IRENE
GRA 205 Graphics Journal
Prologue
1. INTRODUCTION
Hey there, I'm Irene, one of your fellow peers here at Arizona Western College. I don't usually interact with people much so here is a summary of who I am: I'm a generator of random thoughts with a tiny capacity for memory storage. In this here page, I will post my journal entrees with the hope to amuse you and serve a purpose in this vast universe of nothingness!
2. PHOTO
3. ACADEMIC MAJOR
Currently I'm going after obtaining a Computer Graphics Major.
4. GOALS
I'm taking this class in order to improve my artistic abilities, learn lots, and possibly, maybe, hopefully - have a fun time.
5. CONTINUING EDUCATION
For now I think I'll be comforted with a major. However, I will continue on experimenting with art and learning on my own afterwards.
6. FAVORITE ANIMATION
My current favorite animation is called "We're Still Underground", an animated music video created by an online band called Eve. Their style is similar to anime, but much more bright in color and sometimes even a bit messy. However, the scenery is usually realistic yet it blends well with the characters. All in all, it is a very amazingly detailed work of art that everyone should see...don't believe me? Click the link bellow and you'll see!
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7. SKILLS
Other than binge watching anime that's supposed to take the whole year, in one week (as well as copying and pasting my old introduction into this journal)...I guess what I do best is drawing. It doesn't matter what medium, but if I had to choose my favorite, I'd go with watercolors.
8. FUTURE
Fast forwarding a decade, I see myself as a freelancing artist, hopping from place to place and hopefully ending up in a lush, green place far, far, away from Arizona. A place where rain is not a supernatural phenomena.
9. FAVORITE VACATION SPOT
My favorite vacation spot is the same as last semester: Cancun. Though I've never gone here, so I don't really know if it's my favorite. All I know is what magazines and even "La Familia Peluche" (a mexican, family, TV show) show about how Cancun is the best vacation spot.
10. PETS
My zoo-y house is still intact with every single member still on board! We have daily exhibits of one fat pit-bull, two chubby pugs, one anorexic chihuahua, a baby turtle named Penny for its size, a gallant rooster, a moody chicken, and five (now extremely mature and sassy) teenage chicks.
Disclaimer:
Tickets currently all sold out
Flip Book
1. Embedded Video:
2. Inspiration:
My own messy, jungle-of-a-hair is what inspired me - and mostly when its drying.
3. Idea:
I wanted to show the moment wet hair gets puffy to an exaggerated degree.
4. Reflection:
I enjoyed this project, it was simple yet interesting and entertaining. I liked having each frame physically for a change and being able to flip through small animation.
Thaumatrope
1. Process:
This technique works by placing two images, each on opposite sides of a circular paper. One has to be upside-down though, since when it gets flipped, it will be facing right-side-up. After illustrating both images and placing the strings, the rapid-spinning thaumatrope will create the illusion of one image (the combination of the two illustrations on opposite sides).
2. Challenges:
The most difficult part was aligning both drawings. I resolved this by holding each to the light and lightly tracing where the illustration should be.
3. Idea:
My idea was to create a bottle that contains a sleeping cat inside. By making them the same base-color but different color coating, I wanted the colors to appear to blend when spinning.
4. History:
The thaumatrope was created in 1825 by an English Physician named John Ayrton Paris. This thaumatrope caused the persistence of images on the retina. This means that as the thaumatrope flips, our eyes will see these two images as one combined whoe.
5. Video:
Name Animation
The hardest part of this project was keeping the animation smooth and being patient, since I'm not one to enjoy drawing several of the same thing. Though I really do enjoy the ending product.
Ball Animation
One of the most difficult things in this project was making the ball come to a gradual stop. For some reason I couldn't figure it out that well.
Ease In and Out
CODEC
1. Codec Definition:
A codec is the video format of a file.
2. File Formats:
Different file formats are needed to fit various needs. One example could be transforming a psd file into a PDF for compression and delivery. Another example is taking said PDF and compressing it into a jpg for media purposes.
3. Common CODECs:
The most common codecs for me are the mp4 and mp3. Most youtube videos that I see are in mp4 format, while the music I listen to is always an mp3 format.
