The History of Animation
Loads of different types of animation have been created over the years. Plenty of animation dates back to hundreds of years ago and is still popular today!
It supposedly started all the way back in 1824 when a man called Peter Roget, a physiologist researching at the University of London, developed a phenomenon which led to the development of many optical toys. Roget presented his paper ‘The persistence of vision with regard to moving objects’ to the British Royal Society.
The Thaumatrope was then created in 1824. Thauma = wondrous, trope = things that turn. A Thaumatrope is basically an circular disk which is small which has two different pictures on each side that’s attached to a piece of string or a pair of strings running through the centre. A Thaumatrope could also be a card as well as a small circular disk.
The Phenakitstoscope (a deceptive view) then burst on to the scene after it was developed by Joseph Plateau in 1832 - Plateau was Belgian.
The Daedalum/Zoetrope was invented by W.G. Horner and was named the Daedalum. The Daedalum/Zoetrope, created in 1833, is a device which creates the image of a moving picture.
It was named Zoetrope by Lincoln and Mass Produced.
The Flip Book was then created in 1868 by a John Barnes Linnet. They say that Flip Books brought the world closer to modern animation, with the Flip Book, similarly to the Zoetrope, creating an illusion of motion. The Flip Book also became part of novelties to promote products for Mcdonald’s, Gilette etc. The Zoetrope images were cylic, but the Flipbook was different because it is a series of pictures which are repeated, unlike the Zoetrope where it occurs and repeated in cycles.
The Pranxinoscope was invented by French scientist Charles Emile Reynauld (the painter of magic lantern glass slides) in 1877. He was also the inventor of Theatre Optique. Also in 1877, Edvuard Muybridge used 12 cameras to take a series of photographs to ‘freeze’ movement by using the Zoopraxiscope.
Meanwhile, plasticine was created in 1897 by William Harbutt.
There were several breakthroughs and key moments in the history animation. Music camera inventors include Etienne Jules Marey in 1883, Louis Augustin Le Prince in 1888, with the birth of film in 1895. Louis and Augustine Lumiere issued a patent for a device called a cinematograph capable of projecting moving pictures, with the first screening in Paris, France.
James Stuart Blackton was born in Sheffield in 1875 and moved to the US at the age of 10. Blackton was the founder of Vitagraph Studios and was among the very first filmmakers to use stop-motion and drawn animation. We have seen the ‘Humorous Phases of Funny Faces’ which was some of Blackton’s work. This type of work of Blackton’s is now used in modern days.
Arthur Melbourne Cooper was involved in advertising and propaganda - he was born in 1874 but sadly died in 1961. In 1899, Cooper made for Bryant and May the earlier stop-motion film. This is considered one of the very first pieces of advertising for stop-motion animation. Ladislaw Starewicz died in 1965 and was known for creating animated miniature creatures. ‘The Cameraman’s Revenge’ is one example of Starewicz’s work.
Willis O’Brien made a silent movie in 1925 called The Lost Word. He also had a major part in the original King Kong in 1933. O’Brien animated the dinosaurs and ape from King Kong, so he played a major part in the 1933 film.
Ray Harryhausen went on to make all sorts of things including Mighty Joe Young - he worked alongside Willis O’Brien to make this animation. He was well-known for stop-motion model animation, often called Dynamation.
Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin were both involved in making small films, an animation for children. The duo created popular children’s TV programme ‘Bagpuss’.
Peter Lord, Nick Park and David Sproxton set up Aardman Studios. One of Aardman’s most popular and famous productions include Wallace and Gromit. Nick Park later joined bringing with him the Wallace and Gromit characters. ‘A Grand Day Out’ is a film which was released in 1989 and was the first exploration of Wallace and Gromit. ‘A Grand Day Out’ has four sequels: ‘The Wrong Trousers’, ‘A Close Shave’, ‘The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’, and ‘A Matter of Loaf or Death’. All of these were follow-ups in 1993, 1995, 2005 and 2008 respectively. Nick Park was the main man behind all of these. The models used have had improvements throughout the years. As has the Lip Synchronisation used throughout the years. These improvements have been enforced to stay in touch of modern technology, so to speak.
