Historical Techniques of animation

Historical Techniques of Animation

Magic Lantern

This is an early type of projector, mainly from the 17^th century the magic lantern, also known as the lantern magica was commonly used for entertainment purposes. In the 19^th century it was also used for educational aid. Many small versions were mass produced as toys.  “The magic lantern used a concave mirror in back of a light source to direct as much of the light as possible through a small rectangular sheet of glass” (Wikipedia)

Example:

Phenakistiscope

This was regarded the first from of moving images, it was out version of a ‘GIF’ animation which we now see on a daily basis, as they both work on a continuous loop, they are a spinning cardboard disk connected vertically to a handle, when it builds speed, you can see the images move

Example:

Zoetrope

The zoetrope is a circular device with pictures on the bottom layer which create the illusion, on the top layer there are slits so you can see inside the zoetrope while it is spinning this enables you to see the animation

Example:

Current Techniques of Animation

Claymation

Claymation is a type of animation that is very popular and is used in some very popular shows such as Wallace and Gromit. Claymation depends on the character and or background being malleable, meaning it can be shaped in different ways easily. This is done by the maker moves the character slightly and takes a picture, then moves them slightly again and take another picture; in a professional production the average amount of shots per second is 24 frames, this ensures that the movement is very fluent.

Example:

Pixilation

This is the process is very similar to Claymation, in the process where an actual person would move slightly and take a picture, and again, this will be put together at again 24 frames per second.