4. Quality
mp4
Though it takes quite a bit of space, it retains good visual quality if the desired effect is smoothness.
mpg
What I learned while uploading this file format to youtube, was that it is a great way to compress files into really small numbers. However, it causes horrible video quality, making everything a chunky and blurry mess.
Format
Quality
mp3
Since an mp3 has no visual video, it does not have visual quality of which one can judge. However, the quality of its overall sound, is quite good.
Animation Principle: Ease In and Out
1. Ease In and Out:
Ease In and Out is one of the Principles of animation. This principle suggests that, in order to create anticipation, one must slowly introduce said object into the video, as well as slowly remove it. This can be show with a bouncing ball animation, entering slowly, speeding up when bouncing, and then slowing to a roll.
2. Example:
3. This is an image of the animation process of a swinging pendulum. As you can see, in the beginning there are many frames. Taking into consideration that the increasing number of frames is proportional to the amount of time, it comes to the conclusion that the beginning segment of the swinging pendulum will take a while compared to the middle portion. In the middle, the pendulum comes to its maximum speed and speeds up, thus the small amount of frames. However, once it passes the middle, the pendulum slows down once more, showing the principle of Ease In and Out.
Animation Presentation
1. Topic:
I chose to do my animator presentation on John R. Dilworth due to his cartoon “Courage the Cowardly Dog” and its constant, suffocating appearance in my childhood memories. During my childhood, I watched several short film cartoons, but I remember that one of them had something different; something that no other cartoon had. This was, in fact, the cartoon Courage the Cowardly Dog, a blend between horror and comedy directed by John R. Dilworth for Cartoon Network.
2. Examples:
3. About the Art/Style and Interview:
Style: John R. Dilworth had a very experimental animation style. From clay dolls, photographs, real footage, paper cut-outs, to its most infamous experiments with 3D animation, John R. Dilworth managed to scare (and most likely traumatize) several small children (though it was quite worth it in my opinion - it was-and still is - an astounding cartoon).
Interview:
me - Good day, I hope this finds you well! I am reaching out to you as a student at the Arizona Western College currently taking a class of animation. I’ve noticed traces of Dali and Tex Avery in your animations, mostly in your amazing episodes of Courage the Cowardly Dog. Sometimes 3D, paper cut-outs, photographs and videos, as well as clay animation are mixed in as well. The most prominent cartoon in my memory as a child was of your series, and now that I’m older, I’ve always wondered how it felt to bend the rules of the typical cartoon. I guess what I want to ask is how it felt to experiment with your animations to the point where some episodes were genuinely quite terrifying for a kid; how did you think your audience would react to them?
John R. Dilworth - I didn't think about the audience. I just did what I enjoyed (o=
4. History of Topic:
John R. Dilworth’s famous “Courage the Cowardly Dog” series of 104 11-minute episdoes amounted to around 1,144 minutes in total, which ran from 1999 to 2002.
5. Technique:
Technique to create characters and short films:
When designing the characters, John R. Dilworth created the typical elderly, american pair. However, one of his characters was based on an actual person - Muriel, who he said was a scottish elderly woman whom he had spoken on the phone with, writing common things she’d say. Not only does his inspiration stem from real people, but also from his own, personal experiences, or just pure human nature - unlike some cartoons that are pure slapstick.
6. Links and Resources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwYDdYwyb8w
https://www.vulture.com/2019/11/courage-the-cowardly-dog-john-dilworth.html
http://animondays.blogspot.com/2011/07/animondays-interview-john-r-dilworth.html
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0227139/
https://www.youtube.com/user/StretchFilms/about
https://courage.fandom.com/wiki/Smart_Talk_with_Raisin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ_E4SUuypQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DW7cdLnQPFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vRWR8LvxKo
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112661/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxz5_OlpbUI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGCe3Dz8NR0
7. More Information:
For more information, you can visit John R. Dilworth's Social Media platforms bellow:
Facebook:
John R. Dilworth
YouTube Channel:
Instagram:
@spacemandilly
Twitter:
Storyboarding
1. Purpose:
Story-boarding has several very vital purposes. One of its most common purposes, is to serve as a guide to an animation, play, etc. What’s very useful of this physical story-boarding, is that scenes can be changed with great ease - and even easier depending on the style of story-boarding that you choose to do. One of the styles of story-boarding is squares on a blank paper. In these squares, the director illustrates key scenes and can write down notes if desired. Another style can be achieved through the usage of note-cards. By utilizing note-cards, one can rearrange the orders of the scenes, and even add more with ease.
