Kian Long BTEC Media Blog : History of animation

Pioneers & Technology

Below I researched a number of the different instruments invented to aid with the creation of animation, along with some information on the inventors and famous examples.

Developers

George Pal

George Pal was one of the early animators. He was born in Hungary, on the 1st of February 1908. Hungary is where he spent most of his studies. He studied at the Budapest Academy of Arts, so we can infer his passion was always to create media of some sort. He became famous for his work with inanimate objects, a style of animation which was perceived as advanced back then. Pal worked in the cartoon of UFA Studios, where he learnt a lot about his trade. He was perhaps influenced by the idea of bring things alive, perhaps to provide entertainment to himself as well as others during the World Wars.

Some examples of his work include Puppetoons (1940s) and The Great Rupert (1950).

Willis O'Brien

Willis O'Brien was a stop-motion animator. He was born in California, USA, on the 2nd MArch 1886. He was most famous for his work with models. He was known as the the 'pioneer' of stop-motion animation, with a lot of his work still being enjoyed today. The American's inspiration came from his admiration for sculpting, matched with his immense ability to bring life to his creations.

The most famous example of Willis O'Brien's work is King Kong (1993) but he also endured seuccess with his work, The Lost World (1925).

Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen was a visual effects artist. He is also known for his work within producing and directing. He was born in Los Angeles on June 19th, 1920. He is mostly known for his work with visual effects. Ray's inspiration actually came from when he viewed O'Brien's work in King Kong, he was so impressed he felt like he needed to succeed the work of O'Brien.

A famous example of Ray's work is Clash of the Titans (1981).

Phil Tippett

Phil Tippett is a movie director. He was born in California, USA, on September the 27th, 1951. He is a big advocate of VFX in his work, which we can see in some of his famous examples. Tippett was another animation icon who got inspiration by Willis O'Brien's King Kong. He was asked to produce a short scene for Star Wars: A New Hope. He has also worked with Steven Spielberg in Jurassic Park, as he is an expert in dinosaur movement.

Otmar Gutmann

Otmar Gutmann was a television producer. He was born in Munstertal, Germany on April 24, 1937. Although his main trade was production, he was also known for his animation work. He was most notorious for his work with the children's TV show 'Pingu'. Pingu was made using claymation, and it is still enjoyed by toddlers even today.

Tim Burton

Tim Burton is a film director, writer and animator. He was born on August the 25th, 1958 in California, USA. Tim Burton's childhood is what resulted in him being the notorious animator he is today. His mother owned a cat-themed gift shop, so as you can imagine, there was probably a large amount of strange-looking displays. He is known for gothic movies, or movies which don't fit within the mundane.

Some examples of his work include Edward Scissorhands (1990), Corpse Bride (2005) and Frankenweenie (2012).

Adam Shaheen

Brothers Quay

Brothers Quay are stop-motion animators, made up of Timothy and Stephen Quay. They are identical twins, born on June the 17th, 1947, in Pennsylvania, USA. They are known for using puppets in their work, often manipulated the way they see fit. They have always been creative, starring in operas and ballets, to name just a few side hobbies. They have created many advertisements and channel idents, including Doritos and Mars. They have made short films for the likes of Sesame Street and Punch and Judy, also.

Nick Park

Nick Park is a British animator, born in Lancashire. He was born on December the 6th, 1958. He is most commonly known for his caricature type characters, and his work with Aardman.

In order to achieve such a persona, Nick uses plasticine in order to hand-mold his characters. His most famous films belong to the Wallace and Gromit franchise, but other notable films include Chicken Run and Flushed Away.

Media platforms and audiences

TV programme

Pingu is an example of a stop-motion TV programme, which is common among children. The reason it is tailored around such a young target audience is due it's lack of language and heavy emphasis on movement. Movement is key in stop-motion animation as it keeps the audience interested in what's going on while also portraying a sense of talent from the animator, as it's an underrated, but extremely beneficial trait to possess.

Feature film

A famous example of a stop-motion feature film is Fantastic Mr Fox. Based on the book by Roald Dahl, the movie needed to be excellent in order to do the original book justice. This made the target audience all ages, as the book was intended for younger children, however many of today's adult read the book during their childhood, so they would love to see the film.

The ways in which the production team met the demands of the target audience were simple. They made some of the humor catered to adults, while serving a younger generation through the movements and action.

There are a lot of stop-motion advertisements out there. From my experience of creating a television advert, and including hindsight bias, I would say that it's probably the easiest way. Adverts are short and need to be snappy, and animations naturally attract and keep the interest of people from all age groups. This McCoys advert is used to attract men, which is adchieved through the grunty British voice and use of blue colouring.

Music Video

Music videos can often contain stop-motion animation. This is because a lot of artists want to represent their work in ways which isn't possible to achieve through human movement. The video below is a perfect example of this, as they use paper drawings in order to portray an even deeper level of sadness, which mixes with the style of the song.

Channel ident

Last but by no means least, channel idents. This is the brief we have been given to complete, so it was interesting to take a look at past examples. I decided to further my research on E4, by taking a look at examples of their idents. I found this example, using stop-motion animation. E4 is targeted towards teenagers of both genders, so using a media format which retains user attention is ideal.

The way in which this video achieved this is by including music, and fast movement between scenes.

Conclusion

To conclude my research of animation, in particular stop motion animation, I feel like the media form was created to differ from the norm, but also to retain user focus. It's almost impossible to take your eyes away from animation, because everything happens so quickly, and it's so satisfying to watch.

Of course, stop-motion animation is struggling to keep up with the arising of computer animation. As technology increases, more people are getting used to this style, and the standards are being raised. However, there are still some things which computers can't achieve, and to me at least, it always seems more impressive to see a handmade object move than the computer-made version. I don't think stop-motion will completely die out, even if industries find ways to merge the two styles.

Kian Long BTEC Media Blog

Sunday 24 September 2017

History of animation