Kira C animation blog

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Bibliography

Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Cut out animation VS Computer Generated animation

Cut-out animations

Cutout animation is a type of stop motion that uses 2D characters, backgrounds and props from materials like photographs, card, paper and stiff fabrics. The worlds first known animated feature films were made using cut out animation and made in Argentina by an Italian director and cartoonist named Quirino Cristianai. Cut out animation is a technique that involves moving cut out shapes in small movements and capturing them at every stage, although it could become laborious, it is alot simpler than drawing each frame by hand.

'El Apostol' was released in 1917 and it utilizes the cut-out technique, it was directed and produced by Quirino Cristiani, but written by Alfonso de Laferrere. The animation was a satire, based on president Hipolito Yrigoyen as he ascended to heaven, to allow him to use Jupiter thunderbolts to clean Buenos Aires of corruption and immortality. The film was made up of 58,000 frames, which was to be played over an hour and 10 minuets. The feature film was though of highly by critics at the time, and it became a commercial success. However, a fire destroyed the cartoonist studio and burnt the only known copy of 'El Apostle' so now it is thought of as a lost film.

These days, cut out animation is usually produced using computers with scanned images or vector graphics, which replaced physically cutting out the materials. Most notably, the original adult animation 'South Park' was made using paper cut outs, however now the use a computer to help them and create a smoother Finnish. Other notable examples of cut out animation

More complex figures can be made using the technique, this includes silhouette animation. This method usually means that the figure will have joints made using a pin or a rivet, or if they were to be made using a computer, you would use an anchor. The connections act as a mechanical link, which creates the effect of movement. Charlotte Reiniger was a German film director, and she was at the front of pioneering silhouette animation. She had a distinctive artistic style, that was very different to other artists during the 1920's-30's. In the 1920's artist were reliant on their characters facial expression to show emotions or actions, however Reiniger's characters used gestures to show their emotions. The artist also used the metamorphism technique alot in her work, and her focus on the transformation of her characters movements benefited her work greatly, particularly with her fairytale pieces. Her characters were not biologically correct however they were able to express fluidity which was extremely important to her specific style of expressionism. There were other animators at the time which used the same kind of techniques, however her work stood out because she was able to accomplish this using the cut out technique. The artist work has also been referenced in many modern productions, Disney's 'Fantasia' uses her technique in the opening scene and it was also utalized in the opening credits of the 2004 film 'Lemony Snickets - A series of unfortunate events'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBYyol_uBTc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbYz4Se9FP4

Computer generated animations -

Computer generated is a process used to generate animated images. The more general term for this is computer generated images (CGI) which includes static and dynamic scenes, whereas computer generated only refers to moving images.

Computer animations are the digital equivalent to typical stop motion techniques using 3D models, comparatively traditional stop motion techniques use 2D models shot frame by frame. Computer generated animations are also more controllable than other physically based techniques because it allows the creation of some images which are unobtainable using traditional stop motion processes. It also allows an artist using a single graphic to produce content without using sets, actors and props. Furthermore, to create the effect of movement an image on a computer screen is constantly replaced by a new image in a slightly new position.

In order to trick the eye and brain into thinking they are seeing a smooth moving object, the pictures are drawn at roughly 20 frames a second or faster. When using frames above 75 per second, no improvement in movement can be seen as a result of the way the human eye and brain perceive things. In comparison, traditional animation techniques are shot using a frame rate of 15 frames a second, but this is considered acceptable because of the style of cartoons. So, in order for computer generated images to produce a realistic image, they must be shot using a higher frame rate than traditional stop motion techniques.

The origins of CGI go back to 1968, a group of physicists and mathematicians developed ground-breaking research which allowed them to move a cat across a screen. The scientists had come up with a formula that was able to print hundreds of frames , and when it was processed could be used and converted into usable film. Furthermore, in the 1970's CGI technology really gained attention as a result of the development of technology. A few years after 'the moving cat', 2D animator Peter Foldes produced the first CGI short film and it was drawn using a data tablet, the short was titled 'Hunger'. The short story was told with no words and it was a political and moral story about greed and gluttony in a modern society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY8jpD8zU4Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9sytPC1l0o

The first 3D computer generated was used in the 1976 film 'Futureworld'. The film is a science fiction thriller that was a sequel to the film 'Westworld'; it chose to take the plot in an alternative direction but that wasn't recieved positivley by critics. 'Futureworld' was the first big feature film to use the 3D computer generated images. CGI was used to create an animated hand and face, which was a digitalized version of Edwin Catmulls left hand.

