History of 2D Animation
2D animation has been around for many years however it has not always been created on computers. The first animations go back as far as the 1800's. It has been constantly developing to get to the high quality that it is today.
Animating devices
Phenakistostope
The Phenakistoscope was one of the first animation devices created. This inspired others to develop this device and push on with animation. The Phenakistoscope was 2 discs mounted onto one axis. The disc at the front had slits around the edge and the second one behind it had drawings around the edge. When the device was spun and viewed in a mirror the drawing would appear to move even though they stayed in the same place.
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| Image from: http://www.earlycinema.com/technology/zoetrope.html |
Zoetrope
The Zoetrope was created in around 1834 by William George Horner. It was only given the Zoetrope in 1887. There were other animation devices created before this however this one in particular stood out. The Zoetrope used hand drawn images that were layed on one strip of paper on the inside of a metal drum. The drum itself had slits all the way around it. When the drum was spun around, the images on the inside would give the illusion of movement. This device itself was a breakthrough as it did not require a mirror to work and it could be used by more than one person.
The Zoetrope was created in around 1834 by William George Horner. It was only given the Zoetrope in 1887. There were other animation devices created before this however this one in particular stood out. The Zoetrope used hand drawn images that were layed on one strip of paper on the inside of a metal drum. The drum itself had slits all the way around it. When the drum was spun around, the images on the inside would give the illusion of movement. This device itself was a breakthrough as it did not require a mirror to work and it could be used by more than one person.
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| Image from: https://zoetropic.wordpress.com/about-zoetropes/ |
Kinetoscope
The Kinetoscope was created by Thomas Edison and W.K.L Dickinson. It was designed as a way for films to be viewed. This is before cinema came around. The Kinetoscope is a large box with a strip of film inside. The film would move over a light source and would show each image using a high speed shutter. There was a peep hole at the top which allowed one person at a time to look in and view the film.
Mutoscope
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| Image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinetoscope |
Mutoscope
The Mutoscope was a lot like the Kinetoscope. It was a large device that displayed film to only one viewer. Like the Zoetrope, The Mutoscope used a drum which spun around to create movement. The Mutoscope used photographs instead of drawings around the drum. Also, unlike the Kinetoscope, it had a handle on the side which made the photographs move around. This allowed the viewer to control how fast the film played.
Animation Pioneers
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| Image from: http://cultureandcommunication.org/deadmedia/index.php/Mutoscope |
Georges Melies
Georges Melies is a very well known film maker. He is one of the first to create films and is known for adding special effects, He made films from 1896 to 1914. This is a time when films were just stating out and therefore his special effects were a huge breakthrough. He contributed to animation as he added animation to his films through his transitions and effects. One of his films was called, 'l'oeuf du sorcier' this translates to 'The Prolific Egg'. Melies himself stars in this film and in it shows him performing a series of magic tricks with an egg. Throughout the film the tricks become more and more spectacular. Towards the end, he uses his animating skills to make it look as if he is actually magic.
Winsor McCay
Winsor McCay was another pioneer of animation. He was the first to add just pure animation to one of his films. His film 'Little Nemo' had a section which was completely animated. The beginning of his film was all acted out and showed a story. Towards the end, the characters show a film that has been made using animation. The animation shows a range of different characters, including a smoking clown. The animation does not have a strong story to it. They simply seem to change in shape whilst other characters appear as it goes on. However this does not matter as it was the first to show hand drawn animation on it's own which was a big enough break through as it is. Previous animated films had simply added animation to the film they already had, Such as Melies' films. This video clip shows the animated section of the film on it's own and not the whole film.
Lotte Reiniger
Lotte Reiniger contributed so much to animation. It is argued that she created the first animated feature film whilst others would say Walt Disney created the first. Her feature film came out before Disney's however it used silhouettes and some argue this is not a cartoon whereas Walt Disney's was. Her feature film was called 'The Adventures Of Prince Achmed'. SHe began working on this in 1923 and finished it 3 years later. Most of her animations were Silhouette animations. This is done by using backlights and cardboard cut outs to make the characters and objects appear as black silhouettes. Her films that she created using this method became extremely popular after 'Prince Achmed' premiered and was very successful. Reiniger was creating her animations 10 years before Walt Disney.
