STOPMOTION ESSAY – HOW STOPMOTION HAS CHANGED OVER TIME There are many ways in which animated TV shows, films and other type of visual animated media is displayed. One technique in animation that majority of producers, directors and film makers pursue is stop motion animation, this consists of animation such as, Cut out, Claymation, Pixilation and Model and Object stop motion. They all have different ways of expressing themselves but they all come under the same technique. Persistence of Vision is a technique that creates an illusion with your eyes to make the animation work. Your eye is supposedly keeping a very brief image which last 1/25th of a second on its retina of the last image you looked at. However I believe that the persistence of vision cannot be true due to the fact that your eye is still capturing the image and when you move your head the image stays the same compared to if you moved your head in a different position. Also the fact that its been disproved by a scientist for over 100 years called Wertheimer, he proved that it wasn’t your eyes but your brain that delays your eyes and creates an illusion which animation is, this is down to the ‘Beta Movement’ Phi Phenomenon. The Thaumatrope was created either by John Aryton Paris or Peter Mark Roget. The Thaumatrope is made from a disk or card, which shows an image, and two pieces of string and when the two pieces of strings are spun the two images emerge together as one. This is said to create persistence of vision that the two creators wanted to achieve. This is the effort to show that when two pictures are spun it gives a result of just seeing one single image. The Thaumatrope is somewhat like Frames Per Second (FPS) if it is spun to slow it doesn’t show that one image effect and if spun to quickly it isn’t that accurate, it also shows into day’s animation (stop motion and 2D animation) so in both ways they need to run smoothly. The Phenakistoscope was created by Joseph Plateau; the device has a disc, which is attached to a handle. The disc has constant little images around it with slits so that when you spin the device you can look through the slits and see the images moving. The Zoetrope invented by George William Horner he was a mathematician and schoolmaster. In 1834 when producing the Zoetrope it was said under a different name ‘Deadaleum, the wheel of evil.’ However this invention was not popular until the 1860s when it was patented both by English and American makers. The zoetrope was similar to the Phenakistoscope but it was more convenient because it didn’t need a viewing mirror and more than one person could use it. The device consists of an illusion of still images; the way it is made is by having slits on each side of a cylinder and beneath the inner surface of the cylinder is a band, which as individual video/film frames or images from a set of sequenced drawings or photographs. As the cylinder spins you look through the slits to the opposite side and you can see the images when skimming the images emerge together so that you can see the rapid succession of images producing the illusion of motion. Also a zoetrope tends to be thinner then the actual size when viewed. The Lemiere Brothers were French brothers who were the early of filmmakers and inventors. They were pioneer manufactures of photographic equipment as their
worked in their father’s photographic factory. Louie during this time was working on the sill photographic process the most memorable was the dry plate process, which was the step to moving images. In 1894 they went to Paris and experienced by Edison Kinescope that’s when they decided to make they own camera. February 185 they produced a working model of their own cine camera, which they called the Cinematographe. This masterpiece wasn’t just a camera but it could be used with magic lanterns so that film could be projected. The first ever footage was the workers walking out of the Lemiere factory on 19th March 1895. After that the brother then went on to make history by making 10 short films, the film roles were 17 metres in length which and to be hand reeled, which converted the images into the projected movie. Each film lasted about 50 seconds. It’s difficult to think that film started with the Thaumatrope and that film and video is just a series of images that have been put together to produce the correct speed to advice movement and then when it comes down to the editing its easier to pick individual frames which shows television and film are just different types of stop motion animation. An early example of stop motion is Wladyslaw Starewicz. ‘The Cameraman’s Revenge, it is a model and objects which in the 1900s was said to be a developed in detail and smoothness compared to 1800s animation. Wladyslaw Starewicz used real but dead beetles, which is why the movement of the beetles are so smooth, also to make it seem real that beetle are their actual size. The target audiences are people from an upper class because back then going to be the cinema was expensive and a treat for those who couldn’t afford upper class families who go to the cinema is what it is targeting. The camerawork through this animation is static with the changing of backgrounds to create different scenes. Frames Per Second in this animation is about 7 – 12 fps this is because it is jumpy, however because it’s such an early animation film is all new to everyone. Lighting throughout is very dim and constantly changing colour. My opinion on the lighting is either the film as rotted or that there was no colour in the first place and seeing it now days it seems weird. However, Willis O’Brien King Kong was a clay/model animation, it was the first major example of stop motion as ‘special effects’ cutting edge technology using ‘back screen projection’ to make the stop motion models and actors appear on screen at the same time. Compared this to cameraman’s revenge there is very much a different, firstly there is a 21 year gap of these two animations and technology has developed and has enriched, but this also may come down the budget the King Kong budget was £411, 983 allowing them to spend more on there film then cameraman’s revenge. This is because in the 1930s Hollywood and cinema was a ‘mass’ entertainment form for 1000’s of people. Another difference is the lighting stayed consist throughout and there was no colour to be able to change that so it made it seem real for King Kong but for the cameraman’s revenge the light constantly changes but into colours like yellow, blue and pink its so that it can engages and be more interesting with the audience. The cameraman’s revenge used a lot of objects and models, making it see props as big as the beetles are for example when the male beetle opens up the suitcase the suitcase is as big as him. However with King Kong the use back screen projection making King Kong bigger then the
