Creative Media Porfolio
Animation Techniques:
In this page, you can find the key types of animation techniques and their effect on an animation as well as how they work. Also, you can find examples of famous animations and animation studios and their signature elements.
Techniques:
Zoetrope:
Zoetrope comes from the Latin word, "Zoe": meaning "life"
Fun Fact:
This animation technique is very useful when you want to make a fast but very short animation.
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It's made up of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. Inside the cylinder, there is a strip of images that change movement in order that each image follows the scene in the image before it. When the Zoetrope is spun by hand at fast speed (24fps), the images rotate quickly inside the cylinder. Because the images are sequential, they appear to be moving! The slits create a strobe effect to create the illusion of a moving image by cutting it.
This is recommended if you want to create a quick and short animation.
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2D Animation Techniques - https://darvideo.tv/dictionary/2d-animation-techniques/
Thaumatrope - "https://www.pinterest.com/pin/441352832229005837/"
Thaumatrope:
This animation technique is great for creating a short and visual animation with 2 picture layers forming into one.
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It's usually made up of either a disc of wood or paper/card where two separate drawings are drawn on both sides. Then a piece of string or elastic band is inserted into a a hole on each side of the paper. Then it is spun fast portraying a visual image.
This is recommended if you want to create something very simple, optical but short that can amaze your friends.
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How do I Choose the Best Animation Programs? - https://www.wise-geek.com/how-do-i-choose-the-best-animation-programs.htm
Animation Careers : How to Create Walking Animation - ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_RcC5tvs1k
This animation technique is very time consuming but can create an animation that is fluid and longer (5-10 seconds) long.
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It is a booklet consisting a series of images each on a different piece of paper, gradually changing from one page to the next. So, when the pages are viewed at fast speed, the images appear to create a short animation by chnaging from one picture to the next.
This is a good idea if you're looking to make a longer animation but will require some time to create.
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This animation technique is similar to the "Zoetrope" as when it's spun it creates a moving animation.​
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It consists of a cylinder in the middle and a strip of paper frames on the outside. As the cylinder rotates, stationary mirrors in the outside of the cycliner reveal a 'single image' in motion forming a short and repetitive animation like the "Zoetrope". Unlike the zoetrope, slits aren't needed and more people can view the animation from all the sides surrounding the cylinder.
This is a good technique as more people can watch the animation and in better resolution although it can take some time to make.
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WIX Images
Stopmotion Animation:
Claymation
Either Clay or Plasticine is used to create an animation using stop motion where the character/object slightly moves each frame.
Paper is cut out into shapes and layered over one another to form a character/object and is moved slightly using stop motion.
Uses real objects or people to form an animation by moving and changing pose frame by frame.
Body Skateboarding - https://phoneky.com/gif-animations/?id=s2s66009
Paper cut-out Animation
Pixilation
Shaun the Sheep Stopmotion - ttps://tenor.com/view/shaun-the-sheep-stop-motion-wallace-and-gromit-justin-fletcher-hyped-gif-5571687
Claymation
Aesthetic:
Pro's
Con's
Claymation is a different style of animation as it is very handmade and unique. The audience will enjoy seeing the hard work on the Claymation done by the person who made it. It can look really well if characters and the set is created really well.
Pingu uses Claymation that is very hand made. The characters are made of very simple and basic shapes as well as the background is very plain using most likely blue paper. The items are made of day to day use things such as straws.
Pingu – 1986 - Pingu Studios
Claymations are tough to animate when needing to make something fly or float as string may be used but is hard to remove post-production.
In Wallace and Gromit, theres some scenes where the dog flies in a plane. They never show the plane in the air and cut off the bottom of the plane or put it in full screen to create the illusion it’s flying when it is just being filmed that way.
Wallace and Gromit – 1989 - Aardman Studios
Narrative & Audience Appeal
Narrative:
Audience Appeal
In Claymation’s the characters can have quite a lot of emotions on their faces as you can quickly change the clay/plasticine although it can be done poorly and ruin the animation.
In Coraline they used over 15,000 faces for Coraline to show how she was talking, feeling and all her facial expressions to make it smooth and fluid looking.
When people watch it they can think about the long process that an animator goes through to produce the animation. Also, Claymation’s are usually directed towards younger children since they’re usually friendly and use lots of colour to give a positive atmosphere for children.
Coraline – 2009 – Laika
Shaun the Sheep – 2007 – Aardman Studio
In Shaun the Sheep, a lot of funny scenes occur when the animals in the farm do things that are unusual. This is also shown by the brightly coloured background that enables many children to enjoy it.
PAPER CUT OUT
Aesthetic:
Pro's
Con's
Paper cut out animation is usually not seen in many places but it is a very interesting approach to animate. Characters can be made out of many colours and full of vibrant, light colours and darker colours to outline good and bad characters. It's usually simple to make but can be very time consuming.
South Park uses a lot of vibrant colours cut out of paper. There's sometimes a light black outline to highlight and differenciate the characters from the background.
South Park – 1997 - South Park Studios
It takes a while to animate paper cut out animations and to cut out pieces of paper to change characters and backgrounds. Characters usually move like "Robots" as body parts can slide and move up and down making movements usually less fluid and clean. The shapes are 2D, so zooming in is difficult as the shapes need to be changed size. It's also difficult to make it very detailed.
In the paper cut out animation, Coco, the dog moves around a farm a lot and it is hard to zoom in on the dog. When zooming in/out the dog's size must be changed to maintain the animation proportions.
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Coco – 2015 - Katherine Manaog
Narrative & Audience Appeal
Narrative:
Audience Appeal
The story in paper cut out animation is usually short, quick and visual to watch for the audience. When watching there is usually mainly music and no talking so the audience focuses on the visuals of the animation.