The famous director George Lucus was able to see the huge potential that using CGI could have, but he chose to combine analogue and digital techniques in 'Star wars - a new hope', which was released in 1977. The film had been re-released after seeing Steven Speilbergs 'Jurassic Park'. The special edition of the film featured scenes that unobtainable as a result of time constraints, technology and financial issues; scenes such as a meeting between Jabba the hut and Han Solo. Although most of the changes that Lucus had made were minor, may fans and critics though that he had degraded the films nature. One of the most controversial changes made was when the Bounty hunter, Greedo, shoots first when he confronts Han Solo.

When the 21st century came, the possibilities of CGI became endless, as computer generated images becoming a part of authentic film. Lord of the Rings was released in 2001 and it is a fantasy adventure film set in middle earth. The film was the first movie franchise to use artificial intelligence for their digital characters, but it also introduced the first photo realistic motion captured character with the role of Gollum. One of the most obvious uses of special effects, and it is used in every scene, is the techniques that ensured everything was to the correct scale. Elijah Wood (aka Frodo) is 5ft 6in in real life, however his character in the film is not even four foot. A vast variety of techniques and methods were used to ensure that the hobbits would appear in their iconic small stature. Comparatively, John -Rhys-Davies (aka Gimli)happened to be the correct height. therefore none of his scenes had to be shot twice. Large and small scale doubles had to be used in some scenes, and similarly entire duplicates of sets were used so that the characters appeared to be the right size and scale. For example At some point in the film, Frodo is running through a corridor followed by Gandolf, both characters had to be filmed using a different scale corridor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfRlWv2ue3I

'The matrix - Reloaded' is a science fiction action film, released in 2003, and it was the first sequel to the matrix series. It was the first film to use a techniques called universal capture, which meant the creators were able to capture more frames in one image than any other film at the time. The film had earned a total of 281/5 million in America and 742.1 million worldwide. Additionally, the animated film 'The polar express' further pushed the boundries of Computer generated imagery by using motion capture and CGI on all of its characters.

Many breakthroughs followed the release of these films as technology entered the realm of of photo realistic imagery, most notably 'Avatar'. The epic science fiction film was released in 2009, and written, directed, produced and co-edited by James Cameron. It is set in mid 22nd century, where humans are colonizing Pandora, which is a habitable of a gas giant in the star system Alpha Centuri. The development of the film begun in 1994 when the director wrote a treatment of 80 pages. Filming was meant to take place in 1997, when Cameron had completed the iconic film 'Titanic', and it was planned to be released in 1999. However, Cameron said that in order to create the film he desired, the technology was not available yet. The film had an official budget of 237 million dollars, but other estimates suggest that the film cost 280 million and 310 million dollars. When the film was finally made, it made extensive use of computer generated imagery as almost everything seen has been adapted using technology. The film received extremely positive reviews from critics and audiences, mostly praising the ground-breaking use of special effects. When it was first released, the film had broken several box office records and it became one of the highest grossing films of all time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8Mi0elohJw

Cut out animation is a very traditional type of animation, dating back to 1917.It uses 2D characters and sets, which would add very little depth. When the rise and development of technology came, there was no need to use traditional techniques because a computer and motion capture suits could do it all for you, filming would become less tedious and time consuming, however that's not to say it was easy either. Using CGI would allow animators to create realistic fantasy worlds, the technique is used allot in the science fiction genre, and it helps to add a sense of depth to films, making it even more realistic. Additionally, the movement that could be seen when using cut out animations could be quite judder, in comparison to the use of CGI which allowed for smooth movements and transitions

Claymation VS Human pixelation

Claymation

Claymation, or as it is sometimes called clay animation, is one of a variety of forms of animation where each character or background is made of a malleable substance and shot in frames. Each individual piece is sculpted from clay or any other malleable material, around a wire skeleton known as a armature, then the figures are arranged on a set where each individual movement is done by hand and photographed at every step. When the sequence is put together and watched, the viewer can see the collection of images as a movement. To do this technique to a professional standard, a consistent shooting environment is needed to create the illusion of continuity and all objects must be consistently placed and lit with the same lighting; but most importantly, the work has to be done in a calm environment because any small movement could dramatically impact the scene.

