History of Animation

2005-12-07T18:11:00.000-08:00

Post #12

Animated Movies

Seems like more and more movies today have animated scenes in them. Not so much the traditional animation, but animation by use of computers. This type of animation is so realistic and believable, because of it's complexity and details. Movies will continue to adopt animated scenes in movies to replace hard to build scenes and almost impossible effects in movies. These movies will continue to be very popular because people love things that they cannot do, people love escaping reality in a way.

For example all the movies made about comic book characters, such as spiderman, xmen, daredevil, etc. These movies all contain scenes that would not be possible without the creation of computers and digital images and video. Animation makes many hard to create scenes that are almost necessary in these movies to make the story much more believable. Animation even exists in movies that no one would even suspect, such as The Longest Yard. They had to animate a game of ping-pong, because the actors couldn't play ping-pong, while being handcuffed and carrying on a conversation. Do you think that the Star Wars movies would be any good if they didn't have access to digital animation and images, I seriously doubt it.

Fact is that animation will continue to be used in all forms of media, due to it's adaptive nature, the ability to use it to create any type of scene or story that the artist would like. As more and more animation becomes more complex and realistic, i think that it will take a larger portion of movies in the future.

2005-11-30T17:07:00.000-08:00

Post #11

Iger takes the reigns

"As long as there's magic in the world, Disneyland will never be complete", said Walt Disney and this theme is still very evident today. Recently there was an article in the "Costco Connection" which had an interview with Bob Iger, who recently has become the new CEO of Disney. The article asked Iger many questions about Disney's plans for expansion domestically, internationally and technologically, showing that Iger has many new plans for the company. Iger believes that if they do this, the company will continue to thrive and will be very successful.

Bob Iger has worked at Disney since 1996 in various management positions and he recently has been promoted to the CEO position of the world's second-largest media company, Disney. He believes that the key to making the company thrive in the future is to use technology to make better products and to use technology to distribute their product more effectively and on a much broader basis. He said that he wants Disney to work more with HD technology so that their movies, etc are much more higher quality. But he wants to make sure their better product is also equally accessible by all of their customers through the use of portable media devices, such as cell phones. Iger said that he plans on making Disney one of the first companies to take advantage of this, because in the long run it would be a major advantage for the company. Because distribution is everything, without people to buy products a company is nothing. By increasing Disney's use of technology, Disney would be able to reach many more people with their products, etc and many more people would be able to access Disney merchandise, etc. Iger says that he hopes that this increased move toward technology will help the company thrive and be successful for many years to come.

Iger explains that as the world grows technologically, people's opportunities to access more high-quality entertainment will grow rapidly. This is why he wants to increase Disney's awareness of technology and how to effectively use it in a highly competitive market. The introduction of "Chicken Little" as Disney's first CGI is only the beginning of great things to come. The movie was even available in 3D in some theaters as an incentive for viewers to attend the flick. Disney is going to continue to try and be a pioneer in it's own way, the article says for the good of it's viewers, but i think we all know that it is most likely for the good of their own bank accounts.

2005-11-09T19:42:00.000-08:00

Comments #10

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2005-11-09T16:00:00.000-08:00

Post #10

Pocohontas

This animation was rather significant, it encompassed many themes. The film was extraordinary with its use of color and rather stretched story of Pocohontas and John Smith. The film was very inaccurate on a number of themes mainly geography and history. Although it was inaccurate, the film still got many themes historically correct. Disney probably found itself changing the film to appeal to the type of audience that would be watching, children, along with wanting to promote their new theme park they were planning in Virginia.

The film held many truths in a sea of inaccuracies. Such things that were very accurate were the English port, as they prepared for the trip across the ocean to the "new world." Also the English motives for going to the new world were pretty correct, they were in search of new land, resources and gold. Most of the items that English had were accurate, such as their tools, food (the sea biscuit John Smith had), their guns, etc. Also the Native Americans activities were accurate, even though they probably wouldn't be doing them all at once. Also the dwellings that both the English and Native Americans lived in were extremely accurate. Another theme that was correct was that when the English arrived to Virginia they had trouble with their settlement at Jamestown. As the professor said during class, that Jamestown was settled in a very swampy area, meaning the English colonists' water supply was not very good and many of the men not only suffered from starvation, but from bad water and disease as well. They touched on this somewhat in the film, and the Native Americans did help the English settlers.

