Final Animation

Timeline 1984

Timeline 1984 Pixar

The Adventures of André and Wally B was the first animation short done by a sub division of Lucas film which eventually became known as Pixar.

Timeline 1998

Timeline 1998 Sylvain Chomet

The animator Sylvain Chomet released his animation short, The old lady and The Pigeons

Art of The Inebriated Tuba

Art of The Inebriated Tuba

Timeline 1982

Timeline 1982 Raymond Briggs

In 1982 Raymond Briggs' story, The Snowman was adapted into an animation.

Timeline 1978

Timeline 1978 Jiri Barta

 

Jiri Barta's first animation was called Riddles for Candy (Hádanky za bonbón). It shows shape shifting characters with the main character is trying to catch a piece of candy.

Timeline 1968

Timeline 1968 Bill Plympton

 

Bill Plympton created his first animation short in 1968 called The Turn On.

Revised Character Influence Map

Tuba Character Influence Map

• Tuba
• Rubber Hose Animation
• Winsor McCay's black and white animations
• Gertie The Dinosaur
• Steamboat Willy with its rubber hose animation

Review on Sylvain Chomet

Review on Sylvain Chomet

  

Sylvain Chomet

Sylvain Chomets, a French animator and director who produced the film; The Illusionist. Chomets idea for this film came from a script that was written by Jacques Tati between 1956 to 1959. After Chomet read the script, he was pleased with it and said. 'It was quite beautiful and rather touching. The surroundings could't have been more appropriate either, as much of the story takes place on railways. And if The Triplets of Belleville told a complicated story in a simple way, THE ILLUSIONIST was the complete opposite. Its narrative was so deceptively simple it was highly complex. Yet I could picture every single scene as I read the script, it visually spoke to me. It was something you'd never see normally done in animation. Nor did it follow the basic rules of animation as it really was squarely aimed at adults. How to make a grown-up cartoon equally appealing to kids? Those were exciting challenges.' (Chomet, 2003) The film was challenging to create, with its complex story that is aimed at adults, but its animation that would also appeal to children. Eric Kohn discusses the film's lack of younger viewers on indiewire.com. 'Chomet’s creation of a posthumous performance means, if nothing else, that younger viewers unfamiliar with the French icon’s filmography may want to check it out for more of the same lovable klutz. But while “The Illusionist” hardly disservices Tati’s talents, it doesn’t fully inhabit them, either.' (Kohn, 2010) Although Kohn argues about children finding the film hard to understand, Chomet disagrees completely and proves that children do like his films. 'I’ve never aimed my films at children as the main audience. I think you restrict yourself when you do that. But on the other hand, I was very surprised that a lot of kids actually watched Belleville Rendezvous, and they all loved it. My own daughter, for example, was never forced to watch the film. She actually has a lot of Pixar movies at home. But one day she saw the DVD and asked if she could watch it and she loved it too. For kids, I think, it’s all real… A lot of people are still fascinated when they see animation. It’s magic.' (Chomet, 2010)        

 The Illusionist

List of Illustrations

 

Figure 1. Smith, Helena (2010) Sylvain Chomet. [Photograph] At: http://www.firedbydesign.com/magical-opening-for-edinburgh-film-festival/ (Accessed on: 02.04.11)

 

Figure 2. Chomet, Sylvain (2010) The Illusionist. [Screen cap] At: http://sbccfilmreviews.org/?p=11591 (Accessed on: 02.04.11)

 

Bibliography

 

Chomet, Sylvain (2003) Illusionist: Interview with director Sylvain Chomet. http://www.emanuellevy.com/interview/illusionist-interview-with-director-sylvain-chomet-5/ (Accessed on: 02.04.11)

 

Chomet, Sylvain (2010) The Illusionist. http://www.electricsheepmagazine.co.uk/features/2010/08/01/the-illusionist-interview-with-sylvain-chomet/ (Accessed on: 02.04.11)

 

Kohn, Eric (2010) REVIEW Not Quite There: Sylvain Chomet’s “The Illusionist”. http://www.indiewire.com/article/review_not_quite_there_sylvain_chomets_the_illusionist/ (Accessed on: 02.04.11)

Review on Raymond Briggs

Review on Raymond Briggs

Raymond Briggs

Raymond Briggs, an English animator who first started in advertising then went on to do book illustrations for children. He became popular when he illustrated the book; The Mother Goose Treasury, then went on to create and illustrate his own books. Quoted from contemporarywriters.com, Jules Smith goes into detail on Briggs' work. 'As well as illustrating books for authors such as Allan Ahlberg, Raymond Briggs has written and illustrated many of his own books, including the hugely successful children's strip illustration books Father Christmas (1973) and The Snowman (1978).  These books have been translated into many languages and adapted into films, plays and TV cartoons. A further strip illustration book, Ethel & Ernest (1998)- a biography of his parents' lives - tells the story of how his father met his mother, a lady's maid,  and how they continued to live in the same house for forty-one years.' (Smith, 2004) Despite Briggs' films being aimed at children the endings to his films are all unhappy, with the melting snowman in The Snowman and the nuclear disaster and suffering from When the Wind Blows. Instead of Briggs making up a fantasy where everything ends with a happy ending, he makes it more true to reality. There are tragedies where there is death and destruction, as he says himself on telegraph.co.uk. 'I don't believe in happy endings. Children have got to face death sooner or later. Granny and Grandpa die, dogs die, cats die, gerbils and those frightful things - what are they called? - hamsters: all die like flies. So there's no point avoiding it.' (Briggs, 2007) 