Producing a Claymation can become extremely tedious, normal films run at roughly 24 frames per second and when shooting in twos 12 changes will be made for one second of movement. If you were to shoot a movie that was half hour long, you would need to make approximately 21,600 stops. Additionally, shooting a 90 minuet long film would take roughly 64,800 stops but this may take longer if some scenes were to be shot in ones.

Claymation films were first produced in American in 1908, when Edison manufacturing released a short silent film which was titled 'The sculptors welsh rarebit dream'. In 1961 claymation started to become a trend, the east coast artist known as Helana Smith Dayton and west coast animator Willie Hopkins, created a range of claymation films on a variety of subjects. Dayton began experimenting with clay animation in 1916, she made 16 poses for the figures which she had sculpted, this would mean that each reel of film would 16,000 seperate poses. Later in 1917, Dayton realeased her addaption of William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Julliet', which is thought to be one of the first stop motion films in history. Willie Hopkins was a prolific animator, he produced over 50 clay animated for the weekly release of 'universal screen magazine' . However, by the 1920's cartoon animations that used cels or the 'slash system' became established as the dominant technique when producing animations.

Despite claymation being driven into obsecurity, in 1921 clay animation was used in a film titled 'modelling' which was an out of the inkwell film produced by the newly created Fleischer brother studios, founded as inkwell studios by brothers Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer form the begging until its parent company Paramount Pictures bought ownership. 'Modelling' used clay in eight shots and it was one of the exceptional uses of clay animation in short films during the 1920's.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyetrAePLTA

A varition of clay animation began to be developed by Craig
Bartlett, which can clearly be seen in his series titled 'Arnold'. The animator used clay painting techniques, however he als0
built up clay images to elevate from the flat platform he used,
giving a slight 3d look to his stop motion films

Claymation can come in a variety of forms -

'Freeform' claymation usually describes the process where the shape of the clay changes drastically as the animation progresses.

Another variation of claymation is known as 'strata-cut animation', which is when a long 'bread-like' loaf of clay is packed with varying images on the inside and sliced into thin sheets. The camera takes an image at the end of every cut, which shows the movement of the internal images inside the clay.

Another claymation technique is described as 'clay painting' and it is supposedly able to blur the distinction between traditional flat animation and stop motion. 'Clay painting' is when clay is placed on a flat surface and moved as if it were wet oil paints, and it will produce any style of an image with a slight clay look to it.

There is a variation of claymation that is casually known as 'clay melting' and this is when any heat source is applied above or bellow clay which causes it to melt, whilst a camera is filming on a time lapse setting to film the process as it happens.

The use of the term 'hot set' is used by animators in the production process. The clay figures will be placed into the perfect position and the animator can continue shooting. If an animator calls their set a 'hot set', then it means that nobody is allowed to touch the set or the shoot may destroy the production. Some scenes might have to be shot quickly, if a scene is unfinished and the weather becomes humid for example, the characters will have an obvious difference as they can become deformed.

Some of the most well known claymation include 'The PJ's' ,an American stopmotion TV series produced by Eddie Murphy. The series portrayed life in an urban public housing, based on the Cabrini-green housing project in Chicago. Fourty Four episodes of the series were aired over the space of two years and each episode took roughly two months too shoot. The show began extremely popular however it was cancelled due to its high budget and declining ratings, however it did win three Emmy awards and an Annie award. Other notable clay animations might be 'craeture comforst' which was produced by the highly popular Aardman studios. 'Creature comforts' was a stop motion comedy mockumentry, orginating from the short film with the same title. The film used animated animals with a soundtrack of people talking, making it sound like it was the animals were being interviewed, adding to comical value. Other popular animations made by Aardman studios might include the highly popular and well loved 'Wallace and Grommit', 'Shaun The sheep' and most recently 'Early man'.