2. Planning
The planning chart included in the Storyboard Worksheet, has a very simplified version of the steps to the completion of a storyboard. Starting with “idea and brainstorming”, one must list off some ideas as to what the purpose of the animation will be, choosing the one most preferred at the end. Then comes the “story”, where one can either write out a small summary, or simply come up with how the events will take place and where. The “script” comes next, where notes and actions are annotated. Combining both the “story” and the “script” you can easily start off and complete your storyboard. Now it’s off to the filming and choosing the camera angle, lighting, and timings of the scene. Since we’re focusing on stop motion animation, having models, toys, or even cutouts could all help as props or characters in this stage of the process. The “post production” is where editing, sounds, and music can be placed and lined with the overall animation.
3. Functions of Story-boarding
Conceptualization - The first mission the storyboard achieves, is the solidification of any ideas that the director comes up with, as well as serving as the skeleton or guide that the film should follow. This will provide structure where the animation can stand on.
Key Moments - Scenes of importance should be drawn out to make the transition between poses and actions clear to the animators.
Flow and Transitions - Moving the camera too much could result in the loss of flow, and cutting will make the transition choppy if not used well. In order for your animation to flow well, the construction of a storyboard to specify timing and the changing of scenes is vital.
Detail, Composition, and Aesthetics - Detail can vary between objects in the scene i.e. backgrounds vs the main part of the scene - the character. However, the colors as well as the character’s overall look should be established clearly in every scene.
Logistics - Considering what type or style of animation such as digital or stop motion or the creation of sounds via recordings or producing said sounds with programs. Knowing how you will create is as important as knowing what you will create.
4. Example:
5. Links:
Story-boarding Tutorial – “The Do’s and Don’ts” by Skwigly
The article was long and contained a great amount of information as to what can help or destroy your animation. The examples it provided simplified the overall paragraphs of information, making the tips easier to retain in memory as well. Overall what I learned while reading this article is that there are several basic rules to create a good animation, but as long as an exception exists, one can also break such rules i.e. the constant moving of camera or cutting of clips.
How to Storyboard Your Animation - The simplicity of this video showed me that a storyboard doesn’t really have to be all that complicated, unless you want it to. One can also include notes and arrows to show the motion or describe what is happening in the scene.
Storyboards - Here, I got to learn some of the language used for story-boarding such as a jump-cut, a pan, and much more. This doesn’t only expand my vocabulary but also increases the possibilities of how I can film my animation.
What Is A Storyboard And Why Do You Need One - Separated into nine sections, this article was a bit on the lengthy side, but proved to be of great help for me, since this is the first time I’ll be creating a storyboard. All of the information provided in this page answered most of my questions and gave me the possibility of taking pictures to use as the illustrations of the main scenes instead of sketching out everything.
6. MOVIE Storyboard:
https://animatedviews.com/2007/enrico-casarosa-on-storyboarding-ratatouille/ -The process.
https://www.iamag.co/ratatouille-from-storyboard-to-final-frame/ - The storyboard side by side with the movie.
One of my favorite movies is Ratatouille, an animated movie by Pixar and presented by Walt Disney Pictures. The video of the storyboard compared to the finished movie of Ratatouille, and the process of the storyboard were found in different pages, but when viewed together I can see how several changes occurred, while how other parts stayed true to the storyboard. The storyboarding process as stated by the Enrico Casarosa (one of the artists for Ratatouille), “has a unique range”. According to Enrico, the process did start with brainstorming, but with a problem in mind that needs to be fixed. While some throw around ideas, others throw around illustrations as well, with the director present or not.The other way storyboarding varies, is when the whole group tries to visualize the script and turn it into illustrations. Enrico says, “any of the writers come up with six or seven pages or two or three pages – it’s never specific – of script, and you just go straight ahead and board it, visualise it and go to storyboard the whole sequence.” Even after all this, the storyboard - as one can see in the video - is still subject to change, add, and delete scenes.
