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Animation and Imperfection Asma Lamiri

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Animation and Imperfection Asma Lamiri BACHELOR THESIS ANIMATION AND IMPERFECTION ASMA LAMIRI BACHELOR THESIS ANIMATION AND IMPERFECTION ASMA LAMIRI UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. DR. GERHARD FUNK DEPARTMENT OF TIMEBASED AND INTERACTIVE MEDIA UNIVERSITY OF ART AND INDUSTRIAL DESIGN LINZ OCTOBER 2018 1 BACHELOR THESIS ANIMATION AND IMPERFECTION ASMA LAMIRI ANIMATION AND IMPERFECTION 1. Introduction......................................................................................................................................... ..3 2. A brief history of animation.................................................................................................................4 2.1 The beginning of traditional animation....................................................................................4 2.2 From 2D to 3D – a turning point.............................................................................................. .9 3. Overview of different animation Styles.......................................................................................12 3.1 Traditional animation (hand – drawn, cel animation)............................................................ .12 3.2 2D Animation (Vector based computer animation)............................................................... .12 3.3 3D Animation (CGI, computer animation)…...........................................................................12 3.4 Stop Motion........................................................................................................................... .12 3.5 Motion Graphics ….................................................................................................................13 4. Why 2D animation might be thing of the past..................................................................................14 5. The business of 3D animation............................................................................................................15 6. Animation and imperfection – the human aspect.............................................................................17 6.1 The uncanny valley phenomenon.......................................................................................... .21 6.2 The influence of animation styles on visual storytelling........................................................29 7. The Future of 2D animation.............................................................................................................. ..40 7.1 „2 ½ D“ as future of 2D animation......................................................................................... .41 8. Web Sources.......................................................................................................................................44 9. Video Sources.....................................................................................................................................46 10. Literature............................................................................................................................................47 11. Image Sources.................................................................................................................................... .48 2 BACHELOR THESIS ANIMATION AND IMPERFECTION ASMA LAMIRI 1. Introduction In my Bachelor thesis I would like to talk about imperfection in relation to the art of animation and the influence of animation styles on visual storytelling. I am also researching what has changed in animation over the years. I am going to discuss the infrastructual aspects of the animation industry and take a look at why 3D seems to be taking over traditional hand drawn 2D animation. I am going to talk about the „uncanny valley“ phenomenon and how it affects animation. In the following I am asking the question of what emotional impact a certain style of animation can have on the viewer . I would like to present my thesis using different animations, such as „The Lion King“, „Mars Needs Moms“, „Kizumonogatari“ and „Paperman“. What I do not want to discuss in my thesis is the effect that music and voice acting can have on an animation. For me, it is self explanatory that music, sound effects and voice acting will change the way animation is precieved by the audience completely. That being said, through research and discussion, I hope to find out more about what makes an animation unique, why big animation studios have turned their backs on traditional hand-drawn animation and if that means it should be left in the past for good. To give a better understanding of the topic, the first two chapters are about the history of animation and different animation styles. In the following chapters I will discuss the questions I posed above. Finally I want to discuss new animation styles that have emerged over the past view years and how these might change the animation industry in the future. 3 BACHELOR THESIS ANIMATION AND IMPERFECTION ASMA LAMIRI 2. A brief history of animation The word „animation“ derives from the latin word „anima”, which means „the breath of life”, „vital principle” or „soul”. To understand what animation is, it is important to understand the definition of animation. Animation is the manipulation of images and objects to appear as if they are in motion, thus animation can be seen as a form of illusion of movement, generated by hand or by computer. The resources of following paragraphs are retrived from Wikipedia and Digital Media for Artists. [10] [11] The history of the moving image dates as far back as the paleolithic period, where shadow plays offered popular shows with moving images as the result of manipulation by hand. In the 17th century moving images were generated by pre-kinematic apparatuses, such as the Laterna Magica, which is seen as the foundation for film and animation. The invention of the phenakistiscope in 1832 introduced the stroboscopic principle of modern animation, which would also provide the basis for cinematography. The phenakistiscope was the first device that created a fluid illusion of motion. The spinning cardboard disc could only show a short continuous loop but was sold out immediately after it first launched. It was then widely produced and loved by the public. Although after the phenakistiscope other similar devices, such as the praxinoscope, were made, the principle stayed the same: A stroboscope is used to make a cyclically moving object appear to be stationary. It consists of a rotating disk with slots, holes or a lamp which produces short repetitive flashes of light. In 1888 Charles-Émile Reynaud further developed the praxinoscope into the Théâtre Optique, an animated moving picture system, consisting of 300 to 700 transparent pictures of successive phases of moving figures with black backgrounds that he drew by hand. Although the invention and developement of pre-kinematic apparatuses are the beginning of early animation history, I want to take a closer look at the developement of animation starting from 1900, after the invention of the first film camera. Furthermore I am not only considering western animation history, but also the history of japanese style animation, since it has become quite popular around the world in the 21st century. 2.1) The beginning of traditional animation Since around 1899 filmmakers experimented with stop-motion animation. When film became a common medium manufacturers produced many chromolithography (a unique method for making multi-colour prints) film loops, by tracing live-action film footage, which is now known as the rhotoscopy method. J. Stuart Blackton, who had previously worked on stop-motion, experimented with animation drawn on blackboards in „Humorous Phases of Funny Faces“ in 1906. Blackton drew various portraits using the frame by frame method. Only two years later the film „Fantasmagorie“ was created by Emile Cohl, who used what became known as traditional hand- drawn animation. The animation was released in 1908 with a white-on-black chalkline look. Cohl created this look by using negative prints from black ink drawings on white paper. The film consists of a stick figure moving around, encountering different objects. 4 BACHELOR THESIS ANIMATION AND IMPERFECTION ASMA LAMIRI During the 1910’s, animations were called „Cartoons“. They were mainly produced for cinemas as pre-show attractions, to be screened before a feature film. Producer John Randolph Bray and animator Earl Hurd were the most successful in the animation industry at that time. They were responsible for patenting the cel animation process, which would later dominate the animation industry for most of the century. Winsor McCay, who was an American cartoonist and animator showcased very detailed drawings in his animated film „Gertie the Dinosaur“ (1914). It was also an early example of character development in drawn animation. „El Apóstol“ was a 1917 Argentine animated film produced by Federico Valle and the world's first animated feature film, utilizing cutout animation, however the film was destroyed by a fire and is now considered a lost film. The history of japanese animation, widely known as Anime, can be traced back to the start of the 20th century with the first animated film produced in Japan in 1907 called "Katsudō Shashin“ („Activity Photo"). The film was found in 2005 and depicts a boy in a sailor outfit drawing the characters of the film. It consists of fifty frames on a strip of celluloid. Unfortunately there isn't an exact record of more animations that were made in Japan during that time, though it is widely believed that there
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