How animation has never failed to grab attention

Do you ever amazed where animation came from and where is it headed. There is no archaeological journey needed, we will bring it to you. 

Well basically, animation is display of graphics in rapid succession to form a video. You click pictures or make paintings in successive movement and put them on slideshow at a suitable speed, that’s it. It’s so easy to understand but is it that easy to make? Animation has been a time consuming process even after the introduction of CGI-Computer Graphic Interface. It has mostly been successful in capturing attention because there is always something new happening to the technology. If we have a look at how animation has evolved from paper cut outs to CGI based animation we will realize that this field of entertainment always had something new to offer to the customers. 

In 1918 the first animated feature film El Apóstol was launched. It was an Argentine silent film made by Quirino Cristiani which we cannot watch today because its lost. 

In 1926 the German animated feature film The Adventures of Prince Achmed was made by Lotte Reiniger. It is the oldest animated feature film which is available today. Reiniger’s this film is silent and made with the help of paper cutouts. Her art style, which was similar to Ravana Chhaya and Chinese shadow puppet show, was different than other animators of her time and that made her stand out. By the way, that is a check with a queen. 

Meanwhile 1920s in USA, Walt Disney, probably the only animator you know (apologies if we just underestimated you) and his business partner Iwerks were struggling as animators. Disney’s Laugh-O-Grams could not provide him enough income and due to some affairs he ended up moving to Hollywood even though most of the cartoon industry was settled in New York. There, he was lucky to find a suitable distributor for Alice’s Wonderland. 

There was nothing that was stopping Disney now and his brain was craving for improvement and that attend to the production of the first sound and color animated feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.

These were not the only forms of animation. Stop motion animation existed and was being enjoyed too. The technique was basic. It was a series of graphics in succession of physical objects in the physical world. Toys and clay sculptures were used for this. 

The above gif is from Pingu, an example of stop motion clay animation. It was composed from 1986 to 2000 for Swiss television. Later its distribution got wide and that is why you might be familiar to it. Noot Noot. 

Things got even better when computer animation was introduced. Experimental clips and computer generated experimental graphics were produced and finally the first computer generated 3D animated movie was made by Pixar Animation Studios for Walt Disney Pictures in 1995. It was called Toy Story. Since then improvements and updates in CGI- Computer graphics Interface animation does not seem to have an end. Even minute details are being taken care of by big production houses for making it look as realistic as it can. 

Merida‘s hair in the movie Brave took approximately three years to look like it did. It turned out to be beautiful know? These drastic improvements in the technology are making us expect more and more from this technique and we might actually end up with totally generic animated works in future. Loads of studios today are involved in 3D animation including our organization Visual Connections.