7. MOVIE thoughts:
Any animation can be created without the use of a storyboard. However, whether it will be done well is a whole other topic. Ratatouille could be created without a storyboard, but it would most likely not be the cherished movie it is now. A storyboard offers structure, guidance, and can be easily modified. Without these tools at their disposal, the creators of Ratatouille wouldn’t have a clear path to animate, and a mistake or change of plans would set back the movie greatly ( compared to the erasing of a scene on paper of a storyboard).
Storyboards
Stop Motion
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Dot. The World’s Smallest Stop-Motion
The Making of Dot.
1. “Title and date” - This stop motion is called Dot, directed by Sumo Science and created in 2010 by Aardman Animations.
2. “Technology” - Dot was shot on a Nokia N8 using cell scope technology.
3. “Idea” - The overall idea of the short film was that of a girl that landed in a magical, miniature world that was slowly self-destructing.
4. “Unique” - What’s unique of this film is the fact that it is the world’s smallest stop-motion film, as well as recorded with a cell scope.
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Gulp. The world’s largest stop-motion
Gulp Nokia n8 making of
1. “Title and date” Gulp is a stop-motion film directed by Sumo Science, and put together by several professionals, graduates, and volunteers. This film was finished in 2011.
2. “Technology” This large-scaled film was shot by three Nokia N8 on top of a massive crane. Apart from this, various other sets of receivers and keyboards were used to capture frame by frame.
3. “Idea” The idea was to create the world’s largest stop-motion with the plot of a fisherman that suddenly becomes the bait. After setting off a bomb, the fisherman is shot out of the monstrous fish that swallowed him.
4. “Unique” - What’s unique of this animation was the props - such as an actual human being that was used as a manikin and moved frame by frame. Apart from that, this film was also the largest stop-motion film.
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Rudolph
1. “Title and date” - Rudolph was aired on television in 1964. This television special was produced by Videocraft International, but is now owned by Universal Television.
2. “Technique and Quality” Discuss technically how this was created. - The puppets used in the film Rudolph, were mostly carved and created with joints. It was animated in Japan, and voice recorded in Canada with “Ampex tape recorders and a special Western Electric microphone” (Catalano, 2014).
3. “Errors” Look for any technical goofs like finger marks in Bumble’s fur? - The only error I found was that the audio seemed a bit off from the animation. This was mostly apparent when the bearded man broke the ice with his pickax.
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BLU: COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis. and MORE vids.
1. “Discuss” - BLU: COMBO was a very interesting film that I found disturbing, intriguing, and entertaining. It was interesting to see the choppy movements of a frame by frame film of a person walking around. Not only that, but the mixture of smooth animation from paintings and then the artist painting was a bit trippy for me. I really enjoyed the moments where there was only a painting eerily moving about, but when the painter was on, the animation became too choppy. When the camera was moving about, it was as interesting as it was motion-sickness provoking. Sometimes I didn’t know where to look at and though sometimes I did, it still tripped me out. However, this experience was very very entertaining, and the fact that it got me lost at times will just make it that much more prevalent in my weak memory.
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PES animations: is there commercial potential for creative people?
1. “How Many?”- Currently on his YouTube channel, PES has created around 68 videos. Though not all of them are stop-motion films, most of them actually are - and amazing ones at that.
2. “Technology” - One of his films, “The Submarine Sandwich” was created with the help of an assistant who, frame by frame, moved the objects into and from PES’ hands. With his camera on a tripod, all ingredients on hand, and help from his assistant, PES says that it usually takes around two and a half hours just for one shot to be completed. However, this is nothing compared to the time it takes to prepare the script, gather the objects, and so forth.
3. “Commercial Potential” - When watching his Honda commercial, I couldn’t take my eyes off it for one second. His video’s commercial potential is high, since his unique animation style is very entertaining and eye-catching. With all of the different vehicles shown in his animation and how they smoothly transitioned from one to another, one could not help but be mesmerized. This didn’t feel like watching a commercial at all; it felt just like watching a video simply because you wanted to. Plus, the fact that this commercial was extremely enjoyable and attention-grabbing, will make it last through the various memories of its watchers.
