Ollie Hosier's BTEC Media Blog: 'History Of Animation Part II'

Introduction

With the increase in the illusion of animation, some people have tried to adapt their animation skills to films. In this blog post I will be talking about the developers of these animated films giving videos and photos that will back up their success. It will contrast on the animation then and the animation now. I will be talking about how they got into the animation industry and will be showing some of their work.

Willis O'Brien

Born in Oakland, California in 1886, Willis O'Brien was a big fan of the illusion of animation and was the first creator of the famous King Kong 1933 and The Lost World 1925. King Kong was one of his movies that mixed real life image against animated image. He used a budget of $5000 to create his first movie The Dinosaur And The Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy. He used the basic use of animation by taking a series of pictures of a physical model and moved a certain part of the model in every frame. By doing this he was able to create these fascinating models like Kong. in 1914 he started to make short films which was the start of him getting into the animation. His main influence was animated projects created by Ray Harryhausen (well known animator and creator of 'Jason and the Argonauts').

Ray Harryhausen

Ray Harryhausen was born on the 29th June 1920 in Los Angeles, California, USA. His passion for animation started with the passion for dinosaurs and anything that related to fantasy. From the help of his parents he was able to pursue his love for animation. Learning the skills to make miniature sets he was able to develop his skills in 3D dimensional figures which lead on to him being able to create prehistoric figures. He won first prize in the Junior Museum Hobby Show by showing off his Stegosaurus (based on Knight's painting). In the early days he attempted to recreate the images of King Kong by using marionettes or string puppets. From looking through articles he found about Stop-Motion. After that he wanted to create his own stop-motion and eventually that led him to take bigger steps in better movable figures. Ray has worked with Willis O'Brien, showing off each others work, exchanging ideas, which was a big turning point for Ray as it led him to more stable animations in his models. By doing this Ray took lesson in art and anatomy at LA City College and he took film classes at the University of Southern California, where he studied art direction, editing and photography. Taking frequent trips to the zoo helped Ray understand animal's behavior. After college Ray looked everywhere for animated work and walked into George Pal, from there he joined Pal and Willis O'Brien who started on production in animation but later, Willis and Ray both left due to different reasons. From there Ray then went on to create his own creations and experimented with Dynamation. Dynamation was first seen in films like 'The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)' and was the combination of live-action footage and stop-motion. He found that split-screen was the answer.

How Dynamation Works:

A live-action image is projected onto a rear screen.
This live-action image is placed in front of an animation table with the scale model on it.
A glass sheet is then placed in front of both the live-action image and the animation table.
Ray would then make a matte line by looking through the view finder, re-establishing it with a wax pencil on the end of a stick, following the line by drawing on the glass.
Ray would then paint out the lower section below the line, with black matt paint.
Photographs of the scale model will then be taken, making them react to the live-action footage.
The images would then combine together by creating a second pass in the camera that would reinstate the lower previously matted out section. This would make it look like the scale model is alive in the live-action footage.

Some Work:

Evolution of the World
It's a Wonderful Life
Might Joe Young
Jason and the Argonauts
Mysterious Island

And Many More...

George Pal

Another pioneer of stop-motion animation was George Pal, who's work has influenced animators of today. Born in 1908, George Pal's early days of animation was influenced by the use of Puppetoons animation that was also very popular back in its time. 'Jasper the Haunted Mansion' and 'Tubby the Tuba' are two of his Puppetoon animation series. From there he won an Oscar in 1943 which led him to making live action movies. He got a job when he left education in the famous studio of UFA. Further down the line he was signed in a long-term contract at Paramount Pictures, where he created non-advertising Puppetoons. George used the simple stop-motion technique with models, which consists of taking one picture, moving the model slightly and taking another picture. He would then put these images together to make, what looks like, a simultaneous movement.

Some of his work (unfinished or unreleased):

After Worlds Collide
Odd John
Logan's Run
When the Sleeper Wakes

And Many More...

Posthumous Collection:

The Puppertoon Movie

Phil Tippett

Phil was born in 1951 and is main occupation is a Director and Producer. Phil's main inspiration was Ray Harryhausen's work, 'The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad'. He went on to complete a BA degree in Art at the University of California, Irvine and then went on to work at the studio of Cascade Pictures in Los Angeles. George Lucas hired Phil to assist in the stop-motion for 'Star Wars A New Hope' and was a big turning point for Phil. In films like 'Star Wars' Phil used a similar stop-motion technique to George Pal but moving scale models slightly and taken a picture, repeated over and over again.

