LO1: Animation Styles and Techniques

Cel animation is a form of traditional animation that involves drawing on physical transparent sheets of plastic called cels. Typically the outline is drawn on one side and the colouring is done on the other. The cels are then placed over a background and are moved between pictures that are later put in to a sequence to create the illusion of movement. 

An advantage of cel animation is that the background can be more detailed than other types of animation. This is because it stays in frame for longer and only needs to be drawn once. 

An example where this can be seen is Disney’s Snow White, which aligns with the most common audience that Disney targets, which is young children between 3 and 10, mainly girls. As you can see, the background has a lot of detail compared to the character which has minimal detail and shading. This makes the film more aesthetically pleasing for audiences. Depending on the background it can provoke emotion, as an example, this one here provokes a sense of happiness and tranquility as opposed to if it was a scary forest which would provoke ear and suspense. 

However, a disadvantage of cel animation is that it can be very time consuming. The cels are typically hand pained, which means that not only do the artists have to create cels, they then have to let them dry, and it is only then that they can begin to take photos for the sequence. 

Hardware that is needed for this type of animation is a camera to take pictures of the cels and a computer to put them all together. You'd also need an editing software such as Adobe Premier in order to produce the sequence, add voice overs, incidental music, etc. 

Adobe Premier is a good software for editing, especially when creating something of professional quality, however, because cel animation is so outdated because of newer and more convenient methods to create a similar effect, it means that it doesn't accommodate cel animation in the same way it does other methods. 

Some more examples of cel animations from Disney, which are most well known for their children’s animated films would be Dumbo, Sleeping Beauty and Bambi. 

Stop motion animation is an animation method where a camera repetitively stops and starts to capture physical objects that are physically manipulated between shots. This gives the illusion of movement when played back. 

An animation of stop motion is that it can be made very simplistic for beginners. The action of slightly moving an object between takes is very easy and all that is needed to get started is a 

camera that takes photos and a posable figure. An example of a more simplistic animation is that of Morph, which is produced by Aardman, who usually target a mass audience by being funny for all ages, but also family friendly. While this project obviously had a large budget and was professionally produced, you can see just how simplistic the figures can really be.

A disadvantage of stop motion animation is that it can be very inconvenient. When taking a break or after finishing for the day, the set of the animation cannot be cleared away. it must be left exactly as it is in order to continue. If anything goes wrong, like something gets knocked and moved slightly, means that you would most likely have to re film that scene. 

Hardware that would be needed to produce a stop motion animation is similar to cel animation: a camera to take images of the models and a computer to put al this together and edit it. You'd also need an editing software such as Adobe Premier to add it all together. 

While this method of animation gives a very curated look, it can be extremely time consuming, especially regarding software. You would have to individually add each image in. As for hardware, a camera is a fantastic way to get better quality images using the settings you choose, however, taking so many images means that your SD card will easily run out of storage.

Some more examples of stop motion animations by Aardman, who are best known for their films, are Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep, Chicken Run, The Pirates!, Flushed Away and Early Man. 

2D Animation is a form of animation that involves ming an object move in a 2D space. The illusion of movement is created when images or frames are played at a standard rate of 24FPS. This style is still referred to as traditional animation, but has evolved past pencil and paper and can now be done completely through technology. 

An advantage of this method of animation is that it is simpler cheaper and easier to create than 3D forms of animation This is because 3D animation is far more complex in most ways to achieve. 

Another advantage is that the connotations of this method all revolve around cartoons, such as The Simpsons, a cartoon aimed at a predominantly male audience, ages 13 and and above. This is good for anyone who is wanting to create something that is supposed to be entertaining or funny as this i the connotations that it carries with it. 

However, on the other hand,  a disadvantage of 2D animation is that it is now seen as less interesting and therefore is less sought out than 3D animation as that is considered the most desirable of the two after technological developments. 

To produce a 2D animation, you'd ideally need a drawing tablet to animate the first draft of the animation, and a computer to edit and finalize to production. You'd need an animation software such as Animation Desk on the drawing tablet and for editing, you'd need an editing software. 

Having a drawing tablet is great for animation as it makes it easier to draw with a stylus on a screen, however, they can be expensive. 

Some more examples of animations that are 2D are some more of Matt Groening’s work, such as Futurama, owned by 20th Television Animation and Disenchanted, owned by Netflix. 

The last studio that I looked at was OML Digital, who also produce 2D animations. The animation in particular that I looked at was Pokemon Journey the Series. This is an animation about researching the creatures and catching them, aimed at young boys between the ages of 7 and 14 but is enjoyed by all ages too. 

OLM Digital is different to the rest of the institutions because they produce anime, which is a type of animation that originated in Japan and is mainly targeted at audiences from the east. The first way in which the animation differs from the rest of the animations that I have looked at is through the language options. While other animations, such as Wallace and Gromit are only available in English, anime is really only produced in the east and this means that the rest of the world do not have it in their language unless it is dubbed. This is a cultural difference because anime is a style that is only produced in the east, whereas every other style of animation is produced around the world. 

On top of this, the art style is different. It uses the conventional anime art style, which usually involves thin outlines, big eyes and exaggerated features. This shows that it is an eastern animation and is aimed at this audience because this is conventional for the animations that they are used to watching. This provides a sense of familiarity and also targets people who are already fans of anime. 

On top of this, the Pokemon franchise was popular in the east before it came over to the West. This animation is targeted at people who are already fans of the franchise, whether they are in to the games, series or the card game. This targets an eastern audience because the franchise is bigger over there than it is in the west. 

Lastly, the themes in the cartoon are different to themes that appear in western cartoons, which is a cultural difference. The cartoon is about capturing small creatures which then are made to battle, and while this seems harmless, the ethical issue of allusion to animal abuse will always be there, which is why we never see anything like this for children from westernized animation companies. This shows that the themes in anime are usually more heavy or brutal than they are in cartoon from different parts of the world. More mature ones also can be very graphic and even explicit, which is uncommon for western animations.