4. “Opinion”- I simply adore the smooth transitions from one object to another. I really never know what to expect next, and every time it surprises me. One of my favorite videos created by PES is his Fresh Guacamole film. Here, the various chopping, crumbling, crunchy, and crisp noises are to die for. This video also strangely made me crave for that atrocious guacamole. And even after a time of replaying that one video, I found myself deeply intrigued to watch the rest of his videos - just purely for fun. The only thing that I dislike is the lack of many more videos that I am impatiently waiting for.
5. “Favourite”-
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Vincent - Tim.Burton. 1982
1. “Title and Date” - Vincent by Tim Burton is a film created in 1982.
2. “Tim Burton” - Tim Burton was born in 1958 in California with his original name, Timothy Walter Burton. Tim Burton’s works are noticeably inspired by his childhood love for classic horror films. Time Burton graduated from the California Institute of Arts with a major in animation. Though first working for Disney, he quickly left and started to work for himself. The films Time Burton is known for are: Edward Scissor-hands, Beetle-juice, Corpse Bride, etc. If you’ve ever watched one of these movies, you’ll notice his very interesting mix between horror and comedy. One clip of where Tim Burton’s humor and horror taste mixes well is in Corpse Bride, when the dead are delivering a cake to the church. The comments in there add a very good comedic effect as well.
3. “Style” - Having only watched some of Tim Burton’s shorts and his movie, “The Corpse Bride”, my comparison might be a bit limited. When looking back at his early style, I became aware that Tim Burton fancied stop-motion animation apart from a sprinkle of movies with people. However, Tim always found a way to incorporate stop-motion in his films such as Beetlejuice when the inanimate objects begin to move. His style though, has always been really gothic, dark, yet humorous. In some recent movies like Alice in Wonderland and Dumbo, he utilizes a lot of cgi, though somehow there’s always a creepy and unsettling feeling in them for some reason.
4. “Vincent Price” - Vincent Price was noted to be in around 100 different films from movies, shows, and radio stations.More importantly however, Vincent Price was an actor mostly known for his common appearance in horror movies. Being a fanatic of horror films, it is no surprise that Tim Burton was exposed to Vincent Price from very early in his days. In most of Tim Burton’s films, it is easily seen how much Vincent inspired them - mostly the one practically named after him.
5. “Opinion” - I am not a fan of stop-motion dealing with clay figures, something of it just makes me uncomfortable. However, Vincent was quite a film, transitioning from the imagination of a kid to reality in the blink of an eye. What I love most about animations is their smooth transitions, and this one in particular had several smooth and very creative transitions. I think this is what made the creepy characters enjoyable for me. However, I am severely creeped out by Vincent’s sister.
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Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb
1. “Title and date” - The film Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb was created on January 13, 1995 by Dave Borthwick.
2. “technique” - The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb was a surrealist film with a mixture of post-apocalyptic horror and mystery. In order to create a film with such an unsettling aura, the animators made use of various techniques. Two of those were pixelation - where the people were shot frame by frame at the same time, and stop-motion - where the creatures were shot frame by frame as well. This caused an overall eerie feeling to the movie, even when a character made expressions of joy.
3. “Day’s Work” - Originally the film was going to be a ten minute short, but after getting high rates, it was converted into a 60 minute movie. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to find anything more about how long it took or even how many frames per second were used.
4. “Pixelation” - What makes the film The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb uncomfortably eerie, is the mixture of techniques used to create it. During the film two techniques were used: pixelation and stop-motion clay animation. Pixelation meant that the live actors were photographed frame by frame like puppets. This technique paired with stop-motion animation of the bugs in the background made a cocktail of nightmare fuel for some viewers.
5. “Quality” - Viewing the overall constant mood and well focused animation, I would say the quality of the film was great. All the movements of the actors being synchronized, even with bugs flying and crawling around must’ve been painstakingly long to create and get right.
