Stop Motion Animation
Introduction
Stop Motion Animation has been going since the early 1930’s with the creation of the Zoetrope by William Horner. Since then animation has swiftly progressed and is now popularised by the big names such as Walt Disney Studios and Pixar. Throughout this essay I will be discussing the history of animation and how it has changed from the earliest form to the modern day form, I will also be discussing the modern day pioneers such as Tim Burton who has created big box office animation films, on top of this I will be writing about the future of animation films including the new animation films due in cinemas soon and what technology producers are working on now.
History of Animation
In 1834 William Horner created this zoetrope which he called the Daedalum, the way the Daedalum worked was that there would be pictures drawn on a strip of paper which would be set around the bottom third of a metal drum with slits cut in the upper section of the drum. The drum was mounted on a spindle so that when it was spun people would look through the slits and see the strip form a moving image
From the earliest form of animation people such as Joseph Plateau who invented the Phenakitoscope in 1836, Charles Emile Reynaud and the praxinoscope in 1877, Edward Muybridge and zoopraxiscope, Thomas Edison and the kinetoscope.
Further to the inventions two French brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumiere were amongst the earliest filmmakers in history, the used the cinematographe to record, develop and project their motion picture, in 1895 they had their first public screening to present their short films – this was the start of the cinema.
From the Lumiere Brothers people such as George Pal and Tim Burton along with major film companies such as the Walt Disney Company and Pixar animation has progressed and is now one of the most popular forms of film making.
Big Pioneers of Modern Day Animation
Now a day the animation industry is dominated by modern day pioneers such as Pixar Animations Studios, who are a subsidiary company of The Walt Disney Company, they specialise in CGI animation and are one of the most successful film studios in the world with 4 of their films making the 50 highest-grossing film of all-time, these films include Toy Story 3 ($1,063,161,943), Finding Nemo ($867,893,978), Up ($731,342,744) and the Incredibles ($631,442,092), all of Pixar’s animation films are ranked in the top 50 highest-grossing animation films of all-time.
As well as Pixar is DreamWork Animation SKG, Inc. They are a merger of DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images, the company was found by Steven Spielberg and are responsible for making successful and classic films such as Antz, the Shrek quadrilogy, Chicken Run (with Aardman Animations), Shark Tale and Madagascar amongst many others.
Aardman Animations are also an extremely well recognized and popular animation company, their most famous creation are Wallace & Gromit, they have made many short films such as A Grand Day out (1989), The Wrong Trousers (1993), A Close Shave (1995) and A Matter of Loaf and Death (2008). In 2005 Wallace & Gromit announced their first feature-length film called The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, it grossed $US192,610,372.
As well as companies individuals such as Tim Burton also dictate the modern animation era. He started off in 1982 with a short 5 minute film called Vincent, he then went on to make feature-length animation films such as The Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach and Corpse Bride. In 2010 he made a computer-animated version of the 1865 novel Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, the film had a budget of $150-200 million, it produced in gross revenue $1,024, 299,801 making it the 6th highest grossing film of all-time.
Future of Animation
The future of animation is clear to see, it is an industry which continues to grow and makes profits on a grand scale. Pixar Animations Studio has announced many upcoming films which will no doubt help them to continue to strive within the animation industry, these films include Cars 2 and Monster Inc. 2 which are sequels to Cars nd Monster Inc.
Other films include Puss In The Boots, Kung Fu Panda 2, Happy Feet 2 and Tom & Jerry amongst otheres. It is clear to the animation fan that producers are continuously thinging of news ways to endulge and keep the viewers coming back. By making sequels to already existing films is a smart move as audiences of the first film would want to see the second creation of their characters much like Pixar did with Toy Story, they built up a character drama which concluded with everyone wanting to know what happens to the main characters meaning they would want to go to the cinema thus creating more and more money for the producers so they can continue to make sure the industry grows and therefore make more films for the audience to watch.
As well as the animation industry growing the continuous improvement and grow of the technology world makes the world of film one of the most attractive and exciting prospects. 3D is one of the many new technologies that is beginning to take the world by storm, more and more films are being filmed and shown in 3D and even new gaming consoles are being made to be played in 3D. Toy Story 3 was shown in 3D across the world and that took a gross profit of well over £1bn meaning that 3D is the way to go forward if stop motion producers want to progress.
Conclusion
In conclusion we have discovered that animation is incredibly ancient but continues to strive and grown, we have also seen how companies such as Pixar dominate the animation world and we've also seen the direction the animation industry is heading in and how it continues to pull in the audiences and create more money than ever before.
