thempredict how the professional
filmmakers in the Academy will vote.
Computer-
Generated Image
Model
L
a animacin ms temprana usaba aparatos mecnicos como
el praxinoscopio, el taumatropo, y el zotropo en vez de
pelcula. Despus de la invencin de la cmara cinematogrfica,
cineastas como Georges Mlis en Paris y J. Stuart Blackton en
Nueva York mezclaron animacin con accin de actores reales
para crear un efecto mgico. En 1906, Blackton hizo la primera
pelcula animada completamente dibujada a mano, Humorous
Phases of Funny Faces. En 1914, Raoul Barr y Bill Nolan
construyeron el primer estudio dedicado a la creacin de
pelculas animadas. La animacin avanzo un paso ms cuando
Winsor McCay cre Gertie the Dinosaur. Fue uno de los
primeros animadores que uso un estilo de movimiento
distintivo para expresar la personalidad del personaje animado.
Luego en 1922, un grupo de animadores dirigidos por Walt
Disney abrieron un estudio en California que llegara a
influenciar la
cinematografa
animada por
dcadas.
Produjeron tales
obras como
Steamboat Willie
(1928), Flowers
and Treesque
gan el primer
premio Oscar de
Pelcula Animada
Corta en
1931/32Snow
White and the
Seven Dwarfs (1937), Beauty and the Beast (1991) y The Lion
King (1994).
Toda la animacin, sea mecnica, en pelcula o en un
formato digital, trabaja porque el cerebro humano percibe una
secuencia de imgenes fijas en movimiento como accin
continua. Esto se llama persistencia de la visin. Las pelculas
animadas son hechas un cuadro a la vez. Cada cuadro o
exposicin representa un cambio minsculo en el personaje o
la escena que se esta
animando. Cuando se
proyecta la pelcula, los
dibujos aparentan
moverse. En las pelculas
tradicionales, hay 24
cuadros por cada
segundo que se
proyecta la pelcula.
Piensa en un objeto o
una accin que te gustara animar. Empieza tu folioscopio
dibujando la primera imagen sobre la ltima hoja de un bloc de
notas o un montn de tarjetas de ndice. En la prxima hoja,
traza sobre el dibujo, cambindolo ligeramente cada vez hasta
completar por lo menos 24 hojas. Considera cada hoja como
si fuera un cuadro de pelcula. Cuando hayas completado los
dibujos, puedes oscurecer las lneas con tinta negra y colorear
las figuras. Mantn el libro junto con una mano mientras
volteas las paginas desde atrs hacia alante con la otra para ver
tu imagen movindose
Qu pasa cuando volteas las hojas lentamente?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Cmo cambia el movimiento cuando sacas algunas de las hojas?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
Qu pasa si revuelves las hojas?
________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________
En que maneras es similar tu folioscopio a una pelcula animada?
________________________________________________________________
Actividad
1
Reproducible Master
2011 AMPAS
Trminos Bsicos de la Animacin
Cuadro: Una exposicin de la cinta de pelcula. Hay
diecisis cuadros en cada pie de pelcula y veinticuatro
cuadros por segundo de duracin sobre la pantalla.
En Vivo: Una pelcula con personas y objetos reales,
filmada a tiempo real.
Persistencia De La Visin: El fenmeno sensorial
que crea la ilusin de movimiento cuando una serie de
imgenes fijas aparecen fugazmente en sucesin rpida.
Praxinoscopio: Uno de los primeros aparatos de animacin,
similar a un zotropo, que usa espejos en vez de rendijas.
Registracin: Cualquier sistema que sujeta a los
dibujos, celes o cuadros en su lugar. En un folioscopio, el
empasto de un bloc de papel o el gancho que mantiene unido
el montn de tarjetas de ndice se parece a las estacas que el
animador usa para mantener sus dibujos en lnea.
Rotoscopio: Un instrumento que permite que el
animador trac metraje en vivo cuadro por cuadro.
Taumatropo: Un disco plano con un dibujo diferente en
cada lado. Cuando se hace girar el disco, los dibujos aparentan
combinarse. Un ejemplo comn es uno con un ave en un lado
y una jaula en el otro.
Zotropo: Un cilindro vaci que contiene una cinta de
papel con imgenes secunciales. Cuando se pone a girar el
cilindro, las imgenes son vistas por rendijas separadas por
una distancia fija y parece que se estn moviendo.
Los ORGENES
de la ANIMACIN
Gertie the Dinosaur (1914)
Estudio de Movimiento de Eadweard
Muybridge alrededor de 1872
2011 AMPAS
Parte B. El animador Norman
McLaren dijo que la animacin no es el
arte de dibujos que se mueven, sino
ms bien el arte de movimientos que son dibujados.
Considera una escena en un bosque. Cada animal se mueve
de una manera diferente. Sea los pasos torpes de un fauno
joven o los brincos energticos de un conejo alegre. El
susurro ligero de las hojas de los rboles nos indica que es
un buen da. Un arroyo serpentea debajo de los rboles,
rompiendo ligeramente sobre las piedras bajo la superficie.
Cul estado de nimo es conducido por esta escena?
__________________________________________________
Imagina que algo peligroso se aproxima. Cmo se reflejara
esto en los movimientos de los personajes y su ambiente?
____________________________________________________
Piensa sobre una emocin como miedo, felicidad o
tristeza y represntala frente a un espejo. Cules
expresiones faciales usaste?
__________________________________________________
Cmo se movi tu cuerpo? __________________________
____________________________________________________
Qu piensas que quiso decir McLaren por su declaracin?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Por qu piensas que los animadores son llamados los
actores de una pelcula animada?
____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Terminologa De Animacin Por
Acetatos
Cel: Una hoja de celuloide o acetato de 0.005 pulgadas
de grosor, sobre cual dibujos de animacin son trazados o
fotocopiados.
Extremos: El comienzo y final de una accin animada,
tambin llamados cuadros claves en animacin por
computadora.
Intermedios: Los dibujos que representan la accin
desde un extremo hasta el otro.
Escena: Accin contina en un solo lugar.
Secuencia: Una coleccin de escenas individuales
que representan una parte especifica del cuento,
Efecto Especial: Cualquier efecto aadido, como
lluvia, reflexiones o sombras, que le dan profundidad y la
impresin de dimensin a los dibujos animados.
Aplastar Y Estirar: Dos distorsiones opuestas
de objetos animados que ayudan crear expresin y la
ilusin de movimiento en la animacin.
H
asta el 1914, cuando Earl Hund patento la animacin por acetatos
usandocels (hojas transparentes de celuloide o acetato), los
animadores se limitaban a dibujos lineales simples (como esos en Gertie
the Dinosaur). Sin cels se tena que dibujar de nuevo la escena entera,
incluyendo el fondo, cada vez que se mova un objeto o personaje.
Usando acetatos, cada parte de la escena se poda dibujar por separado.
Por ejemplo, cuando se mueve el brazo de un personaje, el animador
dibuja varios acetatos con el brazo en diferentes posiciones. Estos dibujos
se intercambian segn es necesario y el dibujo del fondo se puede usar
mltiples veces. Los acetatos son estratificados en pilas de tres o cuatro.
Del punto de vista de la cmara, las imgenes aparentan ser dibujadas
sobre la misma hoja.
Parte A. El primer dibujo y el ltimo dibujo del folioscopio que
hiciste en la Actividad Uno son similares a lo que los animadores
llamanextremos ocuadros claves. Los dibujos que conectan a los
extremos son conocidos comointermedios. En los cinco cuadros
ms abajo dibuja los intermedios. Si se te hace difcil completar la
accin, actala frente a un espejo.Trata de hacer la accin tan vivida
como sea posible.
Qu pasa en la escena?
__________________________________________________________
Cmo se mueve la accin? Despacio o rpidamente? _______
__________________________________________________________
De que maneras afecta la velocidad de la accin al estado de
nimo de la escena? ______________________________________________________
Cada accin en una pelcula animada contribuye al cuento. Por
medio de cambiar una accin, el animador cambia la historia.
Imagina a un personaje caminando por la calle, perdido en un
libro. Si se choca con una mujer, ella puede enojarse o pueden
compartir una buena risa. Si el la evita sin mirar hacia arriba, el
resultado ser completamente diferente. Las imgenes en los
primeros dos cuadros representan el comienzo de una accin.
Completa la accin en los prximos cinco cuadros.
Ahora, cambia uno de los cuadros de la escena. Cmo afecta
esto al resto de la escena? ____________________________
Cul es el estado de nimo o el ambiente de la escena? _______
________________________________________________
Aade un efecto especial como lluvia, reflexiones o sombras. Cmo
cambia esto al resultado del cuento o su efecto sobre el pblico?
________________________________________________
Actividad
2
DIBUJANDO MOVIMIENTO
IMAGINANDO ACCIN
Actividad
3
Reproducible Master
2011 AMPAS.
Escoge una tira cmica del peridico del domingo o una
escena corta de una novela grafica o una historieta. Estudia el
uso de color, los diferentes tamaos de las imgenes y la
manera en que la composicin visual avanza la historia.
Qu pasa en la escena? ____________________________
__________________________________________________________
Describe la manera en que el artista crea una sensacin de
movimiento. __________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Cules tcnicas usa el artista para desarrollar el estado de
humor y la emocin? __________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
Ahora, inventa tu propia historia simple. Identifica sus
momentos clave. En otra hoja de papel, anota estos momentos
con un embozo y una leyenda o frase. Luego arregla los
momentos clave en cuadros como los de la Actividad Dos.
Titulo de pelcula __________________________________
Qu pasa en la secuencia? __________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Hay personajes, animales, electrodomsticos, nios, adultos?
Cmo influir esto a la historia?______________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Cules de los cuadros se ven en primer plano y cuales son
vistos a distancia? ________________________________________
______________________________________________
Por qu? __________________________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Indica estos momentos en tu storyboard. Cmo fluye la
accin de un momento clave al otro? __________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Est presentada claramente la informacin? __________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Adonde ocurre la historia? ____________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Clarifican tus fondos el escenario en que esta ocurriendo la
accin? __________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Quin es el personaje ms importante de la secuencia?
Cmo lo sabr el espectador? ____________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
______________________________________________
Trminos Del Storyboard
Momento Clave: Los puntos ms importantes de una
secuencia, tanto en trminos de accin como en el desarrollo
de la historia.
Storyboard: Dibujos pequeos con leyendas arreglados en
orden cronolgica que muestran la accin de la pelcula paso a
paso y ayudan al animador a planear la estructura de la pelcula.
L
os dibujos animados son el tipo de animacin mas conocido, pero un
animador no esta limitado a usar solamente imgenes dibujadas.
Papel, arena, vidrio, alfileres, modelos de masilla y tteres son algunos de
los materiales que han sido usados por animadores para hacer pelculas.
Casi cualquier cosa que se puede mover, desparramar, cortar, girar o
moldear se puede animar. Silueta, collage y otras formas de animacin
bidimensional son iluminadas de abajo o de arriba para obtener
resultados diferentes. Los animadores de modelos tridimensionales y
tteres utilizan una cmara de animacin fotograma a fotograma, que
puede exponer solo un cuadro por cada cambio de posicin. La
pxelacin y la fotografa con toma a intervalos aceleran el paso del
tiempo para crear un efecto cmico o surrealista. Los materiales para
pelculas animadas son limitados solo por tu imaginacin.
Sin embargo, todas las pelculas animadas comienzan con un
storyboard, que es parecido a una tira cmica. Un storyboard es
esencialmente un resumen visual de una pelcula.Ayuda al animador
a planear la accin de la pelcula e indica la combinacin de colores,
el estilo, el enmarcado y a veces el dialogo tambin. Usando el
storyboard, los animadores pueden descubrir problemas
potenciales antes de comenzar a crear la pelcula.
Actividad
4
Reproducible Master
2011 AMPAS
MOVIMIENTO en
TRES DIMENSIONES
E
n lugar de pluma y tinta, los animadores que trabajan con imgenes de
sntesis usan una variedad de maquinaria y programas. En vez de dibujar a
los personajes y objetos como los animadores tradicionales, los animadores
por computadora construyen unmodelo tridimensional que se puede mirar
de diferentes ngulos.Al principio, la animacin por computadora
fue usada para hacer pelculas animadas cortas, dibujos
animados y anuncios. Toy Story (1995) fue la primera pelcula
animada completamente por computadora.
Inicialmente, las imgenes de sntesis fueron
criticadas por parecer rudimentarias y sin vida,
pero los avances tcnicos han hecho que la
animacin por computadora contempornea
sea mucho ms convincente. Usando la animacin por
computadora los animadores pueden reproducir la
apariencia de la mayora de las tcnicas de animacin
tradicionales. Por ejemplo, Toy Story parece similar a la
animacin fotograma a fotograma de tteres, South Park:
Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999) usa programas para hacer
parecer que los personajes fueron cortados de una hoja de
papel, mientras que The Lion King (1994) combina animacin
por computadora con animacin dibujada a mano.
Trminos De Animacin A
Computadoras
Imgenes De Sntesis: Imgenes sobre
la pantalla que son creadas usando computadoras y programas que
contienen formulas matemticas complejas.
Modelo: Un personaje tridimensional virtual creado con una
computadora que se puede mirar de varios ngulos.
Parte A. Ve las secuencias que tu maestra/o ha escogido.
Ttulos de las pelculas: ______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Cules diferencias notaste entre la animacin tradicional y la
animacin por computadora? ________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Cul prefieres y por qu? ____________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Cules razones puede tener un animador para escoger mtodos y
materiales tradicionales si puede conseguir resultados similares con la
animacin a computadora? ______________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Parte B. En las actividades anteriores, aprendimos
que el trabajo del animador es crear ms que grabar la
ilusin de movimiento. Ahora es tiempo que miremos a
las pelculas que fueron nominadas para los premios de
animacin en aos previos.Ve a http://awards
database.oscars.org/ampas_awards para
encontrar una lista completa de los ganadores y los
nominados.
Escoge una pelcula que te gustara ver de la lista
de pelculas nominadas u otra pelcula que fue
reconocida por xito en animacin durante
un ao previo. Mientras ves la pelcula,
considera algunas de las pautas seguidas por los
miembros de la Academia cuando hacen sus
selecciones para los premios:
Es clara y enfocada la manera en que se presenta
el cuento?
Son bien desarrollados y verosmiles los
personajes?
Esta bien realizada la animacin?
Aumenta la historia el estilo de animacin?
Tiene un paso fluido?
Despus de ver la pelcula, en el lado trasero de esta
hoja describe por que piensas que la pelcula gano el
premio o fue nominada. Ponte en los zapatos de un
miembro de la Academia. Usando lo que sabes sobre
cada pelcula nominada este aosea porque la viste o
porque leste sobre ellaadivina como votaran los
cineastas profesionales de la Academia.
Modelo de Imagen
de Sntesis