6. “Opinion” - To be honest, I really disliked this film. Most of the time I had no idea what was going on and was constantly perplexed and losing interest. The huge infestation of bugs throughout the film got quiet impaling after a while and seemed too repetitive. The style and work that was used to create such a film are astonishing though. I wouldn’t be able to even imagine how much it took to create a whole hour of such a complex animation. Overall, I really enjoyed the techniques and animation used in the film.
Student Stop Motion
1. “Written Proposal”
With this stop-motion project, I will use a pencil, some paper, and a sharpener as the props. It's a (comical?) short film where the pencil writes “Once upon a time” but then breaks. The pencil is then sharpened, the pencil shavings are wiped out of frame, and a new blank page is introduced. The pencil then writes “The End” and the screen fades into darkness.
“Storyboards”
3. “Concept”
I just wanted to make a simple yet funny stop-motion animation. Since I’m not used to making this, I wanted to take a light and fun approach so that I could enjoy this project.
4. “Process”
At first, filming was really difficult. I tried several ways of sustaining the camera, until I found a way to keep the camera from moving. I accomplished this by putting a clear rectangle glass thing (a part of my fridge), setting it atop of two folders, and placing my phone at the very top.
After this, my only worry was shooting the whole film. The process was very normal and tedious: just me moving a pencil, writing with another pencil, and repeating. The audio part was the funnest and easiest. For the background noise I just recorded crumbling paper, and for when the pencil snaps, I recorded tostadas and sticks breaking. I then exported the video and edited it on my computer. The only things I did were combining all parts of the video, adding music, and adding the credits at the end. It was all a very tedious, but fun process.
5. “Challenges”
Discuss if your video came out as you expected.
The most difficult part was coming up with an idea that I liked, but that was simple enough that I could create as well. After thinking for some days, watching examples, and just sketching out ideas, I found the one that I was satisfied with. When the concept and idea came to me, I just felt that it would be fun to try, and so I did.
Principles of Animation
1. Squash and Stretch
Can be used to show the weight and volume of an object.
This gives an object more realistic action then simply just moving without reacting to its surroundings. For example, an animation of a ball going up and down while moving forward would look stiff and unrealistic without it reacting to the ground.
2. Anticipation
An important thing about animation or any film is timing. Anticipation can be used to prepare the audience for the main action of an animated or movie scene.
3. Staging
Staging means to give absolute importance to what you want the audience to focus on, making it clear or popping it out from its surrounding area.
4. Straight Ahead
This deals with two options: Straight-ahead action or pose to pose action. The straight-ahead action means that the animator begins by drawing all the frames of the animation. The pose to pose action is more of drawing three poses of a walking cycle and then coming back to fill in the gaps.
5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
Follow through takes into account objects in an animation that move and stay in motion. Overlapping Action on the other hand is how another object reacts to another action, but moving at a different speed. This gives the whole animation a more realistic feel.
6. Slow In and Slow Out
This gives off the notion that an object needs time to speed up as well as to slow down. This means that when animating a moving object, it’s best to use a gradient of moving speeds than to just have the ball zoom past the screen.
7. Arc
This principle states that most moving objects tend to follow curved paths opposed to straight ones. An example could be a ball that bounces along in arc-like paths.
8. Secondary Action
This principle makes use of the background and its moving elements. Once you have the main focus of the animation going, adding a background element that moves slightly could greatly add realism to the animation. It is easy to distract from the main focus of the animation however, so the object in the background must be well thought out before being put into motion.
9. Timing
Since different actions take different amounts of effort and time, it is important to vary them in how many frames each action will take. For example, a lazy cat’s tail gently moving back and forth will be slow, while a kick from a black belt will be fast and swift.
10. Exaggeration
By exaggerating facial expressions, or the actions of characters and objects in cartoons, it adds more feel and expressiveness. One can really tell that a character is angry when its eyes go red, or when their face gets green from being sick.
11. Solid Drawing
This principle brings anatomy into the table. For your animations to seem as realistic as possible, one must follow the rules of normal day-to-day objects with their weight, shadows, light, and etc.
12. Appeal
This principle deals more with the character than any other principle. Here, your character to be fully enjoyable and appealing (as the title of the principle suggests), they must seem real, sympathetic, and at most times relatable to their audience.
