Animation
Basic concepts and styles
Basic concepts
A frame is a single still image that,
when played in sequence with the
other frames of the video, creates the
illusion of movement.
In real action films we usually see 24
frames per second (FPS), but in
animation sometimes they are less
(12 or 8).
Every picture is a frame
Let’s see an example…
Different frames per second
You can see that the movement in 24 FPS is more fluid
The beginnings of animation
One of the pioneers of animation was
the German artist Lotte Reiniger. She
made silhouettes and got her inspiration
from Chinese puppet theater.
She invented the multiplane camera, a
device to separate the different parts in
independent layers and photographed
each frame to create stop-motions.
Click on the image to see
the video (in Spanish)
Drawing animation
The traditional method in which
there is a drawing for each frame.
The short film “Side effects” shows
how an empath helps people and
carries their burdens. Feelings
such as sadness, anger or despair
Click on the image to play the are represented by the black colour
shortfilm “Side Effects” that passes from them to the main
character.
We can see how the main character feels heavier and walks more slowly. There
are no dialogues, but the music matches perfectly with the scenes (it’s happy at
the beginning, sad in the middle and happy again in the end).
Sequence, scene and shot
Using the previous shortfilm, we are going to learn this technical vocabulary.
Starting with the smallest part:
● A shot is a single continuous angle of view that probably only shows one part
of the action at the scene.
○ Every time there is a cut in the film, it is a different shot.
Wide shot High angle shot Insert shot
Sequence, scene and shot
● A scene is a unit of story that takes place at a specific location and time. If
one of these changes, you have a new scene.
○ For example, the scene of the bridge where the empath meets the suicidal girl. It is formed by
five shots.
● A sequence is a complete "chapter" of the story.
○ In a typical story, we have the beginning, the middle and the end. Three sequences.
Flipbook
A flip book, flipbook, flicker book, or
kineograph is a booklet with a series of
images that very gradually change from
one page to the next, so that when the
pages are viewed in quick succession,
the images appear to animate by
simulating motion or some other change.
Painting techniques
Charcoal, oil painting, paint on glass… you can use many different techniques
and each one provides a different nuance to the film.
Charcoal, for example, is dirty and blurry and leaves a footprint when erased.
William Kentridge Gaku
charcoal charcoal
Painting techniques
Look at these wet techniques, the effects are very interesting!
Paint on glass Oil paint
Cutout animation
Cutout animation is a form of stop-motion animation using flat characters, props
and backgrounds cut from materials such as paper, card, stiff fabric or
photographs. It is the technique that Lotte Reiniger used.
This video clip has a dreamy
atmosphere, like the song it
goes along with.
Dustin O’Halloran - Opus 23
animation by Marco Morandi
Clay
Clay (arcilla) and modelling clay (plastilina o pasta para modelar) give us many
options, we can shape them into anything we want. If we add voices and sound
effects, we can bring our sculptures to life!
Strong boi! Factual conversation
Guldies Jan Svankmajer
Lego and other puppets
We can animate anything with the stop-motion animation.
The video from the left was created by a 14-year old who was hired by the
producers of the Spiderman movie. The one from the right, by me and my
cousin in 2014 :)
Spiderman’s trailer by LegoMe_The El poder de la imaginación
OG Neo Palacín y Alejandro Millán
Extra: the beginnings of Disney
Here you can see the animation process from the Disney studios in 1938.
What parts of the process can you identify?
Who carried out the different tasks?