Peter Peake was known for creating a short film named Humdrum. It was released in 1998 by Aardman Animations and also received an Oscar nomination, as well as a BAFTA nomination. Part of Peter Peake’s work I have seen include the ‘Walkers Chesseheads’ and the ‘BT Hedgehog’, both used recently in advertising Walkers Crisps and BT.
There are different types of animation, and here’s just a few:
Armature - an Armature is not and animation, but is a framework around which the sculpture is built -structure and stability is heavily provided by this framework. An Armature, which is usually stiff, is made by dark aluminium wire which is heavy, but it can be bent into shape without it proving to be too difficult. Armatures are basically shapes which fit inside models. Like Ray Harryhausen’s skeletons.
Stop-motion - 1. Claymation - Wallace and Gromit
2. Drawing - The Simpsons - Cel
3. Model - Corpse Bride, Postman Pat
4. Pixilation - people, Angry Kid. There are plenty of pixilation videos on YouTube which people have created themselves. Pixilation is where somebody is shot frame-by-frame to create a stop-motion animation.
5. Object animation
6. Cut-out animation - South Park - using Cut-Out animation has now changed and been improved. Animators use computers, with scanned images or vector graphics. This is how Cut-Out animation has been modernise.
Optical toys - The development of optical toys began to grow and grow. A number of the inventions/products I named further up the page are optical toys. I described flip books, how they came about, how they were created, when they were created and who created them - this is an optical toy. I also did the same for things like the Zoetrope, the Pranxinoscope and the Thaumatrope, plus a few more. Optical toys are arguably not used these days as they were, and their heyday has most probably passed, but they are still used by people keen about optical illusions and optical toys, and they will remain famous and part of the history of animation forever.
Animation is heavily used. As I stated above, companies use animation to advertise on of their products. By using an animation it could make their product eye-catching and appealing, perhaps even humorous. One of the main uses of animation is computer gaming. The graphics used are all an animation. Animation is essential in computer gaming and is usually CGI. Also, there are many educational animations which can be found on different websites including YouTube. Just highlighting these three uses of animation exemplarities emphasises how much animation is still used today!
It supposedly started all the way back in 1824 when a man called Peter Roget, a physiologist researching at the University of London, developed a phenomenon which led to the development of many optical toys. Roget presented his paper ‘The persistence of vision with regard to moving objects’ to the British Royal Society.
The Thaumatrope was then created in 1824. Thauma = wondrous, trope = things that turn. A Thaumatrope is basically an circular disk which is small which has two different pictures on each side that’s attached to a piece of string or a pair of strings running through the centre. A Thaumatrope could also be a card as well as a small circular disk.
The Phenakitstoscope (a deceptive view) then burst on to the scene after it was developed by Joseph Plateau in 1832 - Plateau was Belgian.
The Daedalum/Zoetrope was invented by W.G. Horner and was named the Daedalum. The Daedalum/Zoetrope, created in 1833, is a device which creates the image of a moving picture.
It was named Zoetrope by Lincoln and Mass Produced.
The Flip Book was then created in 1868 by a John Barnes Linnet. They say that Flip Books brought the world closer to modern animation, with the Flip Book, similarly to the Zoetrope, creating an illusion of motion. The Flip Book also became part of novelties to promote products for Mcdonald’s, Gilette etc. The Zoetrope images were cylic, but the Flipbook was different because it is a series of pictures which are repeated, unlike the Zoetrope where it occurs and repeated in cycles.
The Pranxinoscope was invented by French scientist Charles Emile Reynauld (the painter of magic lantern glass slides) in 1877. He was also the inventor of Theatre Optique. Also in 1877, Edvuard Muybridge used 12 cameras to take a series of photographs to ‘freeze’ movement by using the Zoopraxiscope.
Meanwhile, plasticine was created in 1897 by William Harbutt.
There were several breakthroughs and key moments in the history animation. Music camera inventors include Etienne Jules Marey in 1883, Louis Augustin Le Prince in 1888, with the birth of film in 1895. Louis and Augustine Lumiere issued a patent for a device called a cinematograph capable of projecting moving pictures, with the first screening in Paris, France.