Basically Disney took the story of Pocohontas and John Smith and shortened it drastically and made it more interesting to fit an audience of children. Even though the film was drastically "Disnified", it held many historically correct facts. But they were so subtle that the kids will only remember the funny racoon and of course the awesome soundtrack. The movie has an amazing soundtrack and it almost seemed more like a musical, because there would be only acouple lines between the songs. Someone would be talking and then BAM! another song, well thats what it seemed like to me anyways. (not that it was bad) But it seemed like the lack of the wise ass turkey, "Red Feather", made Disney put emphasis else where and to me it seemed to be in the music.

2005-11-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Comments #9

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2005-11-02T16:11:00.000-08:00

Post #9

Drawn Together

This excellent animation produced by Comedy Central is very interesting, because it displays all different styles of animations in one show. The characters are spoofs on all the different popular characters from throughout the history of animation. "Drawn Together" is a very interesting cartoon, because it is the first "reality" animation. It shows us the lives behind characters from all different types of animation that we've grown up. It is a very good reference to see the different styles of animation.

Drawn together is very interesting because it mixes so many types of animation together, so it is easy to see their differences. Then the show uses the differences in the show as a sort of tension the same way recently popular reality shows use tension to create drama, etc. This show spoofs not only animations people have grown up with, but also reality shows. This animation kinda gives viewers a peek in to what animators think animations would act like when they weren't "being filmed" Essentially it shows them acting wildly and extremely bizarre. It shows how different each character really is, but somehow all have one thing in common; that is that they all have an insecurity or problem as to create drama and conflicts on the show. Which really makes the show enjoyable. The characters include a typical superhero, fairytale princess, a black and white comedy central version of Betty Boop, a pokemon looking fellow, etc.

The characters are very interesting, because they are animated so that they are similar to the character their were designed to spoof. So it is very clear to see the different styles of animation within the show. I mean one character is drawn with anime features and another is drawn in totally black and white. The characters are even some what characteristic to the time period that they were created. The great part of this show is that the viewer who has every wondered how one character would act on another animation or cartoon can see Comedy Central's opinion of what they think it would turn out like. If you haven't seen this show, you definitely should try to.

2005-10-26T16:33:00.000-07:00

Comments #8

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2005-10-26T16:11:00.000-07:00

Post #8

Rocky and Bullwinkle

This cartoon always seemed very different from the usual cartoons i used to watch as a kid. I always knew that it's format and production style was somewhat different from all the rest. But as I watched the Rocky and Bullwinkle show today, I realized that the animation was meant for something far more than just entertainment. Rocky and Bullwinkle dealt with current issues of the time period and poked fun at current issues in the nation. An animation that uses current issues in it's episodes is very popular and helpful to understand the time period and how many people felt toward the issue at the time. Rocky and Bullwinkle were very popular due to this adaptation and implementation.

As this animation was produced during a very turbulent and complexed time, the Cold War Era, the animation reflected every aspect of society during the Cold War. It showed the paranoia present in the United States during this time. But at the same time, it educated many people on history, literature, and current issues. For example, this was done through the use of "Peabody's Improbable History". This animation was very successful in bringing up issues that were relevant to current issues in society and issues that the American people would want to see. Such as the interest in the U.S. government to have Rocky and Bullwinkle develop a rocket fuel strong enough to reach the moon before the Russians, who were portrayed with the two spies in the show. This definitely contributed to their success on television and with their viewers, because this was a very popular issue when the animation was produced and it was a very real issue.

