Exploring Animation

Exploring Animation 
Animation - Drawn

Animation is a sped up display of a number of different still images, that are positioned in a specific way in order to create the illusion of movement. Animation resonated from the Chinese shadow lanterns and optical toys in the 18th century. Not until the 20th century were animators such as Emile cohl creating cartoon strips onto celluloid. Still to the present day animators use motion pictures to create animations. The most famous was Walt Disney, who is best known for this cartoon films such as 'The Jungle Book'. Hand made animations are created by a series of the same drawing with the slight adjustments on the image like in facial expression and movement to portray the illusion of movement when the images are speeded up.

Animation - Digital 

Computerised animations how ever were completely different thing and didn't come to surface until the 1960's, this was digital animators successor. In order to create such animations, artists used software like Adobe Flash in order to build up a sequence on a computer, while adding in special effects in film- this was called computer generated imagery or CGI. More computerised animations had there advantages for their Creator's as they were cheaper in order to produce, faster to create and animators would be able to control every aspect of the process. To start off with social sites such as Youtube and My Space- which no longer exists became the platform for un-none creates to get there animations out into the public eye, this created an artist enterprise.

Animation Timeline 

Date	Event
1887	The start of it all  A man named H.W. Goodwin invented a celluloid film which could hold images. It was made of gum cotton and gum camphor.
1892	An early moving-picture production  A man in France named Emil Reynaud opened a theatre using an invention called the Praxinoscope. It used turning mirrors to reflect images and produce a 10 to 15 minute "moving picture."
1893	Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope  Using the celluloid film developed by H.W. Goodwin, Edison was able to produce moving film pictures on the wall. The film moved over a series of wheels to produce the pictures.
1899	Sound is captured  Using a magnetic recording device, sound was recorded for the first time. Animation enthusiasts would latch onto the technology.
1900	The Enchanted Drawing  A man named James Stuart Blackton used animation techniques to produce a short film. It documented the drawing process of characters, without ever showing the artist; this made it seem that the drawings simply appeared.
1908	The first official animated film  A Frenchman name Emile Cohl produced a film called "Fantasmagorie." It was a hit, and is known today as the first true animated film.
1914	Gertie the Dinosaur  This short animation film became popular quickly. It was created by Windsor McCay.
1915	A patent on the process  A man named John Bray developed and patented a streamlined process for creating animated films. He tried, unsuccessfully, to force other companies to use his designs.
1920	Felix the Cat  A man named Otto Messmer, who had been working in animation for a few years, created a character named Felix the Cat. Felix was very successful and even ended up including dolls and watches.
1922	Laugh-O-Grams  Twenty-year-old Walt Disney began his first animation film studio called Laugh-O-Grams. It failed after only a short time.
1928	Steamboat Willie  Walt Disney didn't give up on making animated films. In 1928 he released a short film called Steamboat Willie featuring Mickey Mouse and using sound for the first time, and it was an instant hit.
1930	Warner Bros. Studio is born  Looney Tunes was supposed to be a spin off on the Silly Symphonies produced by Disney. It soon took on a life of its own and became very popular.
1930	Other popular charters  Throughout the 1930's, several now-iconic characters were created. This included Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, and Daffy Duck.
1932	New technologies  Walt Disney developed the use of 3-strip Technicolor animation. In 1935, Len Lye created a method of painting directly on film strips; he used it in his animated film "Color Box."
1937	The first full-length film  Walt Disney produced the first ever full-length animated film. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was a major hit.
1940	Iconic characters grow  The next decade brought several new popular characters to life. This included Woody Woodpecker, Mighty Mouse, and Tom and Jerry.
1972	Computer generated movies  At the University of Utah, and man named Ed Catmull developed a method of creating computer generated movies. It used scripting language.
1993	3-D and beyond  Apple computer company produced a method for creating 3-D films, and in 1995 Toy Story was released as the first full-length 3-D film. The animation industry would never be the same.