Walt Disney
Walt Disney is one of the most well known men to ever have lived. Walt Disney created many films and animations that he is still known for today. His first production was a series named 'Alice Comedies' In this there was a young girl actor and an animated cat which went on adventures together. Walt Disney then tried to create a completely animated TV series named 'Oswald The Lucky Rabbit' in 1927. In about a year the contract for this was terminated and therefore Walt had to think of a new idea. This triggered the arrival of Mickey Mouse who later became the face of Disney. It wasn't until 1937 when Disney released his first animated feature film. 'Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs'. This was one of the first animated feature films to use sound as it was a musical. It achieved major success and earned around $8,000,000 internationally from it's first release. This spurred on Disney to continue making animated feature films and therefore has achieved what it has today being one of the biggest companies in the world.
Animation before the 90's
Animation before the 90's
When the 90's came around, animation started to become digital. Before then every animation had to be drawn by hand. There are many animations made before the 90's that are still heard of now.
A very popular one is Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny made his official debut as the character we know him as today in 1940 in an animated short called 'A Wild Hare'. The characters most known cartoons involve another character known as Elma Fudd who is a hunter that is always trying to catch Bugs yet fails. He is one of the most recognisable animated characters and has appeared in films such as 'Space Jam' and TV Programs such as 'Looney Tunes'. Bugs Bunny was and continues to be one of the biggest successes in animation.
Another classic animation is Scooby Doo. This was made in 1969. The Scooby Doo franchise consists of multiple different programs and a few of it's own films. The shows generally consist of a group of kids and their dog travelling in a van and solving mysteries involving monsters and ghosts. The cartoon has survived so long as every so often they will re-release a new program that is slightly different from the one before and will appeal more to the current generation.
The TV series 'Danger Mouse' was created in 1981. This series was about a mouse secret agent and was a loosely based parody of the danger man series. The show became very popular and at it's peak had around 21 million viewers however it came to an end in 1992 after showing 10 series and 161 episodes.
One of the most well known cartoons made is Wacky Races. The show only created episodes for two years from 1968-1970 however it did create 2 spin off shows. The show was based on different races in the US which included 11 different race cars manned by either 1 or 2 characters. The characters all had cars which matched their personality. The most popular characters were Dick Dastardly and Muttley. These were the trouble makers of the show and managed to get their own program, "Dick Dastardly and Muttley in their flying machines". Another popular character was Penelope Pitstop. This character also got a spin off show, "The perils of Penelope Pitstop".
Animation 90's on wards
Animation after after the 90's started to become more digital. By becoming digital, it was a lot easier for animation to be created as the technology used could help design and run the animations.
An animation which turned digital was The Simpsons. The first episode aired in 1989. It was created by Matt Groening for the Fox Network. It is generally aimed at an adult audience. The first episode which was made digitally was aired in 1995. Since then their have been many more seasons and even a movie which was shown in 2007.
This is a clip from The Simpsons Movie. In the film, we see the town of Springfield become trapped in a huge Dome due to the Mishaps of Homer. The family must then attempt to save their town and friends.
Another very popular animation is Adventure Time. This is a fairly new animation as it was first aired in 2010. Like The Simpsons, Adventure Time does appeal to an older audience even though it is played on a children's TV channel. The program is based on a pair of friends, Twelve year old Finn and Jake The Dog. Together they go on adventures and battle evil that comes in the form of the ice king.
The Nickelodeon Cartoon 'Spongebob Squarepants' has been running since 1999. The cartoon is based on a Sponge that lives underwater with his friends. His friends consist of a starfish, a crab, a squid and even a squirrel. He even has a job as a fry cook. Spongebob and his friend Patrick always seem to get themselves into trouble, most of the time with their neighbor Squidward. The franchise has created 9 seasons and two feature films. One of which is coming in cinemas soon.