humans around him. The fact that King Kong was made from clay in Pre Production which is a whole different animation to ‘The Cameraman Revenge’ also due to it being very old you could see it was clay and it wasn’t as smooth such as Wallace and Gromit. The sound for Cameraman is classical calm vibe throughout it helps tell the story of what’s going on as the beetles can’t speak. The King Kong sound uses the same method but the sounds are more intense and it is synced which how’s the realism and an impact of how we see the film. For example, when the man cuts the big rope trying to get away from the lizard, the sound then changes and the camera pans up to King Kong and there is a loud bang. The set for King Kong majority of the animation is in the background projections and only maybe one or two pieces of the set with the actors. The audience for King Kong would be mainstream but film fans mainly targeted also this was the times were fairly new as a mass media form, and were shown in the cinema. Ray Harryhausen made ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ this was made 30 years after the making of King Kong. This is similar because this film was also made by back screen projections, however they did it differently, in King Kong the actors would act in front of the screen, unlike Jason and the Argonauts they would film the actors fighting and then later edited creating clay monsters to be over the footage. Jason and the Argonauts some parts look flat especially in the skeleton fight, but then the skeletons when fighting look 3D. The budgets was similar to King Kong a high production of £645,900, which is why they have projectors, and are able to have a fight and to create the set or have money to go on location which is another difference King Kong was filmed a studio. The development of technology as increased so therefore Claymation has enhanced and now the frames per second are more smoother moving at 24fps which is film level. Stars Wars Empire Strikes Back this was the next big animated film the for Hoth scene, the budget for the movie was a massive £11,620,800, with this budget they could get the upgraded technology and use it in there fight scenes. You can see that it was a high production film because they blended action with the robots and it’s so smooth we are unaware of how they merged together. The CGI now has taken over animation and now they are there main technique. The FPS for the Hoth scene is a little jumpy but they could get away with it because robots and machines speaking slowly and moving slowly. The target audiences are for ‘geeks’ who have an interest in sci – fi but with it being a worldwide hit it’s reached everyone and turned mainstream. The outcome of the film profited £348,167,156. Wallace and Gromit Curse of the Ware – Rabbit the technique used is Claymation we can see this because the characters are very flexible from their facial expressions and movements. Comparing this to Bagpuss they use models and objects animation, we can see this because of the fabrics used for some characters and also characters made from wood. Also there is limited movement so they aren’t as flexible as Claymation. For example Professor Yaffle is a wooden bird character that only moves his feet and beak also the facial expressions are limited and not very animated. With Wallace and Gromit however the movement for facial expressions
and movement is unlimited also it’s more detailed and expressive, for example the eyebrows on the vicar move up and down to show emotions such as angry and worried in this case. However with Bagpuss Pro. Yaffle uses only his body to show emotions, for example when he walks down the stairs, you can’t see his emotions that he is trying to represent but his body you can see that when he talks he has a old mans who lives on a bookshelf who has glasses which can be stereotyped for people who read who are ‘book worms.’ Also with his voice and his action he seems like he thinks his better then everyone else and he know best. A big differences for both animation is the lip syncing with Bagpuss it’s an exception because there are models and objects so its difficult, however some characters like Bagpuss and Pro. Yaffle do open their mouth and close it with a voiceover. The lip-syncing in Wallace and Gromit however has much more of an understanding towards the audience because they are made from clay they can be molded into what they are saying and expressions of what is happening. For example when the vicar is warning others about the ware rabbit there is a lot of expressions and movement of anger, worry and excitement. Technology Aardman Animation and SmallFilms use in there own animations are different; such as in Bagpuss the movement is limited and jumpy. The reasons for this though are the fact that it is made 40 years ago and technology then wasn’t at a good standard. The fact that it was aimed at kids they weren’t fussy with movement and smoothness. However with Wallace and Gromit it is very much smooth movement like using film rather then taking frames of each movement. Also the facial expressions used in Bagpuss there is no movement due to the characters being models, however the are loads of shots in Wallace and Gromit were it shows every kind of movement and expression. Aardman Animation and SmallFilms are both popular with Kids television by creating shows such as Ivor and the Engine, The Clangers, and