Norman McLaren
Norman McLaren is a Canadian filmmaker who is widely renound as a pioneer in the industry for his contribution to the use animation in film making. His most famous works include the short film "Neighbours (1952)", which won McLaren an Oscar, and "Pas de Deux" which won him the 1969 BAFTA for Best Animated Film. He is known for utilizing different styles of animation in his attempts to create surreal and abstract works. For example, in his film "Neighbours" he used an animation technique called pixilation - where the camera films moving people and objects a few frames at a time, giving the action a frantic, unearthly look. Here is short exert from that particular film to aide us with the illustration of the pixilation technique: At first glance it is obvious that pixilation is a variant of stop motion animation, but with the used of actors and live action settings. This gives the actors the ability to be seen performing impossible actions like laying a fence down without even touching it.
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A Scanner Darkly
Directed by Richard Linklater this animated science fiction was first shown at 2006 Cannes Film Festival, as well as being nominated for the Hugo Award for best dramatic presentation in 2007. Due to its unique style of animation called interpolated rotoscope, it stood out from the other, more mainstream films that relied solely on live-action scenes. The Technique of interpolated rotoscope meant that first they had to film live-action with cameras, then animate over the top of each fame in post-production to make the film look 100% animated.
What is interpolated rotoscope? interpolated rotoscoping is when an animator draws over or traces over an video that was filmed with camera and acted out in real life. The technique is time consuming and required the film to be shot live-action beforehand, then traced over frame by frame, giving it a unique style which you can see in this example:
What is interpolated rotoscope? interpolated rotoscoping is when an animator draws over or traces over an video that was filmed with camera and acted out in real life. The technique is time consuming and required the film to be shot live-action beforehand, then traced over frame by frame, giving it a unique style which you can see in this example:
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Flash Animation
Flash animation is a form of hand drawn animation, specifically one that is created in Adobe's Flash CS programs. This software allows the animator to add frames, colour and manipulate their work all at the touch of a button. It is a very popular contemporary form of animation used throughout the cartoon industry, creating many popular children's cartoons, as well as remake classics like Tom & Jerry and The Pink Panther.
The original version of The Pink Panther from 1964 was animated in the traditional analogue technique of laying images or "Cells" on top of one another to create multiple layers. These layers would then be photographed and manipulated or replaced in the next frame. This particular technique was slow, hard and expensive, as each frame had to be painted by hand.
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The modern reboot of the show from 2010 featured the more up-to-date technique of Flash animation, due to it being quicker, easier and more cost effective than its older options. As with most flash works, the colours tend to stand out more than older examples, and lines tend to look fuller.
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With the use of Flash, animators are freer than ever to create content for whatever purpose they see fit, as they are not restricted by cost effectiveness. The tools the program offers allow them to create works that are of a higher quality than before, as well as allowing for more complex scenes. Animators are not able to make mistakes and even sketch their work on the same frame as their production without having to discard the cell and start again.
William horner
William Horner, born in 1786, was the inventor of the zoetrope, or as he called it "Daedalum" (Wheel of the devil) in 1834. Based in the Phenakistoscope, Horner made an upgraded version by removing the need for a mirror, as well as making it viewable by multiple persons at once. Years after his death in 1837, his invention was patented by the Englishman M. Bradley, and the American inventor William F. Lincoln. Lincoln renamed Horner's invention to the "zoetrope" of "Wheel of life". After a few short decades of attention, it was replaced by the praxinoscope