 The Snowman

The characters from his animations hold so much emotion such as those from When the Wind Blows. You can relate to them much like they are your grandparents, with their nagging and ignorance to the situation at hand. The emotional sense from this film is discussed on grovel.org.uk. 'Briggs imbues Jim and Hilda with so much character you can't help but feel empathy. That the mixture of ignorance, naivety and stiff-upper-lip tighten-your-belt attitude keeps them on the right side of desperation only makes their situation more heart-wrenchingly sad.' (Grovel.org.uk, 2011)  

      When the Wind Blows

List of Illustrations

 

Figure 1. Briggs, Raymond (2007) Raymond Briggs. [Photograph] At: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/inspiration/profile_raymond_briggs.shtml (Accessed on: 31.03.11)

 

Figure 2. Briggs, Raymond (1982) The Snowman. [Screen cap] At: http://www.chrisandphilpresent.co.uk/?p=5515 (Accessed on: 31.03.11)

Figure 3. Briggs, Raymond (1986) When the Wind Blows. [Screen cap] At: http://flickfeast.co.uk/top-ten/top-10-animated-films/ (Accessed on: 31.03.11)

Bibliography

 

Briggs, Raymond (2007) Raymond Briggs: I don't believe in happy endings. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3670140/Raymond-Briggs-I-dont-believe-in-happy-endings.html (Accessed on: 31.03.11)

 

Grovel (2011) When The Wind Blows. http://www.grovel.org.uk/reviews/whenth01/whenth01.htm (Accessed on: 31.03.11)

 

Smith, Jules (2004) Raymond Briggs. http://www.contemporarywriters.com/authors/?p=authC2D9C28A1da9f1EA3FRqW3424C56 (Accessed on: 31.03.11)

Revised Essay Introduction

Winsor McCay

This essay discusses the work of Winsor McCay, and the kind of animations he produced. The study of what his work was like at an early age from the sketches he done as a child to one of his first comic strips; Little Sammy Sneeze right up until his later films that include his first; Little Nemo in Slumber Land to later films such as Gertie The Dinosaur and The Sinking of The Lusitania. McCay’s first forms of art will be discussed using the books; Before Mickey by Donald Crafton and Winsor McCay by John Canemaker. McCay’s comic strips and how successful they became will be analysed with the use of the book; Masters of American Comics by John Carlin. The websites; www.digitalmediafx.com and www.bpib.com have been used to describe McCay’s later productions and their influences on modern day cartoons. This essay starts by introducing Winsor McCay and what kind of work he did, followed by his early forms of work though to his later projects. Why his work was important as well as its influences will then be explained.

Essay Introduction

 Winsor McCay

This essay discusses the work of Winsor McCay, what kind of work he produced to what his work was like at an early age right up until his later works. McCay’s first forms of art will be discussed using the books; Before Mickey by Donald Crafton and Winsor McCay by John Canemaker. McCay’s comic strips and how successful they became will be analysed with the use of the book; Masters of American Comics by John Carlin. The websites; www.digitalmediafx.com and www.bpib.com have been used to describe McCay’s later productions and their influences on modern day cartoons. This essay starts by introducing Winsor McCay and what kind of work he did, followed by his early forms of work though to his later projects. Why his work was important as well as its influences will then be explained.

Review on Bill Plympton

Review on Bill Plympton

Bill Plympton

Bill Plympton is an independent animator that creates hand drawn animations with strange themes with exaggerated drawings. Plympton has always been fascinated by animation, even at a young age where he sent of some of his drawings to Disney, by which they replied back 'When he was fourteen, he sent Disney some of his cartoons and offered up his services as animator. They wrote back and told him that while his drawings showed promise, he was too young.' (Plymptoons.com, 2008)   Plympton's animations are quite popular and have been featured in many cinemas and won many awards, quoted by Ed Liu on toonzone.net. 'In 1983, he finally broke into the world of animation with Boomtown. Since then, his work has been nominated for multiple awards, and has been seen in animation festivals, television commercials, MTV's Liquid Television, and in cinemas, where he has the distinction of producing the first feature-length movie to be animated by a single person (The Tune).' (Liu, 2008) One of Plympton's latest films, called Idiots and Angels had been rejected many times before finally being allowed to play in cinemas. Why it was turned down was because it wasn't the sort of film the distributors wanted, but Plympton had other thoughts on why it was rejected. 'I have four reasons why they turned it down. First of all, it’s from Bill Plympton Studios, which is a small, minor, no-publicity studio. There’s no real history of great success. I’m kind of a cult animator, and they didn’t want to deal with that. Two, there’s no dialog in the film, and that kind of freaked them out. Three, it was hand-drawn animation, and they know computer animation from places like Pixar and Dreamworks makes a billion dollars, and no one wants to see hand-drawn. At least, that’s what they think. And four, it’s an adult film. It’s not family fare. I think a lot of people think of that believe in the theology of Disney, and they think I’m a travesty to the purity of family animation.' (Plympton, 2010)    

