ANIMATION DEVELOPMENT

& TECHNIQUES

Kirsty Pickett

PERSISTENCE OF VISION
Persistence of Vision is the theory that after an image meets our eyes, the image
remains in our retinas for a 16th of a second after it first met our eyes.
This is what enables humans to view a long sequence of images and turn it into an
animation. Our persistence of vision doesnt only just help us to view animation but it
also helps us view everyday optical illusions. Such as, the black spaces that come
between each movie frame.
In animation, moving characters are often shot "on twos which means one drawing is
shown for every two frames of film. This means that at an average 24 frames per
second, there are only 12 drawings per second. Although this might not be as fluent as
shooting on ones (one drawing per frame), our persistence of vision helps to fool our
minds into thinking that the animation is smooth. However, if the movement of the
character is relatively fast then it is better to shoot it on ones as "twos" are too slow to
convey the motion sufficiently.
(2015) Persistence of Vision, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision
(Accessed: 7th February 2015).

JOSEPH PLATEAU-1832
Joseph Plateau was the first person to demonstrate the illusion of a
moving image. He did this with his invention the Phenakistoscope
that he made in 1832. In order to demonstrate a moving image,
the device used counter rotating disks which repeated the same
drawn images but with added small increments of motion on one
and regularly spaced slits in the other. When the two disks rotated
at the correct speed, the synchronization of the windows and the
images created an animated effect, with the help of the persistence
of vision principle.
(2014) Joseph Plateau, Available at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Plateau (Accessed: 8th February
2015).

WILLIAM HORNER-1860S
William Horner was the man that invented the Zoetrope. The zoetrope is a
pre-film animation device that produces the illusion of motion by displaying
a sequence of drawings or photographs showing progressive phases of that
motion. This device consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the
sides. On the inside of the cylinder there is a band with images from a set of
sequenced pictures. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits
at the pictures across. The reason for there being multiple slits down the
side is so that the pictures dont blur together whilst the device is moving.
The Zoetrope was designed to actually animate things, to make it seem like
a picture is actually moving and because of our persistence of vision, its an
illusion to us that its only pictures moving in a sequence.
(2015) Zoetrope, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope
(Accessed: 7th February 2015).

THE FLICK BOOK- 1868

The first flick book arose in September, 1868, when it was owned
by John Barnes Linnett under the name kineograph.
A flick book is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually
from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned
quickly, the pictures become an animation.
Flick books are essentially a form of animation. Just like motion
pictures, they rely on persistence of vision to create the illusion of
continuous motion rather than a series of discontinuous images.
However the book must be flipped with enough speed for the
illusion to work.
(2015) Flip Book, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flip_book
(Accessed: 7th February 2015).

CHARLES-MILE REYNAUD1877
Charles-mile Reynaud was a well known inventor. He was the man responsible for the first projected
animated cartoons. In 1877, Reynaud invented a device called the Praxinoscope. The Praxinoscope
was a new spin off of William Horners animation device, the Zoetrope. Similarly to the Zoetrope, it
had a strip of pictures placed around the inside of a cylinder. However, Reyaund improved on the
Zoetrope by replacing the outside slits with a circle of mirrors placed on the inside of the cylinder. The
reason why this was an improvement from the Zoetrope is because as the pictures are moving, they
reflect off the mirror in a way that makes the image look more or less stationary. Whereas, with the
Zoetrope, you are looking directly at the moving pictures, so looking in the mirrors would therefore
produce the illusion of motion, with a less distorted picture than the zoetrope would offer.
In 1888, Reyaund further developed his invention and named it the Thtre Optique. The Thtre
Optique was an improved version of his Praxinoscope, except this invention was capable of projecting
images onto a screen. This meant that he could show his hand-drawn animated cartoons to larger
audiences. This lead to him being the first man to project an animated film in public. On October 28 th
1892, was when he projected the first animated film in public, which was the Pauvre Pierrot, at the
Muse Grvin in Paris. However, when the Lumire brothers invented their photographic film
projector, the Thtre Optique lost all of its popularity.
(2015) Charles-mile Reynaud, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-mile_Reynaud (Accessed: 8th February 2015).

(2014) Praxinoscope, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Praxinoscope (Accessed: 8th February 2015).

EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE1877 AND 1878

In 1877 and 1878, Muybridge used multiple cameras to capture motion in stop-motion photographs for his work on animal locomotion.
Animal locomotion is a variety of movements that results in progression from one place to another.
He created a device called a zoopraxiscope in 1879 which is an early device for displaying motion pictures. It is sometimes considered as
the first movie projector. This device seems to have been the inspirations for Thomas Edison and William Kennedy Dicksons Kinetoscope.
In 1872, Leland Stanford, a businessman and race-horse owner, hired Muybridge for some photographic studies. They debated whether all
four legs of a horse were off the ground at the same time while trotting and also whilst a gallop. Since the human eye could not break down
the action because of the speed of the movement, they decided to get it scientifically proven. This gave Muybridge inspiration to improve
his camera for quicker shutter speed and faster film emulsions.
By 1878 Muybridge had successfully photographed a horse at a trot. However Stanford also wanted a study of the horse at a gallop. On 15
June 1878, Muybridge planned to take a series of photos of Stanford's horse at Stanford's Palo Alto Stock Farm.

He placed numerous large glass-plate cameras in a line along the edge of the track; the shutter of each was triggered by a
thread as the horse passed.
He copied the pictures onto his device the zoopraxiscope. The study is called The Horse in Motion and it came to prove that all four feet of
a horse come off the ground at the same time.
In the 1880s, the University of Pennsylvania sponsored Muybridge's research so that he could study movement of people and animals. They
allowed him to photograph people in a studio, and photograph animals from the Philadelphia Zoo.

(2015) Eadweard Muybridge, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge (Accessed: 5th February 2015).
(2014) Zoopraxiscope, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoopraxiscope (Accessed: 5th February 2015).

THOMAS EDISON- 1891

Thomas Edison was an American inventor. He created many things that greatly influenced everyday life, this included the
phonograph and the motion picture camera. He was also know for his inventions; electric light and power utilities. All of his
inventions had an extreme impact as all of them established major new industries world-wide.
Edison worked with William Kennedy Dickson in his motion picture studies where they came up with an invention called the
Kinetograph. This was a motion picture camera. Edison worked on the electromechanical design of the Kinetograph whilst
the photographer, William Kennedy Dickson , worked on the photographic and optical development of the device.
The majority of the credit for the invention belongs to Dickson, however in 1891, Thomas Edison built a Kinetoscope. The
Kinetoscope is a device where films were viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window at the top of the
device. Although is wasnt a movie projector, it was still seen as the basic approach that would become the standard device
for all cinematic projection.
The kinetograph and kinetoscope were both first publicly released on May 20 th, 1891.
In April 1896, Thomas Armat created the Vitascope, however it was manufactured by the Edison factory and marketed in
Edison's name. It was used to project motion pictures in public screenings in New York City. Later on, Edison also exhibited
motion pictures with voice soundtrack on cylinder recordings, mechanically synchronized with the film.
Thomas Edison opened a film studio in 1901 where they made close to 1,200 films. The majority of productions were short
films such as, The Great Train Robbery made in 1903, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in 1910, and the first Frankenstein film
made in 1910.
(2015) Thomas Edison, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Edison#Motion_pictures (Accessed: 7th February
2015).

