History of Animation Part two

The Zoetrope

The second task that was carried out in today’s session was the research and creation of a Zoetrope. The zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William George Horner; it was an early form of a motion picture projector. A zoetrope comprises of a drum enclosing a set of motionless images that is rotated in a circular fashion to produce the illusion of motion (Zoetrope and Praxinoscope, 2010). 

According to Hayes (2011), ‘the Zoetrope is the wheel of life’; when you place a strip of drawn images inside the Zoetrope’s drum or circular spinning object, the images come to life when you look through the slots. This illusion is again due to the persistence of vision and the phi phenomenon. The persistent of vision is a stroboscopic effect; the images must be disturbed by periods of darkness for the illusion to take effect. For example, if you spin a zoetrope and look over the top of the cylinder (instead of through the slots), the images will become distorted and the illusion will be non-existent. 

Moreover, the Phi Phenomenon occurs as a consequence of human nature; the brain attempts to make sense from what is seen, therefore when the various pictures are close together our brains rapidly interpret an association between them (Wikipedia, 2014). 

The various 19^th century animations, namely the, zoetrope, flipbook, thaumatrope, praxinoscope and phenakistoscope were all stages leading to the development of film and television. Media technologies today appear different at a glance however they share mutual properties to these optical toys from the 1800’s (Hayes, 2011). 

The question now arises as to how to create a zoetrope......?

Here is a step-by-step process of how we created a zoetrope in our groups:

Step 1: We found a circular lid for the base that could also be easily spun.

Step 2: We measured the circumference of the circular lid and cut a piece of black cardboard to the same length, to wrap around the lid. We also cut a piece of paper to the same circumference as the lid however the height of this was smaller than the black strip.

STEP 3
(Wikihow, 2014)

Step 3: We chose our images and decided that at this stage simplicity was key and a focus on the measurements was what was important; therefore it was decided that a bouncing ball would be a good example of an Illusion. We measured the length of the paper and divided it into 12 (as we wanted 12 images) and then measured the same distance between each image.

Step 4: The images were drawn and coloured and designed as a loop effect, so that the last image was similar to the first.

STEP 5

Step 5: Slits were cut into the black paper strip as shown in the demonstration to the left <<<<

Again each slit was measured to the same distance as the images.

Step 6: The paper comprising of the images was then sellotaped to the black strip and the black paper strip placed around the outside edge of the circular lid.

Step 7: Finally, the animation was placed onto a spinning drum and viewed through the slips. 


Here is a video demonstrating our animation: couldn't upload this either 

Reference List 

Hayes, R (2011) Retrieved 12th November 2014 from Random Motion Animation. http://www.randommotion.com/html/zoe.html

Wikipedia (2014) Phil Phenomena Retrieved November 12th 2014 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phi_phenomenon

Zoetrope and Praxinoscope (2010) Optical Victorian Toys Retrieved November 12th 2014 from http://zoetrope.org/zoetrope-history

History of Animation

Thaumatrope Animation

The aim of today’s lesson was to expand our knowledge further in relation to the history of animation by creating our own thaumatrope.

Dr John. A. Paris 

The creation of the thaumatrope, whose coined name relates to “turning marvel” or “wonder turner”, was based on the ideas of astronomer Sir John Herchel, many years before the toy came into popularity. This simple device was in wide circulation by 1826, and has been suggested to have been known much earlier than this. Although its history is associated with Herchel, its popularity throughout the 19^th century has been attributed to a well-known London physicist, Dr. John A. Paris, who demonstrated this idea as persistence of vision to the Royal College of Physicians in 1824 (Herbert, no date). 

Thaumatropes were the first of many optical illusion toys, and simple devices that continued to provide animated entertainment until the development of modern cinemas (Aim centre for animation and interactive media, no date).  A thaumatrope can be described as a small disk, with an image drawn on each side of the disk that is attached to two pieces of string; when the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers, the motion causes the disk to rotate, first in one direction and then in the opposite. The faster the disk rotates, the greater the clarity of the illusion; the two images appear to blend into one, thus causing an optical illusion due to the persistence of vision (Historical Folk Toys, 1996). 

While the thaumatrope is not able to generate animated scenes; as mentioned above it heavily relies on the persistence of vision concept that other optical toys also use to create the illusion of motion. Persistence of vision is the phenomenon where an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina after the image has gone and is believed to be the explanation for motion perception (Orem, 2011; Aim centre for animation and interactive media, no date). 

During our seminars today we were asked to create our own individual thaumatropes; I chose to create an image of an eye and a closed eye. Limited information was deliberately given in terms of how to create this animation; therefore plenty of research took place when making this animation.   

First, an accurate circle template was produced out of card using a compass; second the image in which the individual perceived to create the optical illusion was chosen (in my case the open/closed eye). Secondly, the centre point of the circle was measured in order to draw the images on the same place on each side of the disk; followed by the drawing, which appeared to be the most difficult part of the task for me! 

Finally, the holes were punched on the edges of the disk (far right and far left) in order for the string to be inserted into each hole. Once the string had been tied into each hole, both pieces of string were twisted between the fingertips to transform the two images into a single image.

Here is an example of the step-by-step process that took place when creating my animation:

STEP 1

STEP 2 

STEP 3 

STEP 4 

STEP 6 

STEP 5 

Following completion of the thaumatrope, myself along with many other peers carrying out this task found a few limitations in terms of the design. First it was identified that due to the holes on either side of the card not being measured accurately, when twisting the thaumatrope, it appeared to spin awkwardly and not as fast and freely as it should. Clearly if the holes are not positioned in line with each other, it effects the twisting motion and slows the process down.

Secondly, the drawings on either side of the card again need to be measured to precision; as demonstrated in the images above, the open eye was not drawn to the same dimensions as the closed eye, therefore the image became distorted. 