Today we have very many animations that use current issues in their episodes as a way of gaining more viewers. However, the best example is "South Park", which is shown on Comedy Central. This animation was described by the Washington Post as being "Comedy Central's most popular and durable entity." This is because this animation relies on the same ideal of taking current issues into their episodes, but of course the format is very different from Rocky and Bullwinkle. But "South Park" is very successful in it's representation of current issues and themes in it's episodes and this contributes to why "South Park" is so incredibly popular today. South Park's crude humor is exactly what many people enjoy about their episodes and what many animations of today model their shows after. Taking current events as themes on animations was and still is a very popular way of gaining viewers and support and it makes myself very interested to see what is to come in the future.

2005-10-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

Comments #7

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2005-10-19T13:09:00.000-07:00

Post #7

Comic Book Creations

Comic Books are a very widespread non-fiction medium that is very popular all across the globe. Comic books are or have probably been read by most people in society today. They portray stories with very comical characters or even serious characters, which is why they are so popular. Animators pull ideas and even entire stories from comic books, because they are perfect for animating and provide an infinite number of possibilities. By turning comic books into animations, two very popular forms of entertainment create a very unique product that is very popular.

The most recent that i have seen, is the "Animated Series of Batman", which are based off of the DC comics of the adventures of batman. Transfering comic book characters into animations can be very easy and very profitable for animators. By animating already popular comic book characters, they have a widespread fan base to begin with. They also do not have to develop the story very much at first, because they have so many comic books and stories that the author's have come up with. Also, they are already in a sort of story frame format. The only problem is that many things get construed from the transition of comic book to animation. Such as stories, characters, and personalities change dramatically to appeal better as an animation.

I personally enjoy watching a comic book i enjoy become an animation, because if it is done well it brings everything to life and is very entertaining. Comic books that become animations are very popular, almost too popular. Because of their popularity, animators repeat animations and change the storylines drastically, usually because they have a different interpretation or they change the story to appeal a certain type of audience. If you really enjoyed comic books as a kid, then you know exactly what i'm talking about. Some animated comic book stories get so far off the original story its creates a totally different character. Such as Batman set in a future atmosphere...."Batman Beyond", this series of animations were very interesting, because it took place in the future causing animators and authors to construct a whole new story. So remakes of comic book characters into animations are a great idea, because they have a good story and attract a large group of viewers.

2005-10-12T12:23:00.001-07:00

Comments #6

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2005-10-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

Post #6

Disney's Frontier

Disney has been so succesful with it's animations, considering how long ago the company started. Disney has really come a very long way since "Steamboat Willie". Ub Iwerks created some amazing pieces that really revolutionized animation in it's beginnings. Disney has really set the standard for many of today's cartoons and animations. Disney contributed greatly to being the first to experiment with new ideas and manipulation of animating techniques to produce completely new ideas and concepts. This experimentation can be seen and i first noticed it in last weeks class when we watched the shorts.

"Steamboat Willie" produced the sychronization of sound and animation, which was amazing and totally revolutionized animation all together. It seems like the earlier cartoons relied more heavily on exaggeration and sound to create more interesting animations. But this changed drastically when more advanced animation techniques came about such as Disney's pioneer short "Flowers and Trees" in the 1940s. This short used technicolor, which was a new technology. This short would not have been successful without the use of technicolor, it really brought the animation to life with it's vivid colors and careful attention to detail. For example, the reflections of the trees and other objects in the water during the animation was amazing, it was done so well. Also the use of music to depict the story relied on the viewer to put their own story with the animation.

"Flowers and Trees" was trully a pioneer animation, it pulled from so many different ideas and principles of animation that made it so revolutionary and successful. Along with all of this the early Disney shorts mostly had themes of optimism or that had some sort of lesson to be learned, which i think has been somewhat lost in animation since. The "Three Little Pigs" along with "Flowers and Trees" and even "Steamboat Willie" all showed this trait. "Three Little Pigs" was a message of optimism during the depression and it was a pioneer film in its own, because it showed 3 characters that were primarily the same. However they all were different pertaining to their personalities and characteristics. Some of these themes can still be seen in many animations today and we should all thank Disney for experimenting so much, because animation might be different from today if it weren't for them.