LUMIRE BROTHERS1892-1895
Auguste Lumire and Louis Lumire were the first filmmakers in history. The Lumire Brothers invented a device
called the cinematograph. The Cinematograph is a motion picture film camera, which also serves as a film projector
and even a printer. Differently to Thomas Edisons Kinetoscope, this device actually allowed multiple people to
view moving images at one time.
Both brothers worked for their Father at his photographic firm where Louis worked as a physicist and Auguste as a
manager. It was at this point that Louis started to make some improvements to the still-photograph process,
mainly working on the dry-plate process, which was a major step towards moving images.
It wasnt until 1892 when the brothers started to create moving pictures. They invented a number of devices that
lead up to their film camera. They also took quite a bit of inspiration from Emile Reynauds device, the Thtre
Optique. However, the Lumire Brothers wanted to invent a more advanced device to project moving images.
The original cinematograph had been invented by Lon Guillaume Bouly on 12th February 1892. However, the
brothers still invented their own version of the device on 13th February 1895.
The first footage ever to be recorded using it was recorded on March 19, 1895. This first film shows workers leaving
the Lumire factory.
(2015) Auguste and Louis Lumire, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_and_Louis_Lumire (Accessed:
8th February 2015).
(2015) Cinematograph, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinematograph (Accessed: 8th February 2015).

STOP-FRAME ANIMATION1897
Stop-frame animation, also known as stop motion animation is one of the most used and most well known
animation techniques. It is usually used to manipulate an object or persona to make it move on its own when
in reality it wouldnt be able to move.
Stop motion is done by taking a sequence of pictures and between the individually photographed frames you
move the subject item in small increments. So after every picture is taken, you have to move the item a very
small amount so that when you put all of the pictures together in a continuous sequence, it creates the
illusion of movement.
Clay models are often used in stop motion animation because they are easy to move and reposition in the
way that suits your needs. This is commonly know as clay-mation.
However, stop motion animation doesnt always require models or inanimate objects doing things that
wouldnt normally happen. It can also include people or objects just simply doing what they are supposed to
do. The reason why using stop motion for these things rather than using it to manipulate the audience is
because it adds a certain comical feel to the feature.
Stop motion animation has been around for an extremely long time. Stop motion has always been quite a
popular method for creating animation because it is capable of showing objects moving as if by magic. It is a
brilliant way to play with the audiences minds. The first instance of the stop motion technique was seen by
Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph's The Humpty Dumpty Circus that was made in 1897.
(2015) Stop Motion, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_motion (Accessed: 8th February 2015).

PHOTOGRAPHIC ANIMATION
Photographic animation otherwise known as photoanimation is a technique as old
as the motion picture industry itself. Photoanimation is a technique where still
photos, artwork, or other objects are filmed with the use of an animation stand. An
animation stand has a platform that moves East-West and North-South and tilts at
angles up to 45 degrees in any direction. The camera is mounted to a steel track
that moves up and down relative to the subject being filmed. The movement
combinations and scans are done with a motorized platform that rotates and tilts.
It was brought to a high art form and technique by writer and director Ral daSilva
who was also working with camera stand operator, Francis Lee, in the late 1960s
and throughout the 1970s. He said that photoanimation would develop and
improve communication, instruction, promotional and advertising motion pictures.
(2014) Photoanimation, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoanimation
(Accessed: 9th February 2015).

FRAME RATES
The term frame rate applies to both film and video cameras, computer graphics, and
motion capture systems. Frame rate is usually expressed in frames per second (FPS).
In the early days of film innovation, it was scientifically determined that a frame rate of
less than 16 frames per second would cause the mind to see flashing images. This is
because of the theory of persistence of vision and the idea that the eyes ability to
retain an image for 1/16 of a second after the object or image has gone. However,
people rejected this theory because people still see motion at rates as low as ten frames
per second or slower, for example, using the flipbook.
In the motion picture industry, the standard filming and projection formats are 24
frames per second. Shooting at a slower frame rate would create fast motion when
projected, while shooting at a frame rate higher than 24fps would create slow motion
when projected. Jan vankmajer was especially known for using a slow frame rate as the
fast motion added a comical value to his work.
(2015) Frame Rate, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frame_rate (Accessed: 7th
February 2015).

