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Technique: Rotoscoping
Rotoscoping is an animation technique invented by the cartoonist Max Fleischer (July 19, 1883- September 11, 1972), that involves animators tracing over real life footage or images. The technique when first created involved recorded footage being projected onto a pane of frosted glass and then an animator tracing over the footage frame-by-frame. This was very time consuming and complicated compared to how rotoscoping is created now; nowadays editors can rotoscope footage just by simply using a preset filter. The more an animation needs to appear realistic the longer it takes, as there are different styles of rotoscoping that vary in look- some look more realistic than others- if an animation requires a realistic look, the process of rotoscoping will be much more complicated than simply making footage look like it's cartoon.
An example of a modern feature length film that uses rotoscoping is 'Avatar' (2009). The footage has to be captured using innovative technology, that tracks every movement the actors make and records every movement that their face makes as well as all of their expressions. This new way of rotoscoping is very different from the original process, that involved a cartoonist actually drawing over the footage frame-by-frame. |
Developer: Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison (February 11, 1847 - October 18, 1931) was a famous American inventor, and an animation pioneer. His contribution to animation was his invention the Kinetoscope. The Kinetoscope was a contraption that allowed people one at a time to watch films, this was the basic idea that introduced the principle of film projection that cinemas to this day still use. It was first introduced to the public in 1894.
The invention consisted of a closed cabinet where the film was stored, that stood 4 foot tall, with a peephole to view inside. Inside the cabinet is a light that illuminates the film, the film moves along a series of rollers, creating the illusion of a moving picture- when the film was rotated at the correct speed- the mechanism was driven by a motor. Thomas Edison in his time made many important inventions. Two famous inventions that opened doors for future creations, that we use today are:
As well as being an inventor Edison was also a bright businessman. He founded 14 companies, one of which being General Electric, that still today is an American multinational Conglomerate. |
Work of Animation: Spirited away
Synopsis:
"During her family's move to the suburbs, a sullen 10-year-old girl wanders into a world ruled by gods, witches and monsters, and where humans are changed into beats."-www.imdb.com Spirited Away (2001) is a feature length animation. It's an Academy Award Winner and Japan's highest grossing movie of all time. It was written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, he is one of Japan's greatest animation directors. He is known for his "Entertaining plots, compelling characters, and breathtaking animation"-www.imdb.com The film managed to spark every viewer's imagination and capture their attention. This filmed has been deemed a masterpiece by film critics and audiences alike. The film didn't use a complicated animation technique, it didn't use groundbreaking technology, in fact it was hand-drawn rather than computer animated, and that is a reason why it stands out from other works of animation. When this animation was in production hand-drawn animation was on its way to becoming a dead art-form, at that point in time animation was moving on to computer generated images (CGI); in fact 3 years after the film was released, in 2004, Disney closed its hand-drawn animation studio, meaning that Disney from there on was only going to create animations using CGI. The film grossed 30.4 billion yen at the box office, straight away making it Japan's highest grossing film. it was the first film to earn $200 million at the world wide box office, before opening in the United States. It made a total of $330 million. |
Institution: The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, simply referred to as 'Disney', is a multimedia corporation founded October 16th 1923, by Walter Elias 'Walt' Disney. Disney is responsible for producing a wide array of animations, using different techniques. Disney's repertoire is legendary, they have produced some of the worlds most loved stories and films.
Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney founded the corporation in 1923, under the name of Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, the studio operated under other names as well- The Walt Disney Studio and Walt Disney Productions, in 1986 it took on its current name, The Walt Disney Company. Disney has many divisions:
Snow White was animated using Cel Animation, animation in one of it's most raw forms. Cel animation consisted of each frame being hand drawn individually, until computer animation was invented. Big Hero 6 is a perfect example of how far animation has come, as for this film Disney used a new rendering tool-'Hyperion'. This new technology has allowed Disney to create an animation master piece is now award winning. |
Sources:
http://www.ge.com/about-us/history/thomas-edison
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison.htm
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/disneys-new-production-renderer-hyperion-yes-disney/
http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/18/disney-big-hero-6/
http://www.sparknotes.com/film/spiritedaway/section1.rhtml
http://www.ge.com/about-us/history/thomas-edison
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bledison.htm
http://www.fxguide.com/featured/disneys-new-production-renderer-hyperion-yes-disney/
http://www.engadget.com/2014/10/18/disney-big-hero-6/
http://www.sparknotes.com/film/spiritedaway/section1.rhtml