History Of Animation In 1930, animators Hugh Harmon, Isadore Freleng and Rudolf Ising signed a contract with Warner Bros. to create a cartoon series called "Loony Tunes". The main character of the show was a guy named Bosko, and while he continued to be popular, he was never quite the same as Disney's Mickey Mouse. During the next few years, through "Foxy" and "Merry Melodies", the studio suffered a serious decline in creative work. Hugh Harmon was partly at fault for this, being obsessed by the idea that they had to follow in Disney's footsteps. Following shortly afterwards was an argument between the animators and budget control, prompting the animators to leave the studi ...view middle of the document...
The animator starts by drawing a sketch of the animation on paper, which is then filmed. The film is then played back to decide if the motion has accomplished its desired results. Completion of the animation, or the post-production work involves photocopying the images onto the cels. Painters will then apply color to the images, readying them to be filmed for the animation. The animators lay out the images for each sequence on their respective backgrounds. Filming of an animation is a lengthy process, involving numerous steps. Each sequence/ action set needs to be put together before filming starts. Filming animations is usually done by twos- every second of motion has 24 frames of film to produce it. An animation often has the movements doubled, so that the artist only needs to draw twelve motions per second instead of twenty-four. A photographer takes single still pictures of each frame of the sequence. This process usually takes a long time, being that for every minute of the feature, you have 1,200 images or 2,400 frames (remember, each image is shot twice for two frames, instead of one). For a 100 minute animation, you have 240,000 individual frames that need to be shot, one frame at a time. Upon completion of the filming, the animation goes into post-production. This process checks the film for color accuracy, mixes and matches sound to the film and mass-duplicates the film for theater distribution. If the film is too exposed or not exposed enough, chemical lab workers will apply a solution to alter brightness, contrast or color levels as necessary. Corrections are done carefully by hand to ensure the best output quality. Voice recordings and musical background are transferred to a magnetic audio film (no, not a VHS, 8-track or cassette tape; this is a theater film) which is then spliced onto the real (and reel) film. Mass duplication is initiated, with scanners reading the master and duplicating it onto a copy. Films are cut into sections and then packaged and shipped to theaters where the film is re-assembled and placed on platters for movie viewing. Traditional animation is not the only class of animation. There is physical animation, video animation and 3D animation. Physical animation involves manipulating physical objects and employs the filming technique known as stop-motion photography. Stop-motion involves taking still pictures, moving the model to a different position, and taking more stills of the new pictures. When the film is played back, the changing of the model gives the illusion of movement. This method of physical animation commonly uses clay to form the models (as in "Claymation"), however any material can be used. Video animation is basically the same as traditional animation (traditional is hand drawing movements, frame by frame, and then filming one frame at a time), except the images are stored on magnetic media instead of 35 millimeter film. Magnetic media includes all video and audio casse...