Bagpuss. The audience rating for this show is 4 – 8 year olds, but Aardman Animation make the same kind of technique and similar storyline animations such as Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Flushed Away. The audience ratings for shows like this are 4 - 4o year olds this is due to the creators making the content understandable for kids but also making sure the older audience understand it by using more adult jokes and references in there animations. With Bagpuss audience it’s aimed for younger kids so there not bothered about how smooth or jumpy it is but then with Wallace and Gromit there audience is more ranged because the animation is so seamless and smooth. Both companies budget is also very different with SmallFilms having a very low budget of just £2,000 over 13 episodes, which is one series. On the other hand Wallace and Gromit budget is a whopping £20,000,000. This comes down to the quality of it and engaging the audience Wallace and Gromit use different camera shots and angles throughout to keep it interesting. However with SmallFilms the creators were to men that rose to fame in somewhat who started making their puppets and characters and sets in a shed making it homemade, but then Aardman
Animations creates films and with the money they have there are allowed to explore with characters and sets and locations. For example all the characters are made with about 15 different facial expressions. Places of exhibition are again both different with Bagpuss shown on our TV and Wallace and Gromit was seen in our cinemas. Bagpass was shown in the 70s and shown on little home TVs the kids watching it wasn’t to bother about the quality of it. On the other hand Wallace and Gromit was shown on a big cinema screen with rows and rows of people watching and also people paying. With this pressure it is easier for audiences to spot mistakes because they instantly have high expectations. Other films of animation are cut out animation and pixilation. Examples of cut out animation are Terry Gilliam TV sketch show Monty Python, South Park, Pigeon Street, The Adventures of Prince Achmed and Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer. South Park is a cut out, the movement of there bodies have unlimited movement of just bopping up and down, however this brings the humour out which doesn’t take its self to seriously. The camerawork is static and only smoothly pans and zooms and changes location when needed which makes it professional because there are producing the comically side of it. The set is a backdrop for the characters to make it more interesting inside of a white plan background. The characters are flat drawings. The sound in South Park is only the voices of the characters because they are the main priority of the show. Another example of cut out is Monty Python Killer Car episode, it similar to south park with the backdrop and with limited movement and jumpiness of the characters but this is due to the technology being not as a good of quality showing the cut outs to be fake but this is an advantage because they can use comically. The cars jumping up and down and titling making it the same FPS as South Park with 12 – 15fps Also similar is the FPS which is 12 – 15fps. Also similar is the camera is static with pans and zooms like South Park. The set is a cut out scenery of London and the countryside. The sound in the animation is voiceover and produces the noises but there were extra noises made by objects like the eyeball dropping. Neighbors pixilation that was made in 1952. The movements for the animation is smooth, the FPS is around 13 – 16fps. The camera work is static throughout until they go into different shots. The set is very plain; there isn’t a lot there with only two cardboard houses and fences. The sound in the animation is just one solid sound being very distort to create a mood and the sound to flow with the action so that it makes sense. Peter Gabriel’s Sledgehammer a music video, the movement of the video is speed up so that it flows with the song making it about 27 – 37fps. Again the camerawork is static apart from when it changes shot to create excitement. The setting was constantly changing because the setting it so that it flows with the music. There are a variety of animations in this music video such as model, clay and objects. The cravendale TV advert is a well made using model and object animation, the fact that it is jumpy it works well because the audience automatically know that its not as
easy to move models and objects. The quality of this ad is up to date because it was made in the 21st century. The fact that the characters are standing on plastic ‘grass’ and when they dance they only move up and down but you can tell there are dancing because of the soundtrack and the way they move. The target audience for this ad are parents who do the daily shopping but also they made it kids friendly by using kids models and objects to interact with them and to get them to like there product as well as grownups. Overall Animation as a whole as made a high impact on cinema and if it wasn’t for animation cinema wouldn’t of existed because film is just a series of images all put together at a FPS of 24fps and 25fps for video. However animation as distance itself due to CGI taking over cinema and film scenes. However there are a handful of companies such as Aardman Animation that still produce feature films that everyone can enjoy. On the promotion side of such as adverts there are still stopmotion animation about such as Doritos and Kettle Chips and Cravensdale, also the use of competitions to promote there brand and to get the audience involved and interested. Coldplay and White Stripes use stopmotion animation to promote their album or songs. Depending what kind of animation it is stopmotion can be basic such as Bagpuss or very much multifaceted like Wallace and Gromit however both need time and commitment to make them work. Then again there as been a reaction against the realism of CGI and the way it looks claiming it looks to digital which could possibly now bring stopmotion back and to its more traditional methods.