Pixilation

Pixilation is a stop motion technique when actors are used as a frame by frame subject for an animated film, this is done repeatedly posing while the frames are being taken one shot at a time with a camera, so the actor almost becomes a human puppet. The technique is often used as a way to combine live action with computer generated characters, which can often be seen in the work of Pes in such animations as 'Western speghetti' and 'Fresh guacamole'. Pixilation has become extremely popular, it can be seen in films and shorts, adverts and music videos.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNJdJIwCF_Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjLW5_dGAM

Pixilation has been around since the start of early film processing, and it can be seen in its earliest form dating back to 1910 but it didn't become a popular form of animation untill the 50's. Norman Mclaren made pixilation popular with the film 'neighbours' and it could be argued as the most famous pixilation film. The film displays ant war themes through two arguing neighbours, and it uses pixilation to create a more dramatised version of the real world. Mclaren created the soundtrack for the film by scratching the edge of the film, creating lines and triangles which the projector would read as sound. The film could also be through of as one of the most controversial films NFB had ever made, with its strong political message. Mclaren said "I was inspired to make neighbours by a stay of almost a year in the peoples republic of China. Although i only saw the beggings of the Mao revoloution, my faith in human nature was reinvigorated. Then i came back to Quebec and the Korean war began. I decided to make a really strong film about anti-materialism and against war"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-o9dYwro_Q

One of the most famous uses of pixilation can be seen in Peter Gabreiles 'sledgehammer' video ,and similarly to Pes, it combines traditional stop motion techniques with pixilation. The video was commisioned by Tessa Watts at Virgin Records, it was directed by Stephan R Johnson and produced by Adam Whittaker. The Brother Quay and Aardamn animations created the Pixilation, claymation and stop motion techniques that gave the songs video life. Two dead, featherless chickens are shown dancing in the middle of the song, they were animated by Nick park, who works for Aardaman animations, and he was working to refine his work with plasticine at the time. Gabriel had to lay under a sheet of glass for sixteen hours whilst the video was being shot one frame at a time, he said it took alot of hard work and he remebered a time when he though to himself "if anyone wants to copy this video, good luck to them". The video won nine MTV music video awards in in 1987, making it the most awards a single has ever won; it was also ranked number four on MTV's 100 greatest music video's ever made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g93mz_eZ5N4

Pixilation is a stop motion technique that uses humans rather than figures such as claymation, however it uses a very similar technique. Instead of making an armature and photographing every slight movement, you would take photos of a person doing small movements each time. These techniques would probably take almost the same filming time, however using pixilation offers a more surreal view of the real world, whereas claymation allows artists to explore their imaginations by making the figures and set that they film, and is often used in
films largely for childrens entertainment however it has been seen to entertain adults too. Comparitivley, Pixilation can be used in almost anything, TV, film, music videos etc.

Friday, October 19, 2018

Techniques and Formats -

Time Lapse - A sequence of images taken over a period of time, when these images are played together they make the action appear much faster.

This technique is good because you can show movement over a long period of time

Disadvantages might include that it will take a long time and could become boring to shoot.

This type of animation could be used in science to document the movement of a planet or star, it could also be used in sports to show the steps at which a figure or object moves.

Claymation - Claymation is animation using malleable figures, each shot is taken one
frame at a time.

This type of animation is usually intended for a younger audience.

Disadvantages of this technique might be how time consuming and tedious this task might be, especially on a large scale.

Some advantages could include the effects you can create using an inanimate object.

Some examples include - Wallace and 'grommit', 'Shaun the sheep' and 'Early man'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0qagA4_eVQ

Found Object - Object animation is a type of stop motion that creates movement for any object that is not drawn.

The advantages of this technique are it means you can animate the real world, making for interesting narratives.

Some disadvantages might be that it could be quite difficult to get the correct speed to make your animation effective

Some examples include animators such as pes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBjLW5_dGAM

Puppetry - Puppet animation is a type of animation, where puppets are used because of their human quality's, so figures can be moved the puppet easily. Each frame is shot one frame at a time.

puppets are mostly used in children's television because they can interact with children.

Advantages of using puppets might include the fact puppets have human qualities and can easily convey emotions.

Some examples are iconic childrens' television such as 'Bagpuss' and 'clangers'. Some modern examples include 'Sesame Street' and 'The Muppets'

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=045Hxh7IfCU

Characteristics of stop motion -

Purposes of Stop Motion -

Education - Educational animations are used for the purpose of learning mostly in young

children this technology allows animations to be produced faster and cheaper

and could reach more people.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01tF21O2iso

Entertainment - Anyone can be entertained, although mostly for children's TV and film
animation can be used to entertain the older generations.

Children's animations include the likes of 'Dora the explorer', 'Scooby doo' and 'SpongeBob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npoO_YPrb2U

Adult animations might include, 'The Simpons' , 'Family Guy' or 'Rick and Morty'

Information - Animation can be used to give out information or communicate a message
mostly in adverts, this can be to anyone and has no defined audience

=
Uses and Audiences -

Feature film - Feature films are long running films, mostly shown in cinemas and used for entertainment or educational purposes. This will be dependent on genre and has no specific audience, although young children may not be because they might not be able to maintain focus for long periods of time.