James Stuart Blackton was born in Sheffield in 1875 and moved to the US at the age of 10. Blackton was the founder of Vitagraph Studios and was among the very first filmmakers to use stop-motion and drawn animation. We have seen the ‘Humorous Phases of Funny Faces’ which was some of Blackton’s work. This type of work of Blackton’s is now used in modern days.
Arthur Melbourne Cooper was involved in advertising and propaganda - he was born in 1874 but sadly died in 1961. In 1899, Cooper made for Bryant and May the earlier stop-motion film. This is considered one of the very first pieces of advertising for stop-motion animation. Ladislaw Starewicz died in 1965 and was known for creating animated miniature creatures. ‘The Cameraman’s Revenge’ is one example of Starewicz’s work.
Willis O’Brien made a silent movie in 1925 called The Lost Word. He also had a major part in the original King Kong in 1933. O’Brien animated the dinosaurs and ape from King Kong, so he played a major part in the 1933 film.
Ray Harryhausen went on to make all sorts of things including Mighty Joe Young - he worked alongside Willis O’Brien to make this animation. He was well-known for stop-motion model animation, often called Dynamation.
Oliver Postgate and Peter Firmin were both involved in making small films, an animation for children. The duo created popular children’s TV programme ‘Bagpuss’.
Peter Lord, Nick Park and David Sproxton set up Aardman Studios. One of Aardman’s most popular and famous productions include Wallace and Gromit. Nick Park later joined bringing with him the Wallace and Gromit characters. ‘A Grand Day Out’ is a film which was released in 1989 and was the first exploration of Wallace and Gromit. ‘A Grand Day Out’ has four sequels: ‘The Wrong Trousers’, ‘A Close Shave’, ‘The Curse of the Were-Rabbit’, and ‘A Matter of Loaf or Death’. All of these were follow-ups in 1993, 1995, 2005 and 2008 respectively. Nick Park was the main man behind all of these. The models used have had improvements throughout the years. As has the Lip Synchronisation used throughout the years. These improvements have been enforced to stay in touch of modern technology, so to speak.
Peter Peake was known for creating a short film named Humdrum. It was released in 1998 by Aardman Animations and also received an Oscar nomination, as well as a BAFTA nomination. Part of Peter Peake’s work I have seen include the ‘Walkers Chesseheads’ and the ‘BT Hedgehog’, both used recently in advertising Walkers Crisps and BT.
There are different types of animation, and here’s just a few:
Armature - an Armature is not and animation, but is a framework around which the sculpture is built -structure and stability is heavily provided by this framework. An Armature, which is usually stiff, is made by dark aluminium wire which is heavy, but it can be bent into shape without it proving to be too difficult. Armatures are basically shapes which fit inside models. Like Ray Harryhausen’s skeletons.
Stop-motion - 1. Claymation - Wallace and Gromit
2. Drawing - The Simpsons - Cel
3. Model - Corpse Bride, Postman Pat
4. Pixilation - people, Angry Kid. There are plenty of pixilation videos on YouTube which people have created themselves. Pixilation is where somebody is shot frame-by-frame to create a stop-motion animation.
5. Object animation
6. Cut-out animation - South Park - using Cut-Out animation has now changed and been improved. Animators use computers, with scanned images or vector graphics. This is how Cut-Out animation has been modernise.
Optical toys - The development of optical toys began to grow and grow. A number of the inventions/products I named further up the page are optical toys. I described flip books, how they came about, how they were created, when they were created and who created them - this is an optical toy. I also did the same for things like the Zoetrope, the Pranxinoscope and the Thaumatrope, plus a few more. Optical toys are arguably not used these days as they were, and their heyday has most probably passed, but they are still used by people keen about optical illusions and optical toys, and they will remain famous and part of the history of animation forever.
Animation is heavily used. As I stated above, companies use animation to advertise on of their products. By using an animation it could make their product eye-catching and appealing, perhaps even humorous. One of the main uses of animation is computer gaming. The graphics used are all an animation. Animation is essential in computer gaming and is usually CGI. Also, there are many educational animations which can be found on different websites including YouTube. Just highlighting these three uses of animation exemplarities emphasises how much animation is still used today!