Digital animation: types and techniques

Aim: to research the genres, types and uses of digital animation

Different types of animation;

• traditional ( 2D, cel animation, hand drawn) 
• 2D ( vector-based)
• 3D ( CGI - computer generated imagery, computer animation)
• Motion graphics ( typography, animated logos) 
• Stop motion ( Claymation, cut-outs) 
• Line drawing 
• Rotoscoping 
• Live action 

Line-Drawing: a hand drawn sketch that moves frame by frame so that the shape evolves and moves. it is commonly used in contemporary advertising. Created using Adobe Illustrator, Adobe flash and Lightbox. Scalable Vector Graphics ( SVG) are animated by code. 

Fantasmagorie ( Emile Cohl 1908) 

'Line boils' is the wobble of hand-drawn lines, particularly noticeable when characters are redrawn in every frame even though they are standing still. Early 20th century animators considered line boil an imperfection that should be minimised. 

A-Ha - Take on Me was a half animated half film video. 

Animation is also used in advertising - Redbull Gives You Wings 

Cel animation: short for 'celluloid animation'. Many Disney films, especially the early ones, were created in this way. A cel is a celluloid sheet - a transparent sheet onto which character and scenery are drawn or painted. This is traditionally done by hand. 

( Disney - Popeye) 

Snow White 1937 - the first full-length animated film 

• the film took roughly 3 years to produce, from 1934 to 1937. Over 750 artists completed more than 2 million sketches. The film included 250,000 drawings. 
• Production: drawing, recording voices, colouring pictures 

Hand-drawing: Not common practice today, because it is so time-consuming, and can be achieved more easily through computer. However, Hayao Miyazaki's film Spirited away, was entirely hand-drawn.

Spirited Away

Miyazaki wrote, directed, and drew the storyboards for the movie; essentially writing the movie with drawings. When you watch the film, you’re seeing one man’s work and vision. The filmmaker is so influential and involved in the production, the New Yorker once called him “the auteur of anime.”

Development vs run time 

• The run time of an animated piece is often disproportionate to the length of time it takes to produce.
• In terms of frames, if you are producing a three-minute animation, with a standard 24fps, it would take 4,320 separate drawings or movements.
• For a 90-minute feature, this would equate to around 129,600 drawings.

Rotoscoping: Traditional rotoscoping involved a stand called a rotoscope - this was used to project sequences of moving images against a surface so that a set of animation frames could be traced over them. The 'roto' prefix refers to the rotation of the image. 

How rotoscoping works: captures motion by tracing over moving image. It is able to capture small, more subtle movements.

Examples The Lord of The Rings, Heavy Metal (1981), A Scanner Darkly,