Reseach Rotoscoping
1. The trick that made animation realistic
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“Define Rotoscoping”
Rotoscoping is a technique where animators trace over pictures of real-life moving things frame by frame, to create smooth and realistic action animation.
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“Technical Paragraph on Rotoscoping”
Back in the days of early Rotoscoping, in order to use this technique you’d have to project films onto glass to then trace them frame by frame. The machine that allowed this, was called a rotoscope. The first animation to use this technique was Koko the Clown, where Max Fleischer used his brother as reference. By doing so, Max Fleischer would see a whole new era of smooth and real action animation.
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Date Invented?
Rotoscoping was invented in 1915 by Max Fleischer in his Koko the Clown short film.
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What were early responses to Rotoscoping?
The responses to early Rotoscoping were amazing. Not only did everyone notice how smoother the animation had become, but also enjoyed it that much more. Max Fleischer even continued to make shorts with Koko the Clown in the Out of the Inkwell series. Afterwards, he even co-founded the Fleischer cartoon Studios where more beloved cartoons and characters would soon rise.
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“Thoughts on the Style”
Though I can see how much smoother the animation has become, I’ve also noticed how much creepier it turned out. Not all films have this however, so I’m really not against rotoscoping at all. In fact, I’m really interested in this technique and would like to try it out myself.
2. Movie: Lord of the Rings animation
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“Style of Rotoscoping”
To transfer the Lord of the Rings to the big screen, the producer used rotoscoping techniques. After filming live-action, the animators would trace over the pictures to get a traditional frame-by-frame animation. However, when scenes with several actors on the screen - such as wars or battles- the technique solarize was also used. This made the film appear to be made of drawings by exposing the processing film to light. The style that came out of these techniques was one of a serious, adult film that set it apart from most cartoons and short films around its time.
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“Thoughts”
This video made me want to read and watch the animated version of the Lord of the RIngs. I feel like this would be the kind of film I could watch in front of my parents without them simply describing it as a cartoon. I think it would be fun to analyze the movie in all its glory and watch all the different techniques that made it such a beloved film.
3. Movie: Waking Life
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“Date”
Waking Life was created in October 2001.
“Discussion on movie and technique”
The trailer for the movie looks very disorienting. Sometimes, the background and scene move even more than the character in focus. However, since this movie is about the confusion of reality and the unreal, it makes sense to bamboozle the viewers with such techniques. Because of this, Waking Life is very intriguing and eye-grabbing.
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“Technology”
According to Macworld, most of the technology used to create the film “Waking Life”, was mac-based. With this and Rotoshop, a program where artists could draw over the film and the transitioning action was filled in by the computer.
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“Thoughts”
The trailer in it of itself was very otherworldly and disorienting...I liked it. The movie’s art style perfectly meshes with its message and purpose. I’d really enjoy watching its crazy characters and funky backgrounds while imagining what it was like to work on that film.
4. Animation by student Martin Valencia
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“Discussion”
In this video, it looks like one of those Photoshop filters of watercolors was used to create the illusion of a hand drawn animation. The filter and the special sand effects that were drawn fit well together. The only thing that I find lacking, is background ambiance. When the character’s super power is in play, the sounds it generates captures the viewer’s attention more. However, when this power stops, the video is left with a mute feeling.
5. Animation by student Diane Villegas
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“Discussion”
This video was very interesting and fun to watch. The combination of the sudden cuts of clips, filter, and illustration on top of the film added a very cartoony yet crazy look to it overall. The music chosen was perfect and every cut of the film followed with the changes of the tunes. The illustrated words and circles in the shades, as well as the vague outline of the character give the film a more playful and trippy feel.
6. Animation or Music Video of your choice
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“Description”
This is a video showcasing different styles of rotoscope animation with the song “That’s What I Like” by Bruno Mars. I liked this video and thought that sharing it might be a good idea, because I really didn’t think that rotoscoping could be done in different styles. That just never crossed my mind. After watching this video, I got more ideas as to what rotoscoping is all about and how it can make your animations transform from stiff and awkward, to smooth and life-like.