Advertising - Promotes a product, this can be on television or using billboards etc. The audience depends on the product being promoted.

Music Videos - Music video's are visuals that can go with a track mostly shown online or on television used for entertainment, this would mostly reach the younger generation as they are the most popular viewership.

Computer Games - A video game that can be played on a computer or laptop. This would be seen advertised on billboards and using the television.. this product has a primary audience that I largely younger, although some older people might want to play the game

Websites - Websites are used as platforms for media, often used for business and marketing, but they can also be used for entertainment and social media and education.

Television - used for entertainment, it can have a varied audience but mostly used by the younger generation

how do these contemporary developers impact the future of stop motion?

Tim Burton

Tim Burton was born on August the 25th 1958, he is a well known American film producer, director, artist, animator and writer. Burton is best known for his dark gothic, and eccentric horror fantasy films, including the likes of 'Beetlejuice', 'The nightmare before christmas' , 'The corpse bride' , 'Edward Scissorhands' and 'Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street'. Burton is also responsible for the creation of iconic blockbusters including, 'Pee-wee's Big Adventure'', 'Planet of the Apes'', 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' , and his take on the children's classic fairytale 'Alice in Wonderland'.

Burton's career in the artistic industry began when 'Stalk of the Celery Monster' caught the attention of Walt Disney Productions' animation team, who offered Burton an animator's apprenticeship in the studio. He worked as a storyboard, concept artist and animator on films like 'The Fox and the Hound' and 'Tron', but his concept ideas never reached the finished films. Whilst he worked at Disney, Burton made his first short which he called 'Vincent'. The short was a six minute long black and white animation, based on a poem that Burton had also written. the short was the story young boy who dreamt of being his hero Vincent Price, who also the narrator. The film was produced by Rick Heinrich's, a friend Burtoon had met whilst he worked at Disney. The film was first shown and released at the 'Chicago Film Festival'. The short was followed by Burton's first live action production 'Hansel and Gretel', which was a Japanese themed adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale for 'Disney Channel'. The film was aired once in 1983 at 10:30 at night on Halloween, prints of the film are difficult to find which added too rumors that the project never existed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hD8uQzu0IL0

Burton's first live action film 'Frankenweenie' was released in 1984 and it was the fourth stop motion film that Burton produced, and it was also the first that wasn't a musical. The film payed tribute to 'Frankenstiens monster', but it was also a carefully constructed parody of the earlier film. It had a dark narrative and it tells the story of a young boy trying to bring his dog back to life after it was unfortunately hit by a car. After 'Frankenweenie' was released, Disney fired Burton, because he spent the company's resources on doing a film that would be too dark and scary for children to see, however Burton claims he "got bored" of working with them. On October the 5th 2012, Burton released a remake of the film that was in partnership with disney. The cast of 'Frankenweenie' uses around 250-300 puppets, and each one was individually made and costumed. The puppets would need to be able to used for filming for roughly a year so many of them would need to be individually repaired too. The process begins when Burton submits his drawings, showing what he wants the characters to look like. The team start working on plasticine models that will give a rough idea of what the finished product is going to look like. After that, the models are made, and the Plasticine models are made into a resin. Each model has specific mechanisms, which allow them to change facial expreessions and use a range of body language to communicate emotions. Sparky the dog uses roughly 300 mechanical parts, allowing him to do basic actions such as sitting. 'Frankenweenie' earned $35,291,068 in North America, and $46,200,000 in other countries, the film had a worldwide total earning of $81,491,068 In its second weekend of release, the film dropped to number seven grossing and earned an additional $7,054,334.Furthermore, In its third weekend of release, it dropped to number nine grossing with an earning of $4,329,358

Burton played a significant role in the development of children's animation because most children's animation at the time was cheerful and friendly, Burton changed this up by creating Gothic films that would appeal to the younger generation. Burton has clearly been influenced by the work of Ray Harryhausen, who also created realistic puppets for his animations, although Burtons puppets are much more sophisticated due to the wide range of technology available It is Burton's dark nature and unique style that makes him so popular in modern cinema. His gothic style and dark natured films created a new cinematic experience that could be enjoyed by children and their parents, bringing families together.

