Animation allows filmmakers to tell stories in any fantastical realm they wish, no matter how unreal. This can be fabulous fun for both audiences and filmmakers.
How many of these popular animated movies have you seen?
- Grave of the Fireflies, 1988
- The Lion King, 1994
- How to Train Your Dragon, 2010
- Spirited Away, 2001
- Toy Story 3, 2010
What is Animation in Film and Video Production?
In a traditionally-made movie, live actors are filmed, and a story is edited together from the footage.
In an animated movie, inanimate objects, such as drawings, computer images, or toys, are used instead of live actors. These inanimate objects are animated, brought to life so to speak, in the process of movie making. How it’s done will fascinate you!
Simple forms of animation can be done by beginning filmmakers, just using basic modern equipment.
If you have a favorite toy, you can bring it to life using movie magic.
The Origin of Animated Movies
We are lucky to live in an age where animation is thriving. Animation done properly is a very tedious procedure. In its beginning stages over 100-years ago, it was seen as too time-consuming and expensive to be of much use in the entertainment industry.
But audiences absolutely loved animation, so the expenses proved worth it. Now, with significant advances in technology, animation is easier and less expensive to create than ever. These two factors together have created a robust market for animated films today.
Believe it or not, the first animated movie, Snow White, was considered a very risky gamble. It was feared adults would never appreciate animation, and a strictly children’s market could not be large enough to thrive. Both of these assumptions turned out to be incorrect, of course.
Trolley Troubles, released in 1927, can be considered a historic animation. It was a black and white, silent, short film. Animation pioneer Walt Disney had created a character named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Oswald is the star of Trolley Troubles.
Eventually, Disney lost creative control over the Oswald character to the studio, so, Oswald evolved over the years to become Mickey Mouse. Disney retained ownership of Mickey and all his friends. Disney turned them into an empire.
Here is the first Oswald cartoon, nearly 100 years old. Below that is Steamboat Willie, Mickey and Minnie Mouse’s debut, as well as the first animation with synchronized sound. Compared to today’s animation, you probably won’t find them very impressive, but in their day, these shorts were seen as revolutionary.
Here is a charming 7:49 animation called Flowers and Trees by Walt Disney. It won an Academy Award in 1928. It was the first animated film to receive such a prestigious award. Being in color was actually rare for the time period. It was also the first film in color to win.
The first full length animated move was Snow White, produced in 1937 by Walt Disney. He risked every penny and his entire career on the movie, which took a grueling four years to produce. Needless to say, Mr. Disney’s gamble paid off. Today, animation is a well-loved and highly respected technique that’s used for a wide variety of genres, styles and audiences.
Bringing a 1966 Beatles Song to New Life with Animation
This video is so spectacular, I watched it 5 times in a row! I love the Beatles I remember the song I’m Only Sleeping fondly, but it was the phenomenal animation that stopped me in my tracks.
Beautifully done using over 13-hundred individual oil paintings, artist Em Cooper created a fabulous visualization of John Lennon’s ode to sleep.
As you watch it, keep in mind how animation is done, frame, by frame, by frame.
As you’ve already learned, moving pictures are actually still pictures put together to create the illusion of movement.
This means that making an animated video like this takes extensive planning and the ability to visualize the movement in your head as you create each individual frame. This takes a lot of practice to do well.
Here are some still frames taken from the video. As you can see, the movement needed to transition smoothly from scene to scene sometimes required images that look odd or don’t make much sense when looked at in isolation, but work perfectly in the sequence.
I’m Only Sleeping was originally recorded back in 1966. No music video was made at the time. When The Beatles decided to re-release some of their old material recently, this song was selected for a music video.
Dreaming is always a good choice for animation, since anything goes.
The total run time (TRT) of the video is 3:06. That’s 183 seconds. At 30 fps, that comes out to 5,490 individual frames. So out of necessity, the sequences are used more than once. Personally, I did not find this tiring. Do you?
Over 13-hundred actual paintings were created. Can you imagine crating 1,300 individual paintings?
The oil paintings were done on celluloid, which is how Disney did it in the early days.
If you’re a student learning filmmaking, analyzing a professionally done video like this can show you what is possible at the highest levels of media production. It will give you an appreciation for the detail-oriented work needed to create any animated film.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- What are your favorite animated shows? Why do you like them?
- Did you like the animation of the Beatles song, I’m Only Sleeping? Why or why not? (You don’t have to like everything you see!)
- How long do you think it would take you to paint 1,300 images?
- Watch the video again, slowly. Try to pick it apart frame by frame. Analyze how each frame is slightly different from the ones before and after.