In Shugo Tokumaru's paper cut out music animation, a lot of work was put into making every single shape in the video. A machine was probably used to cut out all the shapes and this allows for a unique visual animation. There is only music which allows the audience to focus on the colours and animation itself.
When watching a paper cut out animation, the audience will usually think it is childish or bring childish thoughts since the animation uses a lot of colours and is made of paper which is associated with a craft project.
The paper cut out short animation of the forest was made very quick using pieces of paper and cardboard. It looks quite childish yet very unique simultaneously as compared to other techniques it uses materials found at home.
Shugo Tokumaru Katachi – 2013 – Shugo Tokumaru
Forest Paper Cut – 2017 – Miles Rose
2d animation
Aesthetic:
Pro's
Con's
2D Animation's are usually very fluid looking. They usually have a lot of colours since it's designed and animated on computers. The characters can have a lot of detail and it doesn't always take as long to make them.
In Tom and Jerry, a lot of colours are used to keep the animation engaging and visual. Since the animation involves slapstick comedy, the audience enjoys the plot based on what they see and hear allowing a fluidly moving animation.
In 2D animations you can't always see all the perspectives of a character or in the background as it's 2D and not 3D. They're also sometimes less interesting to watch compared to 3D animations as it may seem a little boring sometimes although there's a lot of detail.
In the Simpsons, a lot of colour is used but the audience aren't usually able to see from all the angles in a 2D animation. This doesn't allow the audience to always see what is happening all around the scene.
Tom & Jerry – 1940 - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
The Simpsons – 1987 - The Simpsons Cartoon Studio
Narrative & Audience Appeal
Narrative:
Audience Appeal
In 2D animations, the story and lot are usually a little longer and more complex since you can have a lot of detail and develop the backgrounds a lot more. It's pretty quick to make compared to other animation techniques such as claymation.
In Scooby Doo, a lot of backgrounds and scenes are used to portray different times of the series. The story and plot is focused whilst a lot of detailed may still be put on the visuals of the animation.
2D Animation can be enjoyed by all age groups and especially younger children as they tend to enjoy a lot of colour in the animation but also by older people as they can focus on the details and the plot of the story.
Scooby Doo – 1969 – Warner Bros
SpongeBob – 1999 – Nickelodeon Animation Studio
SpongeBob can be enjoyed by all ages since it has a lot of humour and comedy to engage the audience at all times. It is also very smooth and well paced for younger children to watch as it's very colourful and engaging.
My 1st 2 Claymations:
Animation Examples:
Spongebob - https://wave.rozhlas.cz/nesmrtelny-spongebob-je-memovou-hvezdou-u-niz-hledaji-milenialove-utechu-8194005
Spongebob:
SpongeBob is a well known Nickelodeon cartoon founded/created by Stephen Hillenburg.
SpongeBob was hand drawn in the first couple episodes but then CGI was added in later years to make the creation process faster.
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It is a very comedic and dramatic series full of some very exaggerated scenes where characters are thrown around or hurt very bad although are still alright.
There are many animation principles applied such as Disney's rule #1 "Squash & Stretch" when a character is squished or jumps they squish down and then stretch.
There is a lot of "Secondary Action" - Rule #8, when characters are being portrayed but other things are being taken place in the background and there's a lot of "Follow through and overlapping action" - Rule #5, when objects are being thrown around or shown.
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Clip with many Animation Techniques
Coraline and the value of scary family films - https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/coraline-and-the-value-of-scary-family-films/
Coraline:
Coraline is a 2009 fantasy and family horror movie about an adventurous girl who walks through a secret door in her new home and discovers a strangely idealized version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets.
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Coraline was made by using stop motion animation and was shot over the course of 18 months, following two years of pre-production.
It was filmed using claymation and a "total of 15,000 replacement faces were created for all the characters in the film, each one of which had to be hand-sanded and hand-painted. Coraline alone had over 6,300 face replacements. As well as a total of 35 animators worked on the film. On average, each animator completed anywhere from 2.22 to 6.52 seconds of footage per week." - https://www.laika.com/our-films/coraline
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How "Coraline" was made
Animation Studios:
Disney
Disney is is an American multinational entertainment and media company founded by Walt Disney.
"The Walt Disney Company declares that their values; innovation, quality, community, storytelling, optimism and decency, are present in everything they do" (Disney Careers, n.d.).
Disney focuses on telling 'classic' stories such as Sleeping Beauty or Beauty and the Beast. There stories usually consist of a main hero saving someone (e.g: Prince & Princess) and a grand villain. There's usually magic or a lot of fictional elements in their animations.
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Disney did include insensitive characterization in the past and has only recently started to feature non-white/ different cultural characters recently such as "The Jungle Book" or "Moana".
Catching up on movies - https://nerdcultonline.com/catching-up-on-movies-disney-studios-pt3/
Dreamworks
DreamWorks Animation LLC is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs founded by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen.
DreamWorks has created animations such as Shrek, The Bee Movie and Kunf Fu Panda.
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DreamWorks includes different types of animation techniques in their animations such as Claymation, CGI and CEL Animation.
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"DreamWorks films convey a strong message about how we connect with each other and respect differences" - https://farragomagazine.com/article/farrago/2020-03-23-battle-of-the-animation-studios-disney-vs-dreamworks/. DreamWorks has a different approach to family and love by showing a more diverse message to kid's about love (Donkey and dragon having a family of little flying donkeys - Shrek). Although, DreamWorks is more comedic and adventurous.
Dreamworks Vs Disney - https://www.wattpad.com/52103084-dreamworks-vs-disney
Sources:
Me & PPT's by Etienne Deputie
Link soures found under information