 The Tune

List of Illustrations

  

Figure 1. Richardson, Anne (2009) Bill Plympton. [Photograph] At: http://www.talltalestruetales.com/2009/04/bill-plymptonoregon-filmmaker/ (Accessed on: 28.03.11)

Figure 2. Plympton, Bill (1992) The Tune. [Screen cap] At: http://www.taringa.net/posts/tv-peliculas-series/2003996/The-Tune---Bill-Plympton.html (Accessed on: 28.03.11)

Bibliography

  

Liu, Ed (2008) Toon Zone Interviews Indie Animator Bill Plympton on "Idiots & Angels". http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/23349/toon-zone-interviews-indie-animator-bill-plympton-on-idiots-amp-angels (Accessed on: 28.03.11)

  

Plymptoons (2008) Biography. http://www.plymptoons.com/biography/bio.html (Accessed on. 28.03.11)

  

Plympton, Bill (2010) Bill Plympton. http://www.avclub.com/chicago/articles/bill-plympton,48357/ (Accessed on: 28.03.11)

 

2-D Animatic

The Inebriated Tuba

Timeline 1979

Timeline 1979 The Brothers Quay

The Quay brothers worked on their first animation short called Nocturna Artificialia in 1979.

Timeline 1964

Timeline 1964 Jan Svankmajer 

Jan Svankmajer created his first animated short called The Last Trick in 1964.

Review on Jiri Barta

Review on Jiri Barta

Jiri Barta

Jiri Barta, a Czechoslovakian who animates using stop motion and was also fond of using puppets. Barta's work is similar to Svankmajer in that it also experiences dark and grotesque themes. The sounds used in Barta's animations are plentiful and pay a great deal of attention to things, such as the dripping of blood and faint scratching of rats. Although some of the characters used are made of wood, they still possess a great deal of life like attributes when being animated along with the world they live in, as noted by Jenny Jediny on notcoming.com. 'We recognize these objects, yet they inhabit a world of their own which often draws on the political issues of the former communist block. Surreal creations, ranging from mannequins to abandoned gloves, are intricately involved in symbolic demonstrations of the Velvet Revolution, or playfully comment on the rapid intrusion of materialism on Eastern Europe.' (Jediny, 2007) One of Barta's films called Krysař that is based of the German myth of the Pied Piper uses wooden puppets and is quite dark in its style, along with its use of German Expressionism seen in its layout, such as the sharp, pointed and distorted buildings. Its Expressionism is discussed on mubi.com. 'Throughout the movie we see distorted silhouettes, exaggerated shapes, and disproportionate landscapes and architecture. Things purposely skewed and off kilter. The imagery itself is very symbolic of the darker side of the human experience. The buildings and landscapes do a great job achieving the mood of the scene. The dark atmosphere and colors represent the inner psychological workings of the community’s → a downfall of morals, savage greedy people wallowing in their splendor, indulging in their epicurean lifestyles, bathing in lavish wealth.' (Mubi, 2010)  Not only are wooden puppets used, but real rats and food is seen throughout the film, as mentioned by Ivana Kosulicova on kinoeye.org. 'Different animation techniques are combined: wooden puppets and moving relief, animation of real food, footage of live rats, and oil painting—everything contributes to an ambitious piece of work.' (Kosulicova, 2002) 

 Krysar (Pied Piper)

List of Illustrations

  

Figure 1. Barta, Jiri (1985) Jiri Barta. [Photograph] At: http://www.listal.com/viewimage/441600 (Accessed on: 26.03.11)

  

Figure 2. Barta, Jiri (1986) Krysar (Pied Piper) [Screen cap] At: http://www.movierapture.com/krysar.htm (Accessed on: 26.03.11)

  

Bibliography

  

Jediny, Jenny (2007) The Animation of Jiri Barta. http://www.notcoming.com/features/jiribarta/ (Accessed on: 26.03.11)

Kosulicova, Ivana (2002) The Morality of Horror. http://www.kinoeye.org/02/01/kosulicova01_no2.php (Accessed on: 26.03.11)

Mubi (2010) Simultaneous Watching And Analysis: Krysař by Jiří Barta. http://mubi.com/topics/11040 (Accessed on: 26.03.11)

Character Expressions

Character Expressions

Open mouth. Normal expression

Half open mouth. Tired and exhausted expression

Closed mouth. Holding something and concentrating   

Final Character Design

Final Character Design

Research - Rubber Hose Animation

Rubber Hose Animation

Rubber Hose animation was used in the first cartoons, where the limbs of a character exhibit no joints and had the appearance and movement of a flexible rubber hose. This intentional style was first started by animator; Otto Messmer and Bill Nolan with Felix the Cat. With the use of Rubber Hose animation, characters and objects could be highly exaggerated with their movements to produce impossible looking poses and animations.