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The Magic Lantern C.1650
The Magic Lantern is thought to be the first Projector. This can be considered to be the first stage of 2D animation. The Magic Lantern works in a similar way to the projectors that are used in the modern era, This uses a reflective mirror in front of a ray of light which shows the image on a flat surface. This technique was very famous as it lead people to believe that they were seeing the supernatural. -
Thaumatrope 1824
This was a very simple technique. It was a toy that was very popular in the victorian period. The Thraumatrope is a small card that has pictures on either side, Two pieces of string would then be put through the centre this is so that when the string is twisted it would then both pictures would seem to merge into one image. This clearly shows the Phi Phenomenon, when the brain believes it to be one image. -
Phenakistoscope 1831
This was the earliest device that was invented for animation. It is a disk that contains a whole load of images, the images would then be drawn onto a radii, the images would be placed on different areas. the disk would then be spun and the images would then be viewed through the slit that is on the device, To the viewer this would look like a moving sequence, hence the illusion of animation was created. This is also known as Phi. -
Zoetrope 1834
Invented by William George Horner. The zeotrope was created in 1834. It works and is based around the Penakistoscope device, it is a spinning device where all of the images placed on the inner side, The Zoetrope was designed in this specific way so that when it is spun the images do not blur together, so the viewer is able to see the full sequence of the animation which creates the illusion of motion. -
Flip Book 1868
This technique of animation works in a similar way to the phenatiskoscope and the zeotrope, the only difference that can be noted is that a device is not required in order to view the images that are present. The flip-book consists of many images that are drawn at the bottom edge of the page and the book is then flipped from the back in one sequence that reveals the animation. -
Praxinoscope 1877
Invented by Emilie Reynaud. This animation strategy combined the design of the zeotrope with the mirror that was used on the Phenakistoscope. Within the structure of this device the mirrors were placed in the middle, so that the animation was not affected by the distance from the middle and was very clear for the viewer when he looked at it. -
Kinetoscope 1889
This device was invented so that a person was able to see a moving animation by looking into a peephole that was implemeted on top of the device. This also created an illusion. The Kinetoscope at the time was the most common form of watching a film in the cinema, Invented by Thomas Edisson. This device worked by a strip of film that contained many images this would then be put over a high speed shutter that would then display the sequence of the film. -
Cinematograph 1895
In its time this was seen as the first motion film camera. This device was created by Louis and Augustine Lumiere. This device was created in order to rectify the mistakes they belived that was made by the Kinetoscope. Overall the Cinematograph was devised to provide better picture quality and illumation. This device could be projected on to a screen to allow a greater number of people to watch the animation at one go, however with the Kinetoscope only one person could see it at a time. -
Stop Animation 1899
Stop Animation was created by Albert.E.Smith and Stuart Blackton. This technique makes real-life objects seem as if they are moving. This is done by the object being moved slowly at a fixed time over a series of photographed frames. When the frames are all played at one time it seems as if the object is moving by itself, hence the illusion is created. The most famous example of Stop-motion being used till date is South Park. -
Cel Animation 1914
Cel Animation was Invented by Earl Hurd, in 1914. This animation process consists of a cel or a clear sheet of transparent paper in which backgrounds can be painted so that it can overlap other images, this is why a transparent piece of paper is used. This process is very time consuming , everyone involved has to be organised. This goes through a long process in which the timing and other aspects need to be approved in order to progress to the final stage and produce the completed animation. -
Rotoscoping 1915
Rotoscoping was invented by Max Fleischer. The main purpose of this skill is to capture human movement that is seemed to be believeable by sketching over film clips frame by frame. This is done so that it can be used in live-action and clips that are animated. An example that can be used for this is Tom Goes To The Mayor. Clips are photographed and are processed digitally, via the use of a graphics filter. When this is done the animation is told with very little movement. -
Live Action & Animation 1923
In this time period Disney come up with the Idea of combing live action and animation and combing the two, this was merged together to create another land mark. This is when a live action is interatcting with something that is animated. An example that can be used for this is Alice's Wonderland, where she communicates with different animated animals. -
Multi-Plane Camera 1934
Urb Iwrek Invented an Multi-plane camera that had the capacity and funtion to film many layers of cels which would make the end product lock outstanding, this was because it was able to produce a three-dimentional look. -
Drawing Onto Film 1945
In 1945 Harry Smith came up with the idea of drawing straight onto film rather than going through a long process or method. The drawings would then caputred frame by frame via the use of an animation camera. In addition to this it aslo meant that Smith was able to save money and time as it was seen as a much quicker and effective way of producing animation. -
Invention Of CGI 1982
In 1982 'Tron' was the first film to make use of CGI (Computer Graphic Images). The main purpose to was to make use of the 3D Effect that can be used. In this film it was used for the 'Worlds'. For here on CGI would become one of the most common techniques used for animation, and this is still continuing in the Modern Era, -
Morphing 1988
In 1988, a technique that came into animation was Morphing, this technique conisists of special effects in which a person is able to change into anoher person or Animal & so forth. This is done through a sequence of images, that change consistantly one after another, The transition is smooth hence it is used in surreal or fantasy films etc.. -
Jurassic Park 1993
In 1993 Jurassic park became the first ever live-action film which included photo-realistic computer animated creatures, the computer animated creatures were dinasours. In addition to this in this time period computers were being used at every level of film making, Another example of a film that can be used is Toy Story this was the first longest computer created animation film. -
Computer Animation (20th Century)
In the 20th Century Many developments have taken place for example more cinemas are showing more animated movies etc. The major development that can be noted is that computer animation & CGI is the most quickest and effective method used for producing animated films. CGI is being combined and merged with other techniques to show films and animation in another prospective. Moreover a lot od software has been produced in order to make processes easier and quicker, for instance Adobe after effects.
