'Is There a Future for Stop Motion Animation?' God Save
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God Save Stop Motion ‘Is there a future for stop motion animation?’ Joanna Kirby Ack nowle dge ments I would like to use this section to take the opportunity to thank those who have helped me during this dissertation. Firstly I would like to thank Mark Ingham, who hasn’t just been a tutor, but has injected excitement into the research that I have undertaken and provided me with even more enthusiasm for the subject. Secondly I would like to thank my Mum, Julie Davenport, who, although has no idea what I am talking about most of the time has listened to me discuss this dissertation endlessly. Also thank you to my Auntie Chantie who as well as my Mum has been my reader through the entire dissertation. In concerns of the production of the dissertation, I would like to say thank you to my Dad, David Kirby and his wife Cheryl Kirby, who helped me bring my dissertation to its 3D form. Lastly I would like to thank all the animators that I have referred to within this dissertation. Some of them I was already aware of before beginning my work but others, especially Adam Elliot, have really opened my eyes to different approaches of storytelling. Any animator that takes the time to create stop motion animation and enjoy the entire process is a true inspiration to me! Con tents Introduction Does what it says From pencil to mouse: The journey A brief history of animation and how stop motion has developed Case study of Adam Elliot’s ‘Cousin’ A discussion of the animation and the animators that produced it Case study of Pixar’s ‘Monsters Inc’ A discussion of the animation and the animation studios that produced it Case study of Aardman and DreamWorks’ ‘Flushed Away’ A discussion of the animation and the animation studios that produced it Don’t judge an animation by it’s technique! The heart of the dissertation So has this ship sailed? The research pieced together Conclusion My answer to the question Bibliography Reference to all the information that I have used Intro duction This digital design dissertation will explore the question of ‘Is there a future for stop motion animation?’ My aim is to determine whether traditional stop motion will be replaced by digital stop motion and will digital stop motion go on to be replaced by other forms of digitally enhanced techniques such as CGI (Computer Generated Images). I have chosen the subject of stop motion as my research basis because I have always been keen to learn about animation, so where better to start than one of the earliest forms. 6 My interest grew within my first year at university, when I was able to complete a stop motion animation project. When completing this project my admiration for animation increased as I looked at animation companies such as Aardman Animation, who are the creators of characters such as, Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit. I enjoyed every minute of creating my animation from story boarding to the sound editing as it allowed me to use specialist animation equipment such as the rostrum camera. Shaun The Sheep: Aardman: 2010 As a designer, doing this research will enable me to catch a glimpse of the future of animation and discover whether there is still a place for stop motion. I also want to find out what other people feel about stop motion or if indeed they know what it is! To start the investigation I will look into the history of animation with the intention of highlighting how the technology has moved on since the animation phenomenon started. I then want to write a case study on several animations that are well known by animation lovers. I will begin with Adam Elliot’s ‘Cousin’, which is made using clay with the stop motion technique, followed 9 by ‘Monsters Inc’ and ‘Flushed’, away which uses CGI technologies. Using the case studies as examples when needed, I will then get to the heart of my dissertation. I will present the research I have found to determine whether there is a future for traditional stop motion. I will give examples of the newer technologies that are being used and question why they seem to be towering over traditional stop motion. I will use relevant research I have gathered to support this. I will also discuss the differences between old and new techniques in relation to the production of the film (time, difficulty, software etc), the mood that can be achieved, the reality of the characters and the relationship with the viewer. Using information gathered by questionnaires, I will discuss how people see stop motion as a whole: do they enjoy it? Do they even know what it is? The result of these questions will help verify whether new technologies have taken over. I will go on to express why traditional stop 10 motion is so magical and makes people happy when they watch it, and additionally why as an animator it is also so magical to create. Following my main investigation I will collate all my research to try and answer the main question ‘Is there a future for stop motion animation?’ I will then go on to discuss how my views have changed since I first started my research if indeed they have at all! Slodge’s Last Word: Kirby, J: 2009 From pencil to mouse: The journey In this section I will give a brief history of animation. I will include some important dates, within the animation timeline, which lead up to when stop motion was created 14 and what different techniques can be used. I will also present some key facts that are not only interesting but are things that have been questioned before, such as, what equipment is used and why do we use 24 frames per second. Paul Wells is the Director of Animation, within The Animation Academy [Loughborough University School of Art and Design. 2010] and talks about some of the early involvements in animations. He discusses some of the equipment used and how animation was found by accident when experiments were undertaken for the cinematic moving image. He tells us how since 1798 people have been creating equipment that can project moving drawn images. [Wells:A. 2004:88] The Phenakistoscrope was created by Joseph Plateau in 1832. This was an early optical toy which allowed the viewer to see horses or acrobats move. Andrien-Luc Sanders, is a freelance writer, animator, web designer, and graphic designer with a background in computerized design and animation. He wrote, on an information 15 website, how the device is made using a wheel with the animation on it. The animation is laid out in sequence around the circumference of the wheel. This would be known as each individual frame that is used to create a film today. There are slits made in the wheel and when placed in front of a mirror, the device is spun resulting in the viewer seeing the animated moving image. [Pictureshowman. 2004] This progressed to animators using the techniques of stop motion to create animation. Maureen Furniss is a writer, animation historian, animation theorist, critic, professor, and president of the Society for Animation Studies [Ask. 2010]. In the book called ‘Animation Bible’ she discusses the technique of stop motion stating that the technique is achieved by manipulating objects in front of the camera, frame by frame. [Furniss:A. 2008:232] I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in animation of all kinds, as she goes into great detail about the processes of different techniques used to create animation, and she 16 also gives some brilliant examples of those techniques. According to the website, Pictureshowman, James Stuart Blackton is known to be the father of the animated cartoon. He was born in England, Sheffield in 1875. In 1906 he created ‘Humorous Phases of Funny Faces’, which was the first cartoon made. He used stop-motion by drawing a face on a blackboard and filming it. When filming was paused he changed the faces and continued filming to create a moving image.[Mosley. 2010] Phenakistoscope: Muybridge, E: 1893 The technique used by Blackton set a trend and in 1914, Windsor McCay (1867-1934) created ‘Gertie the Dinosaur’. Van Eaton’s website discussed how this animation was slightly different to ‘Humours Phases of Funny Faces’ because there was interaction between the character and the animator. Gertie was instructed to do tricks like bowing to the audience. [Eaton. 2010] This technique continued to grow and animators started to experiment with different materials to create these 2D stop motion animations. Furniss [2004] spoke about the different types of 2D stop motion animation in the book ‘Animation Bible’. She explained how 2D stop motion 19 animation has many different forms and each technique that can be used is very unique. They can be made from sand, salt, pins which create shadows, cut out bits of paper and many more. In 1995 a polish animator called Aleksandra Korejwo used coloured salt to create an animation titled ‘Carmen Habanera’. Using gouache watercolours to change the colour of the sand she allowed it to dry in the sand before applying it to a black canvas and manipulating it with feathers from a local zoo. She used pre-drawn pastel images to guide her into creating each frame. [Furniss:A. 2008:232,236]. The technique of using frames to create a continuous moving image grew even further when animators started to use 3D objects to create stop motion animations. Furniss [2004] also spoke about 3D stop motion in the same book motioned in the previous paragraph.