Non-linear history and Nature in Animation

Bill outlined  some history of animation and how the process of modern animation came to be, such as the start of Pixar marked the invention of motion-blur, bending characters/forms and particle systems for animation led by John Lasseter. Further on from this was realism coming into play as they were able to create characters with personalities and the pixar lamp marked a huge step forward in realism that can be achieved in animation.

I was reminded of Finding Nemo which John Lasseter also worked on at Pixar and remembered when I watched the making of Finding Nemo which had an interview with him and other animators. During part of this behind the scene footage John Lasseter discussed the issue they had in creating water for the movie. How they were going to make it look in and above the water. He said that they looked at a clip of a whale surfacing and they attempted to recreate it, which they did. However they looked at it and they had made it too real and too exact to this real clip so they had to find the balance of how to make the water look to make it believable but not too realistic that it doesn't fit with the movie.

He moved on to talk about how nature is represented in 2D animation and showed us clips from Bambi, one of many Disney classics. He said that we grow up with an idea of synthetic nature from movies.

Bambi had a very unique style for the natural environment and was a step forward in animation with multi planing camera which gave a sense of depth to the animation.

One of the most interesting parts of the lecture was when he spoke about ideology being transferred in movies and that it has led to ideological paranoia. Some people even debate and believe that disney purposely put in parts of movies to influence the children watching them. Some even go as far as to say there are sexual subliminal messages in disney and seek out frame by frame where it might be spelt in the trees etc.

As someone who has grown up with disney movies I highly doubt that there are purposeful subliminal messages in disney. I think it is purely because these movies are aimed for children that people become so paranoid and obsessive over keeping the movies 'pure'.

However I will agree that disney can sometimes be daring in what they produce especially many years ago when there wasn't such obsession over content. The most daring movie Disney has probably ever produced was the hunchback of notre dame, as his mother was killed, he was outcast for his looks, the mans lust for esmerelda etc. However this is a movie I watched as a child and a lot of these things I didnt particularly pick up on too much, I was only bothered about the story of the main characters. Quasimodo wanting to venture out and be accepted, befriending Esmerelda and saving her etc. The negative and dark aspects of the movie did not stick in my mind, only when I was older looking back did I realize quite how grim the story is.

Animation

Unfortunately again not exactly sure what was the main point of the lecture :)

But a good point I really liked was about 2D animation frame by frame, that each frame is an artistic choice and each a unique opportunity to do something with the character. The animator can extend/exaggerate the movements or expressions. This gives a great sense of life to the character and the animation and particular character and personality. Also another interesting point was about hand-drawn animation that the expressions and movements of hand-drawn characters are never the same! Which is very true thinking about it unlike with software we are able to just copy and repeat movements where necessary to make the process easier/quicker and as a result losing the expression of hand-drawn animation.

This in particular made me think of Disney animation and the 12 principles of animation that they created such as the squash and stretch etc which gave the original life to animation. The core principles that are now always used even in contemporary animation.

Disney continues to be my favourite animation that I grew up with, however only the classic Disney which I believe was up to around 1998 or 1999 when Tarzan was released was the last classic. Further animations released onwards have lost the "spirit" of Disney movies in my opinion. Although a recent release of the 'princess and the frog' in my opinion mostly succeeded to bring back that disney spirit. Not perfectly but almost! :) Parts of the movie felt rushed but they managed to create loveable and memorable characters in my opinion. For this movie they went back to hand-drawn basics which can show the difference between software and hand drawn.

I also liked the quote from Chuck Jomes Bill told us which was a really nice way to look at animation :) that his two characters bugs bunny and daffy duck are two projections of himself. Daffy is how he is and bugs bunny is how he would like to be.

Although I love disney animation and think hand drawn animation gives more life to animation I do also love 3D and dont disagree with the use of software. In particular I think pixar are incredibly successful with movies, especially when teamed up with disney. The biggest example of this would be the popular trilogy toy story. Another movie I grew up with and a third wasnt made for 10 years after the second! But worth the wait :D I dont know anyone that didnt cry at the end of the third one :p


I love animation and movies in the sense that they take you to another world. The Lion King takes you to a world where lions talk! Toy Story takes people to a world where toys come to life. It appeals to the sense of imagination and allows us to do literally anything with it! See stories and characters come to life on screen that we can't experience in the real world.

Bill talked in particular about Warner Bros who have also produced many great animations aswell such as looney toons but I have not so much watched them and so this part of the lecture did not appeal to me quite so much unfortunately.