Kira C animation blog : November 2018

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.