Has worked on:

Jurassic Park
Star Wars Saga (New Hope and Empire Strikes Back)
Indiana Jones and The Temple Of Doom
The Spiderwick Chronicles
Starship Troopers

How the 'ATAT' were created in 'Star Wars - The Empire Strikes Back':

The models were placed in front of a painted background.
Baking soda was used for snow.
High speed photography was used for the explosions.
Background walkers were created by using cutouts.

And Many More...

The Quay Brothers

The two identical twins, Stephen and Timothy Quay were born on the 17th June 1947 and were both into illustrating before moving on to the Royal College of Art in London. In about the 70's they started producing animated shorts. They are well known for both being Directors, Screenwriters, Cinematographers and Animators. They are both known as the world's most original film makers. Most of their work is on dolls and puppets coming to life and is seen as dark, unique and surreal. They use stop-motion to make their puppets and dolls come to life, quite similar to George Pal. After their education, they brought their own studio where they are still today creating animation.

Some of their work:

Street of Crocodiles
Institute Benjamenta
This Dream That One Calls Human Life
The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes

And Many More...

Tim Burton and Henry Selick

Tim Burton was born on August 25th 1958 and started to create short films in his backyard on Evergreen Street using techniques related to stop-motion animation. However they were without sound. Tim is well know for his dark and Gothic style of animation and was a big fan of Vincent Price and Edward Gorey and the cartoon look in general. This was due to working with Disney in his early days. As a kid he would create drawings and are seen in some of his films. Some of his drawings have inspired some people top create some of the most memorable films and characters like Edward Scissorhands and Jack.

Some of Tim's work:

Nightmare Before Christmas
James and the Giant Peach
Mars Attacks
Sleepy Hollow (Only one scene actually used stop-motion animation)

And Many More...

Henry Selick was born on November 30th 1952 and was known and credited for directing 'The Nightmare Before Christmas', 'James and the Giant Peach' and 'Coraline'. Henry was a former classmate with Tim where they studied character animation at California Institute of the Arts. Selicks first interest for animation came from when he first saw Lottle Reiniger's stop-motion 'The Adventures of Prince Achmed' and the animated creatures from 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad' by Ray Harryhausen.

Tim and Henry use scale models and use stop-motion to make these models come to life, taking a picture, moving the model and taking another picture.

Otmar Gutmann

Producer, Animator, and Director, Otmar Gutmann was born on the 24th April 1937 and died October 13th 1993. He is well known for his famous animated series Pingu and was the founder of the Pygos group in 1986. Through claymation, Pingu was a big success on children's television. Once he died the Pygos group collapsed and all of the assets were sold to HiT Entertainment. 52 episodes of Pingu were scheduled by HiT Entertainment, however after it ended without any announcement.

Claymation is stop-motion with clay scale models which are created using skeletons. They are then covered with clay to create a character or object. Each part of the skeleton is then slightly moved as a picture is taken. This is then repeated over and over again.

Nick Park And Aardman

Born on the 6th December 1958, English filmmaker of stop-motion Nick Park is well known for his famous animated series, 'Wallace and Gromit'. Nick started animation at an early age where he spent most of his adolescence doodling and drawing. He began filming at the age of 13 by using old filming equipment that he found in his parent's attic. Most of his famous projects like 'Wallace and Gromit' are made from Plasticine and use a stop-motion technique. When producing his films he always tried to hint some of his real life through his characters. Rumors say that the character Wallace in 'Wallace and Gromit', is meant to represent his farther or grandfarther. In 1975 the BBC decided to air his first short film called 'Archie's Concrete Nightmare'. The comic series 'Denise the Menace', 'The Bash Street Kids' and 'Lord Snooty' were the main things that inspired Nick to pick up the pen and try and copy their adventures. This is evident in his own creations of 'Wallace and Gromit'. He won many awards from his projects. Aardman Animations were also involved in the production of Nick's creations of the 'Wallace and Gromit' series. Nick Park is famous for using claymation in his work. One example is 'Wallace and Gromit'.

Adam Shaheen

The final pioneer of animation is British animator Adam Shaheen, a screenwriter and television producer born on October 13th 1964. He was the original founder of 'Cuppa Coffee Studios' which is Canada's oldest privately owned studio. Gaining a BA Hons in Photography, Adam went onto the London College of Painting. Thunder Birds and its features can somewhat be seen in some of Adam's work. His main audiences are mostly teens as his claymation animations contain sexual references and violence. Some of Adam's main skills are animation, film, visual effects, character animation, computer animation, storyboarding, TV feature films, post-production, entertainment, video production, illustration, traditional animation, art, motion graphics, pre-production, after effects 3D, video, commercials, editing, creative direction, broadcast, composting, final cut pro, concept design, production, writing, print and budgeting. Adam created over 200 commercials and won over 150 international awards.

Some of Adam's work: