STORIES MEDIATED

BY SCREENS
LESSON 12
• Animation is the process of making moving images from illustrated two-
dimensional or in-the-round three-dimensional figures.
• Animation can produce analogue media, a flip book, motion picture film, or
video.
• Animation can also be produced with digital media, using computer
programs.
• Animation can be shown on television, on the silver screen movie theaters,
or through downloadable pay-per view shows on the computer and from
the Internet.
• Animated content can easily be applied to games and website design as
motion graphics for the front end of the designs. The back end is under the
domain of software engineering and beyond the scope of visual arts.
• For this reason, website design creatives are split between "website
designer“ and "website engineer”. All the techniques that involve
creating aesthetically pleasing pages involve graphic design strategies on
the computer as well as motion graphics taken from animation techniques.
• The same concept applies to game design. Animation can also take the
form of mobile phone applications and creatives may also be split between
designers and engineers.
• This lesson zeroes in on the techniques in animation, the typologies, and
specific exemplars across the years.
 Early Typologies
• Traditional animation (also called cel animation or hand-drawn animation) was the
process used for most animated films of the 20th century.
• The individual frames of a traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, first
drawn on paper. To create the illusion of movement, each differs slightly from the one
before it.
• The animators drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets
called cels, which are filled in with paints in assigned colors or tones on the side opposite
of the line drawings.
• The completed character cels are photographed one-by-one against a painted
background by a camera onto motion picture film. Images displayed in a rapid
succession, within the range of 24 to 60 frames per second.
• The first film that was recorded on standard picture film and included animated
sequences was the 1900 Enchanted Drawing, which was followed by the first entirely
animated film-the 1906 Humorous Phases of Funny Faces by J. Stuart Blackton.
• In Europe, the French artist, Émile Cohl, created the first animated film using what came
to be known as traditional animation creation methods - the 1908 Fantasmagorie. The
film largely consisted of a stick figure moving about and encountering all manner of
morphing objects, a Wine bottle that transforms into a flower.
• There were also sections of live action in which the animator's hands would enter the
scene. The film was created by drawing each frame on paper and then shooting each
frame onto negative film, which gave the picture a blackboard look.
The 1900 - Enchanted Drawing
The 1906 Humorous Phases of Funny Faces
The 1908 Fantasmagorie
• The production of animated short films, typically referred to as "cartoons”, became an
industry of its own in 1910.
• A successful producer for cartoon short features tor the theater, John Randolph Bray
along with animator Earl Hurd, patented the cel animation process which dominated the
animation industry for the rest of the decade.
• Italian-Argentine cartoonist Quirino Cristiani made a satirical character El Peludo
(based on President Yrigoyen) patented in 1916 for the realization of his movies,
including the world's first animated feature film El Apóstol. Other techniques soon
followed.
• Rotoscoping is a technique patented by Max Fleischer in 1917 where animators trace
live-action movement, frame by frame.
• Lord of the Rings started as a cartoon for television in 1978 using this method.
• Animation was gaining momentum as an art and innovations were unfolding with greater
exponential improvement.
• Full animation refers to the process of producing traditionally animated films that
regularly use detailed drawings and plausible movement.
• Fully animated films can be made in a variety of styles, from those produced by the Walt
Disney studio in the 1980s to the 1990s (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast,
Aladdin, The Lion King) to the more 'cartoon' styles of the Warner Bros. animation
studio.
• Fully animated films are animated at 24 frames per second, with a combination of
animation on ones and twos, so that drawings can be held for one frame out of 24 or two
frames out of 24.
• In 1958, Hanna-Barbera released Huckleberry Hound, the first half hour television
program to feature animation. Television significantly decreased public attention to the
animated shorts being shown in theaters.
Rotoscoping
El Apóstol
The Lord of the Rings 1978
The Lord of the Rings 1978
Huckleberry Hound
• Stop-motion animation is used to describe animation created by physically
manipulating real-world objects and photographing them one frame of film at a time to
create the illusion of the movement.
• Traditional stop-motion animation is usually less expensive and time-consuming to
produce than current computer animation.
• Claymation uses figures made of clay or a similar malleable material to create stop-
motion animation. The figures may have an armature or wire frame inside, similar to the
related puppet animation that can be manipulated to pose the figures. Alternatively, the
figures may be made entirely of clay and morph into a variety of different shapes.
• Examples of clay-animated works include The Gumby Show (US, 1957-1967), Morph
shorts (UK, 1977-2000), Wallace and Gromit shorts (UK, as of 1989), Jan
Svankmajers Dimensions of Dialogue (Czechoslovakia, 1982), The Trap Door (UK,
1984).
• Strata-cut animation is most commonly a form of clay animation in which a long bread-
like "loaf" of clay, internally packed tight and loaded with varying imagery, is sliced into
thin sheets, with the animation camera taking a frame of the end of the loaf tor each cut,
eventually revealing the movement of the internal images within.
• Cutout animation is a type of stop-motion animation produced by moving two-
dimensional pieces of material paper or cloth.
• Silhouette animation is a variant of cutout animation in which the characters are backlit
and only visible as silhouettes.
• Model animation refers to stop-motion animation created to interact with and exist as a
part of a live-action world. Intercutting, matte effects, and split screens are often
employed to blend stop-motion characters or objects with live actors and settings.
Stop-motion animation
Claymation - Wallace and Gromit shorts
Strata-cut animation
Cutout animation
Silhouette animation
Model Animation
 Digital Innovations
• The traditional cel animation process became obsolete by the beginning of the 21st
century. Today, animators drawings and the backgrounds are either scanned into or
drawn directly into a computer system. Various software programs are used to
color the drawings and simulate camera movement and effects. The final animated
piece is output to one of several delivery media, including traditional 35 mm film
and newer media with digital video.
• Computer animation has become popular since Toy Story (1995), the first feature-
length animated film completely made using this technique. Traditionally animated
films which were produced with the aid of computer technology include The Lion
King (US, 1994), The Prince of Egypt (US, 1998), Akira (Japan, 1988), Spirited
Away (Japan, 2001).
• Computer animation encompasses a variety of techniques. 2D animation
techniques tend to focus on image manipulation while 3D techniques usually build
virtual worlds in which characters and objects move and interact. 3D animation can
create images that seem real to the viewer.
The Prince of Egypt (US, 1998)
3D Animation
• Cel-shaded animation is used to mimic traditional animation us computer software. Shading looks stark, with less blending of
colors. Examples include, Skyland (2007, France), The Iron Giant (1999, United States), Futurama (Fox, 1999) Appleseed Ex
Machina (2007, Japan), The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Walker (2002, Japan).
• Go motion is a variant of model animation that uses various techniques to create motion blur between frames of film, which is
not present in traditional stop-motion.
• The technique was invented by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett to create special effects scenes for the film The
Empire Strikes Back (1980). Another example is the dragon named “Vermithrax” from Dragonslayer (1981 film).
• Pixilation involves the use of live humans as stop motion characters. This enables a number of effects, including
disappearances and reappearances, allowing people to appear to slide across the ground, and other effects.
• Live-action/animation is a technique combining hand-drawn characters into live action shots or live action actors into
animated shots. One of the earlier uses was in Koko the Clown when Koko was drawn over live action footage. Other
examples include Who Framed Roger Rabbit (US, 1988), Space Jam (US, 1996) and Osmosis Jones (US, 2001).
• Machinima Films created by screen capturing in video games and virtual worlds.
• Motion capture is used when live-action actors wear special suits that allow computers to copy their movements into CG
characters. Examples include Polar Express (2004, US), Beowulf (2007, US), A Christmas Carol (2009, US), The Adventures
of Tintin (film) (2011, US).
• Photo-realistic animation is used primarily for animation that attempts to resemble real life, using advanced rendering that
mimics in detail skin, plants, water, fire, clouds, etc. Examples include Up (2009, US), How to Train Your Dragon (2010, US),
lce Age (2002, US).
• The Lord of the Rings trilogy in the 21st century is an example of computer generated effects used to great advantage.
• Peter Jackson asked a group of experts to make a software called WETA digital just to capture the motion of actors, create
virtual battlefields, and the realms of Middle Earth.
Cel-shaded animation : Appleseed Ex Machina
Go motion: the dragon named “Vermithrax” from Dragonslayer
Pixilation
 Anime
• Anime includes all genres found in cinema associated with Japanese animation. The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates
to 1917.
• The characteristic anime art style emerged in the 1960s with the works of Osamu Tezuka and spread internationally in the late
twentieth century, developing a large domestic and international audience.
• The anime industry consists of major names like Studio Ghibli, Gainax, and Toei Animation. Despite comprising only a fraction of
Japan’s domestic film market, anime makes up a majority of Japanese DVD sales.
• Anime consists of an ideal story-telling mechanism, combining graphic art, characterization, cinematography, and sound design.
• As for examples, Eiichiro Oda has been writing and illustrating The One Piece all the way back 1997, marking it as one of the most
successful content created in Japanese popular culture. It has been serialized in the Weekly Shonen Jump by Shueisha, adapted
for anime in television broadcast, and licensed as merchandise.
• Other weekly series as of this writing includes Ajin, World Trigger, Berserk, Attack on Titan, Tokyo Ghoul, to name but a few.
• Well-loved series such as Psycho Pass, Naruto and the longest-running Dragon Ball 2 have already reach their zenith and ended.
• Katsushika Hokusai (1760-May 1849) was a Japanese artist, ukiyo-e painter and printmaker of the Edo period. Born in Edo (now
Tokyo), Hokusai is best known as author of the woodblock print series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji.
• The Great Wave oft Kanagawa was created during the 1820s. Hokusai created the “Thirty-Six Views” both as a response to a
domestic travel boom and as part of a personal obsession with Mount Fuji. As Hokusai rose in fame, many people do not know he
had a daughter who toiled in his studio and whose works were attributed to the master.
• The 2016 anime full length feature, Miss Hokusai was helmed by award-winning director Keiichi Hara and Japanese powerhouse
Production I.G.
Miss Hokusai
 Philippine Context
• The first Filipino-made cartoon for television was Panday, created by Gerry Garcia in the 1980s based on the
comic book character of the same name produced by Carlo J. Caparas.
• RPN-9 (Radio Philippines Network) began airing in November 1986.
• From 1995 to 1997, Garcia also brought into life Adarna, the first Filipino full-length animation movie, based on
the story of the Adarna bird.
• Garcia wrote the story and directed Adarna under FLT Productions and Guiding Light Productions. Adarna
received recognition from the Metro Manila Film Festival on December 27, 1997 as the first animated movie in
Philippine cinema.
• In 1998, it was also included in the Asian Collection of Japans 7th Hiroshima Animation Festival.
• One of the earliest animated full-length features include Dayo: Sa Mundo ng Elementalia, created by Gerry
Garcia.
• Urduja was released in 2008.
• The beginnings of Philippine animation industry take us as early as the 1980s. Some studios established at that
time (there were around 50) include the following: Burbank Animation, Inc., Asian Animation, Fi- Cartoons, Toei
Animation Philippines (formerly EEI-Toei), Roadrunner (now a subsidiary of ABS-CBN Corporation), Toon City
Animation Inc., and Tuldok Animation Studios. Most of the clients arise from the need for international studios to
outsource cheaper labor and Filipino creativity.
• The Animation Council of the Philippines, Inc. is the industry association and serves as the primary overseer
and coordinator tor Filipino animators.
• Animahenasyon, is a Philippine animation festival established by the Animation Council of the Philippines.
Adarna
• There are also several successful Filipino animators sought by international
studios.
• Nelson "Rey” Bohol participated in the creation of Pixar's Inside Out, Monsters
University, Brave, WALL-E, Ratatouille, Cars, and Finding Nemo.
• While working for Disney, Filipino-Japanese artist Ruben Aquino worked on
Winnie the Pooh, The Princess and the Frog, and Lilo and Stitch.
• Armand Serrano works as a visual development artist for Walt Disney. He is one
of those who made the films Big Hero 6, Brother Bear, and Lilo and Stitch. He
worked at Sony and was part of Hotel Transylvania and Cloudy with a Chance
of Meatballs films.
• Animator and Layout Artist Mars Cabrera worked on Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles, Sabrina: The Animated Series, and Joseph to name a few.
• University of Santo Tomas (UST) graduate Virginia "Gini” Cruz-Santos studied
Fine Arts, major in Advertising, at UST before she became part of Pixar.
• Anthony Ocampo of Stargate Digital works on countless television series that
include The Walking Dead.