2005-10-05T21:01:00.000-07:00

Comments #5

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2005-10-05T20:31:00.000-07:00

Post #5

What Animation Is Hiding

The shorts that we watched in class tonight were great and very revealing. They opened a window into the world of the animators. They gave a sense of what life and society was like during the time the animation was created. This is why animation is so valuable. As sources of history, animations allow historians to trace popular trends and propaganda through history and society. They reveal what trends or racism was relevant during the time through subtle animation and gags.

This is still a very consistent theme today. Many cartoons of today give a feeling to viewers what that moment in American society is like. They may also give some of the asspirations of Americans as well. For example, when the United States was involved in World War II, cartoons were used as propaganda to support the war and to involve the U.S. civilian population more into the War effort. Another good example would be the use of opera music in animations or the animating of operas, such as the ones done by Warner Bros. in "What Opera Doc?" and "Rabbit of Seville".

Animations today don't really use as many operas as they used to, but music and soundtracks to animations and animation films are a very important part of animating still today. However many shows and films usually use music from the present or from a recent era. This can't be said for all, but most today are like this, especially the ones on primetime television. These animations use recent music mainly because it either fits the theme of the animation, but primarily because viewers would remember and can associate with music they recognize. I feel animations today and in the future will always evolve with society and will be recognizable in this way and in a sense depict the period they were animated in.

2005-09-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

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2005-09-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

Post #4

Silhouette Animation

This type of animation was very interesting and I felt that with the absence of actual character figures being drawn, that I was forced to imagine what the characters looked like. It pulled me into the animation and into the story much more than I thought I would, I was somewhat upset when we turned it off for lecture. Silhouette Animation is very successful, because it relies on precise staging and the viewer's imagination to bring the story to life.

Silhouette Animation seems like it would be so simple, that is however before we watched the documentary on Lotte Reiniger and her trials and tribulations with silhouetting. I did not realize how much concentration and precision it took to create such a vivid animation entirely of silhouettes. After watching the animation about Prince Achmed and the flying horse, I noticed how intricate the details were. Things such as the eyes making movement back and forth, the ripples in the water, and the detail of the characters "outfits." Noticing the detail that she put in her work made it hard to realize that this was a very time consuming process.

This type of animation only uses one principle of animation, staging. This is where the animator creates an image so that is extremely clear what the idea of the scene is or what the characters are trying to say. For this type of animation to be fairly successful the animator has to really develop the silhouttes of his characters. It usually helps greatly when they have lots of detail. I felt that Reiniger's animation of the flying horse was very successful and I enjoyed it a great deal. It really put my imagination to work, filling in the silhouettes of the characters with images of what I thought they might look like. This is what's so great about Silhouette Animation, every viewer will have a different reaction and comprehend the story differently depending on their experiences and imagination.

2005-09-21T19:00:00.000-07:00

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2005-09-21T18:30:00.000-07:00

Post #3
Cartoon's Filth Factor

While I was reading this week's reading I came across something very interesting that really surprised me. In the reading there was an entry on the amount of filth that animations had contained. The entry stated that steps were taken to edit such animations and film from all it's filth and indecent scenes. Cartoons have evolved so much since the 1930s, that now in the 21st century the most popular cartoons on television are the ones with the filthy humor.

An owner from a Georgia theater said "The worst kicks we have are on smut in cartoons. They are primarily a kid draw, and parents frequently object to the filth that is put in them, incidentally without helping the comedy. The dirtiest ones are invariably the least funny." (Maltin 105) This quote was directed to Max Fleischer's cartoons and this was in reference in to the new Production Code that provided rules and regulations for cartoons and film to follow. This really shocked me when i read this. Although many of today's modern cartoons are very discreet with their filthy humor, it is still out there, but the one's with the more filthy references are actually the most popular cartoons. Such cartoons include but are not limited to "Futurama", "The Family Guy", "American Dad", and "The Simpsons".

