The Evolution of Animation

The Early Years

The basic practice of animation has been around for hundreds, if not thousands of years, and it is more popular today than it ever has been.

Animation is the process of taking a series of static images and playing them in rapid succession to create the illusion of movement

Since such simple methods of animation were created like the Magic Lantern, a simple slide projector, or the Thaumatrope, an easily made device that consisted of a coin on a string with a different image on either side which was then twisted up and spun to create the illusion of movement, the improvement of the art has been a constant process.

The Zoetrope, invented in 1834 by George Horner expanded on the effect created by the Thaumatrope. Like its predecessor, the Zoetrope used static images played in rapid succession to create a moving picture. However, the Zoetrope used a lot more images than the simple coin on a string. Consisting of a cylinder with vertical slits in the side beneath which on the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with a series of individual frames from a set of sequenced drawings or photographs. When the cylinder is spun, the user looks through the slits at the pictures on the opposite side of the cylinder's interior, and because the images are moving so quickly, the illusion of movement is created, an effect called "persistence of vision".

And though many different techniques and inventions were created, the same basic principal of all animation was contained within the Zoetrope, and even the Thaumatrope.

The Flip Book, first recorded in 1868, uses the same idea, although the images are drawn directly on to paper and then bound as a small book. But, like the Thaumatrope and Zoetrope when quickly flipped through the persistence of vision effect created is exactly the same.

Animation and Film

With the invention of celluloid film and moving pictures at the beginning of the 20th century, animation found a new home. From basic stop-motion silent era shorts such as Humorous Phases of Funny Faces by J. Stuart Blackton,
Fantasmagorie by Emile Cohl and Gertie the Dinosaur by Winsor McCay there started what would one day become one of the most popular mediums of storytelling in the world. And with the hand drawn works of Max Fleischer's My Old Kentucky Home and Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie, sound and animation came together to lead the way for the first feature length animated film, Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney became the most well-known animator in history, and even after his death his production company is one of the biggest in the world.

Since then animation has boomed. New techniques and styles are continually being discovered and created.

Animation and Computers

The biggest change that has occured to animation and the production of it since that time has been the introduction of computers, and computer generated three-dimensional animation. In 1997 a Graphics group named Pixar created the first feature length fully computer generated film. It was called Toy Story, and since then traditional animation has lost a lot of its popularity. After that many other companies followed Pixar in creating this new type of cartoon. And in 2006 Pixar was bought by Disney.

Since Toy Story, the computer generated style of animation has continued to improve and gain popularity. Of course, 2D animation is still in production, just not on such a large scale. Most of it is confined to children's TV-shows, and is made on computers. The main difference between computer animation and traditional hand-drawn animation is clarity. The drawings are a lot clearer, movements not as stuttery, and sound syncronisation is alomst always perfect, which highlights the differences between computer animated products compared to the traditionally made ones.