WILLIS OBRIEN-1913
Willis O'Brien was an American motion picture, special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who was said to be
responsible for some of the best-known work in cinema history. He is well known for his work on The Lost World in
1925 and King Kong in 1933.
OBrien liked to spend his spare time sculpting and illustrating which led to him being employed as a sports cartoonist
for the San Francisco Daily News. By 1913 he had made models, including a dinosaur and a caveman which then led
to him making his first animation film in 1915 The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy.
After this film was released, O'Brien was hired by the Edison Company after Thomas Edison had watched the feature
and was very impressed by it. He was hired to animate a series of short films with a prehistoric theme. Edison knew
that OBrien would be the best for this work because of his love for dinosaurs that was adapted at a young age.
In 1917, OBrien started to work on other Edison Company productions including Sam Loyd's The Puzzling Billboard
and Nippy's Nightmare. These were famously know to be the first stop-motion films that combined live action with
stop motion models.
Willis OBrien, tested and developed lots of different models for his animations. He tested creating his own characters
out of clay, although for the majority of his films he employed Richard and Marcel Delgado to create stop-motion
models with rubber skin built up over complex, articulated metal armatures. He preferred to use amateurs because it
meant that much more detailed could be added and it also meant that he had more control over the movement when
he used them in his animations.
(2015) Willis H. O'Brien, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willis_H._O'Brien (Accessed: 8th February 2015).

CEL ANIMATION- 1914

Cel is short for celluloid which is a transparent sheet where objects are drawn or painted on
in order to create hand-drawn animation. This techniques was mainly used in the first half
of the 20th century and was generally established in 1914 by a man called Earl Hurd.
However, the use of cels have been dropped in major production companies since they can
now create their animated characters on a computer. For example, Disney Studios stopped
using cels in 1990 when Computer Animation Production System replaced this element in
their animation process.
The way that cel animation works is typically, a character is drawn on a cel and then another
cel is placed on top of the original drawing. Since cels are transparent, you can easily see
the previous drawing underneath the cell that you are about to draw on. This means that
you can trace the original drawing but make slight changes each time. This helps to reduce
the number of times an image has to be redrawn. The outline of the images are drawn on
the front of the cel while colors are painted on the back. This is to eliminate brushstrokes on
the final product.
This techniques creates a way to animate films in a much more cost-effective way.
(2014) Cel, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cel (Accessed: 8th February 2015).

ROTOSCOPING-1917
Rotoscoping is an animation technique where animators trace over footage, frame by frame, for
use in live-action and animated films. The rotoscope is a piece of equipment that projects
images onto a frosted glass panel so that the image can be re-drawn by an animator. The term
rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating a matte (combining a foreground
image with a background image) for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited
over another background.
The technique was invented in 1917 by cartoonist Max Fleischer. He used rotoscoping in a
number of his cartoons, most notably in the Cab Calloway dance routines in three Betty Boop
cartoons from the early 1930s.
Walt Disney and his animators also used retoscoping in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in
1937.
Rotoscoping has often been used for visual effects in live-action movies. By tracing an object, a
silhouette is created that can be used to extract that object from a scene for use on a different
background.
(2015) Rotoscoping, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping (Accessed: 8th
February 2015).

WALT DISNEY-1920
Walter "Walt" Disney was an American business man, cartoonist, animator, voice actor, and film producer. Within the American
animation industry and throughout the world, he is regarded as a cultural icon because of his amazing animation work. Disney and
his staff created numerous fictional characters including Mickey Mouse(1928), Donald Duck(1934), and Goofy(1932) that are still
popular characters to this day.
In January 1920, Disney started working on commercials based on cutout animation. This is what made Walt Disney interested in
animation and then lead to his decision to become an animator. The owner of the Ad company that he was working for at the time
allowed him to borrow a camera from work to experiment with at home. After reading books about Animated Cartoons, Disney
considered cel animation as he thought it was much more promising than the cutout animation he was previously doing.
He eventually decided to open his own animation business and recruited Fred Harman, as his first employee. They both then started
creating cartoons called Laugh-O-Grams.
In October 1923, Disney and his brother Roy invested their money and set up a cartoon studio in Hollywood.
Ubbe Iwerks, Disneys friend and co-animator and Disney himself worked on creating a new character in 1928. This was the famous
Mickey Mouse that we all know of. Disney made sketches of how he wanted the character to look and Iwerks reworked them to make
the character easier to animate, although Mickey's voice and personality were provided by Disney himself until 1947.
They started working on short animations to feature Mickey, however it wasnt until they came up with the idea of Steamboat Willie
that Mickeys character started to come to life. A businessperson named Pat Powers provided Disney with both distribution and
Cinephone, a sound-synchronization process which helped make the animation. They used cel animation to create this short feature
since Disney had already worked with it before and he liked this method for animating his new character. After releasing Steamboat
Willie, it instantly became a success.
(2015) Walt Disney, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney#1920.E2.80.931937:_Start_of_animation_career
(Accessed: 8th February 2015).