A recent cartoon which is no longer being created is 'Foster's home for imaginary friends'. This cartoon was first aired in 2004 and played it's last episode in 2009. It was a show about a big house which was home to creatures that children had imagined in their head. One of the characters was an 8 year old boy named 'Mac' and he had his imaginary friend 'Bloo'. Together they made friends with the rest of the imaginary friends and get up to all sorts together. The show was based on building friendships and showing children the importance of friends.
Where can you find animation?
Due to animation growing in popularity, it is now in most sectors of media. Animation is used as a new visual which has proven to be very effective. It is used because it looks interesting and is more likely to entertain the viewer.
Sometimes, advertisers use animation. When a company advertises on TV they often use animation to help display their image. Animation is often used when advertising to give the company a more lighthearted look. This is useful because people would then feel more comfortable going to them. One company that uses 2D animation when advertising is Bupa. They have used this to make them look more fun. They advertise health care so by making themselves look more fun and easy going, they are relieving the stress and worry that health care can bring from their client. They are also keeping it simple to try and show that their company is not complicated which would make customers what to go to them.
Music videos have been known to use animation. They do this because they will be saving money as you only need to pay for someone to create an animation and the animating technology and nothing else. Not many music videos are animated as it is harder to get a message across using cartoons however it would interest a younger audience and increase the likely hood of them watching it. This video is 'Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz' This video is made using some 2D animation. The video shows a group of people who have been animated to act as the singers of the song. The animation uses an Anime style which shows the band showing their image. It is telling people who are interested in anime that they may be interested in this kind of music or will at least like the video, which in turn would get the 'Gorillaz' more fans. It is also helping the band protect their identity as no one will know what they actually look like.
A big area where 2D animation is used is in cinema. There are many films that still come out today that use 2D animation. Disney is probably the biggest creator of animated movies and many of their films have been created with 2D animation. When Disney first started, it could only create it's animations in 2D yet it has continued to do so though to the present day although they have done their fair share of 3D animations as well. Disney's last 2D animated film was 'The Princess And The Frog' in 2009. This film has made around £11,000,000 which shows that 2D animated films are just as popular as they always have been.
My animation
I am going to make my own animation in Adobe Flash. In my animation I plan on drawing a stick man which is going to be playing football. I am going to try and make a ball fall down to a stickman and then the stick man will kick it off the screen. I am only doing a stickman as this is easier to draw up and I will not need to worry about the details of it's appearance. Also, this way I can focus more on it's actions and try and get the best looking animation.
A very popular one is Bugs Bunny. Bugs Bunny made his official debut as the character we know him as today in 1940 in an animated short called 'A Wild Hare'. The characters most known cartoons involve another character known as Elma Fudd who is a hunter that is always trying to catch Bugs yet fails. He is one of the most recognisable animated characters and has appeared in films such as 'Space Jam' and TV Programs such as 'Looney Tunes'. Bugs Bunny was and continues to be one of the biggest successes in animation.
Another classic animation is Scooby Doo. This was made in 1969. The Scooby Doo franchise consists of multiple different programs and a few of it's own films. The shows generally consist of a group of kids and their dog travelling in a van and solving mysteries involving monsters and ghosts. The cartoon has survived so long as every so often they will re-release a new program that is slightly different from the one before and will appeal more to the current generation.
The TV series 'Danger Mouse' was created in 1981. This series was about a mouse secret agent and was a loosely based parody of the danger man series. The show became very popular and at it's peak had around 21 million viewers however it came to an end in 1992 after showing 10 series and 161 episodes.