Peter Firmin

Peter Firmin was an English puppet maker and and artist. He was the founder of Small films, together with Oliver Prosgate. As a pair they created many children's TV programmes including iconic children's TV programmes such as 'Clangers' and ' Bagpuss'. Firmin made the puppets, sets and background for their productions, and he would would often contribute to sound and visual effects during filming. Aswell as his work with Postgate, Firmin had made other children's programmes and puppets. In 1959, in collaboration with his wife Joan, he created a programme based around nursery rhymes, he titled 'The Musical Box', . The programme used live cardboard animations and puppets and it was presented by Rolf Harris and later by Wally Whyton.

The 'Clangers' was a collection of short films about a race group of creatures who live on and inside a small planet like the moon. They speak in whistles, and only green soup which can only be supplied by the Soup Dragon, and blue pudding. Prosgate was the shows animator, writer and illustrator and Firmin was the model maker, he designed the figures and his wife dressed them, he was also an illustrator. The programme was first broadcasted on BBC1 between 1969 -1972, and they were followed by a special episode, released in 1974. A third series was aired in the United Kingdom on the 15th of June 2015, broadcasted on the CBeebies TV channel. The new episodes were still made using stop motion animation instead of the computer generated graphics which can be seen in children's TV shows, such as 'Fireman Sam', 'Noddy' and 'The Wombles'. One of the most well remembered aspects of the show was the use of sound effects, using music written by Vernon Elliot under the instructions of Prosgate. When the music was being recorded by the pair in a village town hall, they often left the window open which would mean that the sound of tweeting birds could be heard in the finished product. The clangers also made a distinctive whistling sound, made using swanee whistles and became and iconic characteristic of the much loved characters. The creators say that the creatures live in vacuum, so they communicate in a type of nuclear magnetic resonance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok6CoIwcJ-E

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsAyyOKoTik

'Bagpuss' was a children's TV series, made by Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin. Despite only releasing 13 episodes, bagpuss is is remembered by the nation. The series was repeated in the UK for 13 years, and in 1999 the show won a BBC poll for 'the UK's favourite children's TV programme'. The series was first broadcasted from the 12th of February 1974, until May 1979. The title character was a soggy old cloth cat, baggy and a bit loose at the seams. Each episode began in the same way, beginning with a series of sepia toned images. The viewer is about a little girl named Emily, played by Firmins daughter. She owned a shop that gave lost and broken things a home and displayed them in the window, so their owners could collect them however the shop did not sell anything. She left the large, saggy, pink and white striped cat named Bagpuss at the front. Firmin had originally intended for Bagpuss to be a retired Indian Army cat, who entertained children in the hospital. His "visible thoughts" would appear in a "thinks bubble" above his head. Postgate and Firmin were asked to develop this character for a BBC programme, it was decided to place Bagpuss in the shop with other characters and to use his "thinks bubble" as a way to illustrate the stories and fix or explore the objects that Emily found.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpwhohWhrEE

I believe that Peter Firmin had a significant impact on the development of using stop motion, because despite using puppets, he warmed a nation to his characters and this has been mirrored in later years in children's programmes such as 'sooty', as he never actually speaks but squeaks instead. The work of Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen can be seen as Bagpuss is realistic, and mimics the body language and characteristics of a real cat.

Burton uses carefully developed puppetry and gothic narratives to appeal to the darker side of childrens entertainment, despite Disney dropping him because they thought he had "wasted money" on a film that was too dark for children to see. His puppets are skillfully developed using techniques the enable them to perform enhanced facial expressions and movements, which convey emotion clearly. Burtons work in comparison to Firmins is done to a higher quality, the puppets are developed so they move smoothly. The puppets that can be seen in work like 'Bagpuss' and 'Clangers' appears clunkier, and less realistic. At the same time Firmins work appeals to the softer and more innocent aspect of children's TV, using animals to connect with children. It could be argued that Firmins work was more skilfull than Burtons as he was able to communicate emotions through characters that cannot speak, however this can also be seen in Burtons work with characters like sparky the dog in 'Frankenweenie'.

how do these developers impact the future of stop motion

Willis O'Brien

Willis O'Brien was born on the 2nd of March 1886, he died on November the 8th 1962. Willis was an American stop motion animation and special effects pioneer. ASIFA Hollywood say he was responsible "for some of the best images in cinema history". The artist is most well known for his work on films including "The lost world", the iconic films "King Kong", and "Mighty Joe Young", which he won the academy award for best visual effects in 1950.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDBkbHtjB6s