WARNER BROS-1930
Warner Bros. Entertainment, a fully integrated, broad-based entertainment company, is a global leader in all forms of
entertainment. Warner Bros. is one of the most successful motion picture and television studios in the world. Warner Bros. Studios
began on April 4, 1923 with the brothers Albert, Sam, Harry and Jack L. Warner.
The Warner Brothers where originally, the ones that brought sound to movies. In 1903, the brothers showed their very first motion
picture production which was Edwin S. Porter's The Great Train Robbery.
However, it wasnt until 1930 when the Brothers started to include cartoon animations into their productions. This was when the
Warner Bros. started to work with the Harman and Ising studio where Harman and Ising introduced their character Bosko in the first
Looney Tunes cartoon, Sinkin' in the Bathtub, in 1931. However, in 1933, Harman and Ising stoped working with Warner Bros. and
so Leon Schlesinger carried on the production on Looney Tunes which then starred Buddy, which was a clone of Bosko.
Schlesinger's staff developed a fast-paced, irreverent style that made their cartoons globally popular.
However, the Warner Brothers were constantly in competition with Walt Disney animations so at this point, Buddy was in constant
competition with Disneys character Mickey Mouse.
In 1936, more Looney Tunes characters were created such as, Porky Pig who was actually seen as the studio's first animated star.
Also, Warner Bros. cartoon characters Daffy Duck (who debuted in the 1937 short Porky's Duck Hunt) and Bugs Bunny (who
debuted in the 1940 short A Wild Hare) achieved star power.
Since Bugs Bunny was a huge success, in 1980 Warner Bros. came out with an actual film including all of the Looney Tunes
characters. The name of the film is The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie. This again brought a huge success to the company and
because of the success of these characters, it prompted Warner Brothers to organize Warner Bros. Animation as a new production
division to restart production of original material.
(2015) Warner Bros., Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros.#Cartoons (Accessed: 9th February 2015).

RAY HARRYHAUSEN-1953
Ray Harryhausen was an American visual effects creator, writer, and producer who created lots of stop motion films. The majority
of inspiration that he got from his work was from Willis OBrien. Ever since Harryhausen watched OBriens King Kong in 1933, he
was inspired to create his own stop motion animations and so he started to experiment with models. Since Harryhausen was a big
fan of OBrien, he stressed a meeting with him. OBrien critiqued his early models and urged him to take classes in graphic arts and
sculpture to develop his skills.
At this point, Harryhausen became friends with an aspiring writer, Ray Bradbury, who had similar enthusiasms to him.
Harryhausens first official film that he was in full charge of was in 1953 and was called The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. This
feature film turned into a major international box-office hit for Warner Brothers.
Ray Harryhausen carried on producing short animations such as Little Red Riding Hood. He continued to develop his stop motion
techniques and then later on in his career, he started to make bigger productions such as Jason and the Argonauts in 1963,
Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger in 1977 and Clash of the Titans in 1981 which was probably one of his most popular films.
Similarly to Willis OBrien, Harryhausen was extremely well known for the use of live action within his stop motion animations.
Again, he took inspiration from OBrien when it came to making his models, as he liked to use metal armatures for his animations.
However, when it came to making the models, he resorted in hiring his Mum and Dad to actually create the models by looking at
his designs for the characters. His Dad was responsible for the machining of the metal armatures that were basically the skeletons
for the models so that the finished models are able to keep their position. His Mother was responsible for making miniature
costumes for the model characters.
With a lot of Harryhausens features, he liked to stick to the classic 24 frames per second because he felt that this way would give
him the best possible results. For example, in Clash of the Titans and in the Medusa scene, Harryhausen had to move the snakes
on her head, her head and her body every 24 th of a second.
(2015) Ray Harryhausen, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Harryhausen (Accessed: 8th February 2015).