One of the most well known cartoons made is Wacky Races. The show only created episodes for two years from 1968-1970 however it did create 2 spin off shows. The show was based on different races in the US which included 11 different race cars manned by either 1 or 2 characters. The characters all had cars which matched their personality. The most popular characters were Dick Dastardly and Muttley. These were the trouble makers of the show and managed to get their own program, "Dick Dastardly and Muttley in their flying machines". Another popular character was Penelope Pitstop. This character also got a spin off show, "The perils of Penelope Pitstop".
Animation 90's on wards
Animation after after the 90's started to become more digital. By becoming digital, it was a lot easier for animation to be created as the technology used could help design and run the animations.
An animation which turned digital was The Simpsons. The first episode aired in 1989. It was created by Matt Groening for the Fox Network. It is generally aimed at an adult audience. The first episode which was made digitally was aired in 1995. Since then their have been many more seasons and even a movie which was shown in 2007.
Another very popular animation is Adventure Time. This is a fairly new animation as it was first aired in 2010. Like The Simpsons, Adventure Time does appeal to an older audience even though it is played on a children's TV channel. The program is based on a pair of friends, Twelve year old Finn and Jake The Dog. Together they go on adventures and battle evil that comes in the form of the ice king.
The Nickelodeon Cartoon 'Spongebob Squarepants' has been running since 1999. The cartoon is based on a Sponge that lives underwater with his friends. His friends consist of a starfish, a crab, a squid and even a squirrel. He even has a job as a fry cook. Spongebob and his friend Patrick always seem to get themselves into trouble, most of the time with their neighbor Squidward. The franchise has created 9 seasons and two feature films. One of which is coming in cinemas soon.
A recent cartoon which is no longer being created is 'Foster's home for imaginary friends'. This cartoon was first aired in 2004 and played it's last episode in 2009. It was a show about a big house which was home to creatures that children had imagined in their head. One of the characters was an 8 year old boy named 'Mac' and he had his imaginary friend 'Bloo'. Together they made friends with the rest of the imaginary friends and get up to all sorts together. The show was based on building friendships and showing children the importance of friends.
Due to animation growing in popularity, it is now in most sectors of media. Animation is used as a new visual which has proven to be very effective. It is used because it looks interesting and is more likely to entertain the viewer.
Sometimes, advertisers use animation. When a company advertises on TV they often use animation to help display their image. Animation is often used when advertising to give the company a more lighthearted look. This is useful because people would then feel more comfortable going to them. One company that uses 2D animation when advertising is Bupa. They have used this to make them look more fun. They advertise health care so by making themselves look more fun and easy going, they are relieving the stress and worry that health care can bring from their client. They are also keeping it simple to try and show that their company is not complicated which would make customers what to go to them.
Music videos have been known to use animation. They do this because they will be saving money as you only need to pay for someone to create an animation and the animating technology and nothing else. Not many music videos are animated as it is harder to get a message across using cartoons however it would interest a younger audience and increase the likely hood of them watching it. This video is 'Feel Good Inc by Gorillaz' This video is made using some 2D animation. The video shows a group of people who have been animated to act as the singers of the song. The animation uses an Anime style which shows the band showing their image. It is telling people who are interested in anime that they may be interested in this kind of music or will at least like the video, which in turn would get the 'Gorillaz' more fans. It is also helping the band protect their identity as no one will know what they actually look like.
A big area where 2D animation is used is in cinema. There are many films that still come out today that use 2D animation. Disney is probably the biggest creator of animated movies and many of their films have been created with 2D animation. When Disney first started, it could only create it's animations in 2D yet it has continued to do so though to the present day although they have done their fair share of 3D animations as well. Disney's last 2D animated film was 'The Princess And The Frog' in 2009. This film has made around £11,000,000 which shows that 2D animated films are just as popular as they always have been.
My animation
I am going to make my own animation in Adobe Flash. In my animation I plan on drawing a stick man which is going to be playing football. I am going to try and make a ball fall down to a stickman and then the stick man will kick it off the screen. I am only doing a stickman as this is easier to draw up and I will not need to worry about the details of it's appearance. Also, this way I can focus more on it's actions and try and get the best looking animation.