As a teenager O'Brien began his artistic career working as a cowboy, cartoonist and boxer and these three hobbies would build the foundation for one of his most well known pieces of work. He the began to focus his attention sculpting animal and human figures. Willis would add molded rubber to his figures, which would ad the freedom of movement and character. His creative abilities were noticed by the Edison company, who decided to hire him to produce a few shorts set in the prehistoric era. As his skills and career began to develop, his confidence began to grow and he started to build more complex models. His models could move, fight and looked like they could breathe,which confused audiences imagination with fear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZs_XvEk54Y

To prepare for 'King Kong', released in 1933, Willis went to zoo's to study the behaviour of gorillas and he went to boxing matches to watch their interactions and be able to better stage his own work. His attention to detail is what made his work so different and set his work apart from other artists at the time. The king kong model was 18 inches high and used a new style of projection film effect that would amaze audiences. Each scene was shot one frame at a time to create the illusion of movement. O'Brien had a skill too give a lifeless character a personality that audiences would be able to "understand and connect with."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sND4F3hdBS4

Although his technique was thought of as a "large technical process", it was able to combine stop motion with real life. 'King Kong' has been recreated repetativley in film and TV times using modern animation techniques, making it iconic in cinematic history. Additionally, other films that combined animation and real life, such as 'Who framed Roger Rabbit' would not be possible without Willis O'Brien's creation of king Kong and the ideas that he introduced.

Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen was born on the 29th of June 1920, and died on may the 7th 2013, he was a British artist,writer,producer and visual effects creator, and he is responsible for a form of stop motion known as "dynamation". Ray was most well known for his work with Willis O'brien on "mighty Joe young", which won him an academy award for best visual effects for. He is also known for his work on 'the 7th voyage of sinbad' in 1958, and 'jason and the Argonoauts' in 1963, which contains a famous sword fight with seven skeleton warriors. His last film was released in 1981 and it was 'clash of the titans' and after he retired from the industry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5uzwh4pLmQ

After he saw 'King Kong' in 1933, Harryhausen began to spend his younger years experimenting with creating short animations, which were mostly inspired by the science fiction literary genre at the time. The shorts used stop motion for scenes which showed creatures on the island or Kong. O'briens work on 'King Kong' inspired Harryhausen and a friend to meet with him. O'Brien critiqued Harryhausen's first models and encouraged him to take classes in graphic arts and sculpture to develop his skills.

Harryhausen's first model animation job, was on George Pal's 'Puppetoons' shorts which were based on his first demo reel of fighting dinosaurs from a project he called 'Evolution of the World' , however it was never finished. Moreover, during the second world was he served in the United States Special Services Division, as a loader, clapper boy, gofer and in later years he worked as a camera assistant, whilst he also worked at home on short animated films about the use and developcombined the bacgrment of military equipment. After the war he found some rolls of film, which he used them to make a series of short films based on fairy tales, he described them as his "Teething-rings".

Harryhausen was most famous for his ability to be able to give life to giant models, his models were carefully constructed so they moved realistically and could even be seen breathing. Harryhausens iconic cinematic experiences included animated model figurines that would often be seen - battaling with human enemys, biting them and flying away. His work may seem clunky when compared to todays animations, but at the time these effects we cutting edge and a huge step forward. Each scene would be shot one frame at a time,however this technique could soon become very exhausting and tedious. For example, the four minuet and thirty-seven second human fight sequence in 'Jason and the Argonauts' is reported to have taken four and a half months to film, this time included roughly 184,800 movement of his puppets.

Later using a technique he invented , which he called 'Dynamation', Harryhausen's models were able to interact with actors on screen in a realistic way.The process combined the background and the foreground by taking photo minatures infront of a rear projection. Sometimes, Harryhausen would shoot infrornt of a a partially covered glass screen. Later he would superimpose live footage on the partially covered part of the screen. This would help to make the creature appear as if they were in the middle of live action.

Harryhausen was hugely sugnificant in the role of developing stop motion becasue it was his techniques that allowed animators to combine realistically made models with digitally enhanced creatures. He used carefully constructed puppets that appeared realistic, so he was able to form a connection between his characters and his audience.However the work of Willis O'brien can clearly be seen in his work, as he similarly used realistic models in his work.