HANNA-BARBERA- 1957
Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc was formed in 1957 by animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera who
formerly worked at MGM where they created Tom and Jerry. Over the years, Hanna-Barbera produced many successful
animated shows, including The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs and The Jetsons, earning eight Emmy
Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The studio also produced several animated
features and theatrical shorts and a number of television specials and telefilms, both animated and live-action.
When MGM closed, the live-action director George Sidney offered to be their business partner for their new company.
George Sidney also convinced the television subsidiary of Columbia Pictures Screen Gems to make a deal with the
animation producers.
Their first animated series for television The Ruff & Reddy Show, featured live-action host Jimmy Blaine and also had
several older Columbia-owned cartoons and it was premiered on NBC in December 1957.
Hanna-Barbera was one of the first animation studios to successfully produce cartoons especially for television and
during the seventies, the majority of all American television animation was produced by Hanna-Barbera. They didnt
seem to have much competition in the 1970s.
In late 1991 Hanna-Barbera was purchased by Turner Broadcasting System. In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner,
and Hanna-Barbera became a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Animation.
(2015) Hanna-Barbera, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanna-Barbera (Accessed: 5th February 2015).

2D VECTOR GRAPHICS-1963
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygons to
represent images in computer graphics. There was a home gaming system that used vector graphics called
Vectrex as well as various arcade games like Asteroids , Space Wars and many cinematronics titles such as "rip
off", "tail gunner", "Armor Attack" and "Boxing Bugs" using vector monitors.
All of the earliest 2D computer graphics were made by vector graphics.
Vector graphics are typically used only for 2D graphic objects. Raster graphics is another way to generate 2D
graphic objects, however raster images are based on pixels and so when the image is scaled there is a loss of
clarity making it look blurry and extremely pixilated. Whereas, vector-based graphics can be scaled by any
amount without loosing any quality. This means that vector graphics are seen as a better animation option
since you can change the scale and still keep the clarity. Also, with vector graphics, you can add or remove
specific details from certain items.
Some vector editors support animation, while others are specifically aimed towards producing animated
graphics. Generally, vector graphics are more suitable for animation.
Vector graphics were also used on the TX-2 at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory by computer graphics pioneer Ivan
Sutherland to run his program Sketchpad in 1963.
(2015) Vector Graphics, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics (Accessed: 7th February 2015).
(2015) Vector Graphics Editor, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_graphics_editor (Accessed: 7th February
2015).

JAN VANKMAJER-1964
Jan vankmajer is a filmmaker and artist. He is known for his animations and features, which have greatly
influenced other artists such as Terry Gilliam, The Brothers Quay, and many others.
Stop motion animation has a feature in most of his work however some of his films now include live action for the
majority of the feature.
vankmajer is extremely well known for the use of claymation within his stop motion animations. Claymation is one
of many forms of stop motion animation and it is the use of clay to create an inanimate object and using stop
motion to incorporate the clay and the movement of it in order to make it seem alive.
One of vankmajers most famous pieces of work was his animation Food made in 1992. In this animation he
incorporated claymation with stop motion animation where he used the clay to create a model of the person. The
reason why this was so effective was because the model looked quite a lot like the original man used in the
animation, however, with this clay, he was able to move his face into positions that arent humanly possible. The
use of clay in this feature also added to the comical side since the face was put into absolutely ridiculous positions.
Another one of vankmajer's trademarks is the use of fast-motion sequences when people walk or interact. These
qualities also add to the comical side of his work. I think that his main trademark however, is to make everything
over exaggerated and to do it in a discreetly humorous way. For example, he likes to include very exaggerated
sounds, often creating a very strange effect in all eating scenes.
(2014) Jan vankmajer, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_vankmajer (Accessed: 8th February 2015).
(2015) Clay Animation, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clay_animation (Accessed: 8th February 2015).

