View & Analyse Techniques, and Storylines
Sleeping Beauty (1959)
Studio: Walt Disney Motion Pictures
Director: Clyde Geronimi
Animation Style: 2D Cell
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Studio: Castle Films
Director: Don Chaffey
VFX: Ray Harryhausen
Animation Style: Stop-Motion/'Dynamation'
Animation Style: Stop-Motion/'Dynamation'
- Harryhausen's unique style of 'Dynamation,' projecting a live image behind the animation scene, and literally splitting the film, painting over parts of the image, and combining them.
Suzy Snowflake (1953)
Studio: Centaur Productions
Animator: Wah Ming Chang
Music: Rosemary Clooney
Writer: Sid Tepper, Roy C. Bennett
Animation Style: Stop-motion
- Character flying on a string/wire
- Interesting perception of depth
- Comedy (Second repetition of "snowman, 1...2...3")
The Lost World (1925)
Studio: First National Pictures (Dropped by RKO, due to expense)
Director: Harry O. Hoyt
DP: Arthur Edeson
Animation Style: Stop-Motion
- Utilised 18" models, with metal skeletons + rubber skins.
- A full day's work animating, produced around 20 seconds of film.
- In various sections of the film, the live actors were on-screen, at the same time as the animated dinosaurs. This was achieved by layering two negatives over one another.
- Bessie Love's character was not present in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's original 1912 novel - she was added in as a box office attraction, via the obligatory romance sub-plot.
- Manipulation of the film was used for fading to black, producing a vignette effect, and representing the idea of looking through binoculars.
- The Lost World is lovingly remembered as the grandfather of this breed of 'giant monster movies,' and was the precursor to such films as the original King Kong, and Godzilla.
Storyline: Based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's 1912 novel of the same name.
Aladdin (1992)
Studio: Walt Disney Motion Pictures
Director: Ron Clements, John Musker
Animation Style: 2D Cell
- Utilised the CAPS (Computer Animation Production System), as a faster, cheaper, digitised way of colouring the movie, rather than actually painting individual cells. This technique was first used by Disney in 1989's The Little Mermaid.
Frozen (2013)
Studio: Walt Disney Motion Pictures/Pixar
Director: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Animation Style: 3D Digital
Storyline: Based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen.
Storyline: Based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen.
Monsters Inc. (2001)
Studio: Pixar
Director: Pete Docter
Animation Style: 3D Digital
Creature Comforts (1989)
Studio: Aardman
Creator: Nick Park
Director: Richard Goleszowski
DP: Frank Passingham, Andy MacCormack, Charles Copping, Toby Howell
Animation Style: Stop-Motion/Claymation
- Documentary style: Static framing; subjects looking off-camera, at the 'interviewer,' rather than into the lens, etc.
- Interesting in that many animations of this nature tend to focus on moving one subject at a time - here, the entire scene is animated, often with background action utilised to comic effect.
- Attention paid to create realistic scenes - lighting and shadows; depth of field/focus pulling; sound effects/background noise.
- Social commentary, through the satirical perspective of animals
- Extremely tongue-in-cheek, and almost self-aware in places.
Zoetrope
("Wheel of Life")
Zoo = Animal or Life; trope = comes from the Greek word for ‘things that turn.’
A Zoetrope is a cylindrical device that resembles a drum, with an open top, supported by a central axis. There are a series of images printed on the inside that, when viewed through slits whilst the cylinder is moving, produce the illusion of continuous motion. The speed of the Zoetrope is variable: the greater the speed of motion, the greater the 'frame rate,' therefore improving the animation, by making it seem smoother, and more fluid. (How to Make a Zoetrope)
The design was originally based on Plateau's Phenakistoscope, which was the 3rd major optical toy to become popularised during the inception of animation, and modern cinema. In 1834, William George Horner brandished the device with the moniker 'Daedalum," or "Wheel of the Devil." In 1836, however, it was renamed by French inventorPierre Desvignes as the Zoetrope, which he considered to be a far less terrifying name. He preferred to liken the moving image to the idea of creating, or producing life, rather than it being something satanic, or to be afraid of.
Much like both the Thaumatrope, and the Phenakistoscope, the Zoetrope relies on the principle of Persistence of Vision. PoV is a stroboscopic effect, which works as a result of periods of darkness, inbetween each image; ergo, the slits in the Zoetrope simulate flashes of light, creating a strobe. This strobe effect was later useful in film projectors, which aimed to emulate it by using a shutter to interrupt the projector bulb, as the film passes through the gate.
In addition to PoV, the Zoetrope employs something known as the Phi Phenomenon. This is a result of the human brain trying to comprehend what it is actually seeing, and to make sense of things. It's almost the equivalent of subconsciously creating a motion tween between different images. This phenomenon is taken advantage of by skilled editors, in modern film-making, as often, people will not notice cuts in films, unless they're specifically paying attention - they can explore different shots, angles, and effects, but the experience will seem seamless to the viewer.
Zoo = Animal or Life; trope = comes from the Greek word for ‘things that turn.’
A Zoetrope is a cylindrical device that resembles a drum, with an open top, supported by a central axis. There are a series of images printed on the inside that, when viewed through slits whilst the cylinder is moving, produce the illusion of continuous motion. The speed of the Zoetrope is variable: the greater the speed of motion, the greater the 'frame rate,' therefore improving the animation, by making it seem smoother, and more fluid. (How to Make a Zoetrope)
The design was originally based on Plateau's Phenakistoscope, which was the 3rd major optical toy to become popularised during the inception of animation, and modern cinema. In 1834, William George Horner brandished the device with the moniker 'Daedalum," or "Wheel of the Devil." In 1836, however, it was renamed by French inventorPierre Desvignes as the Zoetrope, which he considered to be a far less terrifying name. He preferred to liken the moving image to the idea of creating, or producing life, rather than it being something satanic, or to be afraid of.
Much like both the Thaumatrope, and the Phenakistoscope, the Zoetrope relies on the principle of Persistence of Vision. PoV is a stroboscopic effect, which works as a result of periods of darkness, inbetween each image; ergo, the slits in the Zoetrope simulate flashes of light, creating a strobe. This strobe effect was later useful in film projectors, which aimed to emulate it by using a shutter to interrupt the projector bulb, as the film passes through the gate.
In addition to PoV, the Zoetrope employs something known as the Phi Phenomenon. This is a result of the human brain trying to comprehend what it is actually seeing, and to make sense of things. It's almost the equivalent of subconsciously creating a motion tween between different images. This phenomenon is taken advantage of by skilled editors, in modern film-making, as often, people will not notice cuts in films, unless they're specifically paying attention - they can explore different shots, angles, and effects, but the experience will seem seamless to the viewer.
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