Despite these downfalls however, researching and creating a thaumatrope was an enjoyable task, and contributed to our understanding of the development of animations.


Reference List 

Aim centre for animation and interactive media (no date) Animation notes: a short history part 3 retrieved 11th November 2014 from http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_history_02.html

Herbert, S (no date) Retrieved 11th November 2014 from The Thaumatrope revisited. http://www.stephenherbert.co.uk/thaumatropeTEXT1.htm 

Historical Folk Toys (1996) Thaumatropes Retrieved 11th November 2014 from http://www.historicalfolktoys.com/catcont/2016.html

Orem, W (2011) Retrieved 11th November 2014 from Moment of Science. http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/thaumatrope/

Stop-Motion Animation

     Stop- Motion Animation

‘The Nightmare before Christmas’

Subsequent to the previous post ‘the most recently viewed animation’, today's post will explore a specific type of animation - stop-motion animation - and how this has been utilised through films. In order to undergo our assessment in creating a stop-motion animation, knowledge and exploration is required in order to understand the processes behind it.

In light of this, the current post studies many aspects of an American stop motion musical fantasy film that I have chosen as a demonstration, namely 'The Nightmare Before Christmas'. Despite the failure of its original success, it is now one of the most cherished seasonal films across the UK and USA (Carr, 2013). 

The origin of The Nightmare Before Christmas came from a well known American director, writer, producer, animator, artist and a pure genius in the realm of creation; Tim Burton. Disney hired Tim following his graduation from the California Institute of Arts where he studied animation. Later on in his career, Disney became attracted to an old poem that Burton had written of the same title as the film in the 1980’s (Mendoza, 2011). 

Carr (2013) claims that the inspiration of the poem came from Burton’s lack of seasonal experiences; he grew up in Burbank, California, where seasons are recognised by the various seasonal decorations in stores that represent the different occasions throughout the year. The foreseeable merging of Halloween and Christmas decorations in stores is an example and is one that enthused Burton’s poem. In addition to this, as a child Burton recalls sneaking Halloween decorations onto the Christmas tree ornaments; this sparked his idea to juxtapose both Halloween and Christmas into one throughout the film (Carr, 2013). 

The following lines came from Burton’s original poem:

Tim Burton

It was late one fall in Halloweenland,


and the air had quite a chill.


Against the moon a skeleton sat,


alone upon a hill.


He was tall and thin with a bat bow tie;


Jack Skellington was his name.


He was tired and bored in Halloweenland…

Burton originally wanted to direct the stop-motion film himself, however at the time of production he was concerned with another film he was directing, therefore he produced and co-wrote the script for ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ and Henry Selick became the director. It wasn’t until 1990 that Burton had made the deal with Walt Disney to turn his stimulating poem into a full-length film (Carr, 2013).

Here is a brief clip from the film The Nightmare Before Christmas- This clip shows the scientific scenes of the movie. Jack Skellington after his visit in Christmas town wants to understand the meaning of Christmas! Is there a logical explanation as he suggests? He studies all the books for Christmas and follows the scientific method…..

Stop motion animation (also known as stop frame animation) has a long history in film and is often used to show objects moving as if they were by magic (Beal, 2014) . It captures one frame at a time, using physical objects that are moved between each frame. When sequences of images are replayed, they create the illusion of movement, which is an advantage of this type of animation. In addition, scenes within films that are not possible in real life can be captured by stop-motion animation, thus making it highly popular for the film industry, social media and video sharing sites (Qudos Animation, 2014). 



Furthermore, Qudos Animation (2014), states that companies are conclusive in using this magical animation, as it is unique as the cameras bring to life the necessary objects for the scene. Many business are now integrating animating videos into their advertisement campaigns and media promoting strategies as it helps to make sure that the audience views the entire advertisement (Miller, 2014).  



The production for The Nightmare Before Christmas was set up in a warehouse in San Francisco, with a collection of more than 120 artists present. Nineteen miniature sets were constructed and numerous copies of each character were manufactured so that animators could work simultaneously on various scenes with the same character. The crew worked continuously for three years to produce the film and created 70 seconds of finished film in a week (Miller, 2014). 



In summary, the film received many positive reviews from critics and has continued to obtain prevalent critical appraisal. The film holds a rating of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, and its consensus suggests that the film is a stunningly original and visually delightful work of stop-motion animation. Many other comments have been documented about the films success in capturing fun and fright with the explosion of magical animation in which adults and children can enjoy (Miller, 2014). 

Given that this post has been about stop-motion animation, I thought this ten minute clip that illustrates the top ten stop-motion animation moves by Watch Mojo would be an interest listen. Note that ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ comes in at number one for it's modern wave of stop-motion animation. According to the commentary, the nightmare film brought attention and exhilaration back to the notion of stop-motion animation, after it had previously fallen into scrutiny. 

Reference List 

Beal, V (2014) Retrieved 23rd October 2014 from Webopedia stop-motion animation. http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/stop_motion_animation.html

Carr, K (2013) Retrieved 23rd October 2014 from film school rejects. http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/23-things-we-learned-from-the-nightmare-before-christmas-commentary.php

Mendoza, J (2011) Retrieved 23rd October 2014 from lomogrphy. http://www.lomography.com/magazine/lifestyle/2011/11/24/stop-motion-animation-the-nightmare-before-christmas 

Miller, J., M (2014) Retrieved 23rd October 2014 from Film Article. http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/188767%7C0/The-Nightmare-Before-Christmas.html

Qudos Animation (2014) Benefits of Stop-motion animation Retrieved October 23rd 2014 from http://www.qudos-animations.co.uk/benefits-of-stop-motion-animation.html