AARDMAN ANIMATIONS1972

Aardman Animations, is a British animation studio. The studio is extremely well known for films made using claymation techniques. For example, Aardman
Animations is probably most popular from their claymation production Wallace and Gromit where all of the characters are made completely out of
plasticine.
Aardman was founded in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton, who wanted to produce animated motion pictures. They partnered up with the BBC where
they provided animated sequences for the series for deaf children Vision On.
After creating a segment called "Greeblies in 1975 where they first used claymation, it became inspiration for a lot of their later work such as creating the
simple clay character Morph.
Peter and David were always interested in developing an adult audience for a model animation. In 1982, they were capable of doing this when
Conversational Pieces was commissioned by Channel Four. This allowed them to expand from claymation and to start experimenting with the technique of
animating puppet characters to real-life conversations. Aardman demonstrated that real people could be characterised with insight, humour and sensitivity
with their films, such as, Early Bird.
They also demonstrated this in their claymation production series that was also used for advertisement, called Creature Comforts by creating animal
characters and turning them into actual people through the attitudes presented and the way that the character talks and acts. They made sure to make
the animals present themselves in a way that regular people would, so they made the actions of the character resemble every little movement that a
person would make during a normal conversation. Not only did they move the hands and mouth but they made sure to incorporate all the unnoticeable
movements such as blinking and the position that the mouth would be depending on the word that they were saying.
In all of Aardmans Animations, the fluidity of the stop motion was unbelievably good to the point that you cant even tell that it is a stop motion production.
Watching things like Wallace and Gromit, Angry Boy and Creature Comforts, it starts to pass your mind that you are watching a clay model talk and you
actually start to believe that they are real and are alive talking to you. This is done because of the number of frames per second that they use. Since the
fluidity of their productions is very good, we can tell that the frame rate is quite high.
In 1986, it was suggested that they collaborate with director Stephen Johnson and the Brothers Quay to create a new rock video. This is when they created
the animation Sledgehammer that then went on to collect almost every award that year.
In the late 1990s, Aardman animations expanded their range by experimenting with computer animation. After they had time to experiment, they then
came out with Owzat in 1997 and then later on they came out with Flushed away in 2006.
() History of Aardman, Available at: http://www.aardman.com/the-studio/history/ (Accessed: 8th February 2015).

THE BROTHERS QUAY-1980

Stephen and Timothy Quay are twin brothers and they are both stop motion animators. In 1980, after
teaming up with Keith Griffiths (who produced all of their films), the three of them formed Koninick Studios,
which is currently based in Southwark, south London.
Animator Jan vankmajer, is seen as a major influence on the two brothers and they actually named one of
their films (The Cabinet of Jan vankmajer). However, they also emphasized that the more significant
influence on their work was Walerian Borowczyk, who made both animation shorts and live-action features.
Stephen and Timothy Quay are well known for using puppets in the majority of their animations, these of
which are usually made from doll parts or other strange objects that are often partially disassembled. Their
animations are usually set in a dark and rather scary looking atmosphere which is probably to attract their
preferred target audience of adults rather than children. This is quite strange when it comes to animation as
it is a genre that is usually targeted at children, however the Quay Brothers seem to make it work just as
well.
They are best known for doing this in their famous animation Street of Crocodiles.
They are also well known for their films having no meaningful spoken dialogue, usually being that there is no
spoken content at all but on some accounts, they have been known to include multilingual background
gibberish that is not intended to be understood and it simply just their to add effect.
(2014) Brothers Quay, Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_Quay (Accessed: 9th February
2015).