Don't get me wrong, I love these cartoons, they are extremely funny. They are so popular due to the fact they are very universal in nature, meaning that they cross age lines and appeal to many different types of people. This mostly due to the fact that their filthy humor isn't upfront, but more implied. So that younger viewers wouldn't really understand, but they would laugh and enjoy the cartoon anyways due to other comical factors in the cartoon. Youngsters wouldn't be able to remember the jokes that involved filth, they would only remember simple catch phrases, such as the popular "Eat my shorts" from character Bart or "Doh" from the character Homer from the popular show "The Simpsons."

I really doubt that animations would be as popular today on television if they were edited so that they didn't have "filth." This continues to be an issue for many, many viewers do not agree with television allowing such animations and crude humor on television. They feel it is inappropriate. They feel that exposing youngsters to this kind of humor is not healthy and promotes bad manners, etc. I strongly disagree, because television takes efforts to inform parents what type of program is about to be displayed on television, so if a parent doesn't agree with it they shouldn't allow their kid to watch it. It definitely remains to be a very debated issue and I feel it always will be.

2005-09-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

Comments #2

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2005-09-14T01:05:00.000-07:00

Post #2
"You haven't seen the Incredibles, until you've seen the Incredibles on DVD"

The other night I watched the Incredibles on DVD. I enjoyed the movie very much, it had a pretty cool setting, plot, etc. What i couldn't get over is how cartoons and animation have evolved so much. I couldn't help myself but to compare the Incredibles to the animation we watched in class last week and to what was described in Chapter 2 about the beginnings of Disney. I know that its not very fair to compare the two, because they are both entirely different things.

I watched some of the bonus materials on the DVD to see how Pixar and Disney had created such a good animation as the Incredibles. It was really interesting to see that many of the techniques introduced in Chapter 2 that Walt Disney used in it's early stages were used in making of this far more advanced animation, The Incredibles. Things such as the use of storyboards and seperate tasks for each step of animation. Disney and Pixar did a great job at animating the Incredibles, but it seemed like they are still having some trouble animating things such as water, people, and animals. Everything else in the movie seemed animated very well, but the one thing that looked the most realistic was the machinery in the movie such as the rockets, or the plane, etc.

This movie really did an awesome job of mixing reality and fiction. The sound, plot, and objects in the film helped this the most. The sound acting was awesome and the voices fit the animation very well, big advance since the days of trying to get the band and the animation to start playing at the same time as Walt Disney first did. The plot and the characters were very realistic with their emotions and actions. When the Incredibles were living as a normal family, it really was supposed to be like an average American family, and it really looked and felt like one, with some of the character's own super characteristics as a twist. The movie also seemed to have a sort of moral to the whole movie, probably something about being one's self and not pretending to be something that your not. So this is somewhat still a constant theme in cartoons animations, having a theme involving a moral to the story. I really enjoyed this movie and if you haven't seen it yet, you should. Even if you saw it in the theaters, you really "...haven't seen the Incredibles, until you've seen the Incredibles on DVD."

2005-09-06T21:12:00.000-07:00

Post #1
I'm glad cartoons have sound these days.

How boring would it have been to watch The Lion King with out all the music and singing? Extremely boring, which is why i'm very glad cartoons evolved to having sound otherwise they would not have survived the U.S. audiences. Sound in cartoons now are very complicated and use large studios to create many of them. Most cartoons are not without surround sound capability or some what of a dynamic sound ability.

Sounds in cartoons today are very advanced and probably as advanced as sound recordings that are used in movies and on television. They both probably make use of much of the same type of sound equipment. I enjoy watching the Lion King with my little cousins in surround sound, theres nothing like the feeling of sitting in the middle of a stampede, it just adds so much more to the experience. Sound is extremely important to attracting the viewer's attention and keeping it.

During the Silent Era, cartoonists had to rely upon using dynamic drawings and different uses of space and dimensions to make cartoons more appealing to the viewers. Since then, cartoons are made more realistic and enjoyable with the introduction of much needed sounds. Because "The Simpsons" wouldn't be the same with out Homer's "Doh!" and without "Woody the Woodpecker's" laugh. They just add soo much to the cartoon and i could never imagine a world without sound.

2005-09-01T14:10:00.000-07:00

This is Constantinos Havelos' Blog Url for History 389- The History of Animation.