Research
This tab will show the research I did throughout my project that helped finalise the basis and planning of my project.
Brief history of animation styles
This document goes over the history of animation and how it can be utilised in the modern day. Throughout this document I have purposely avoided notes on digital animation, my reasoning is it is something I'd struggle to achieve at home or in college and it is an animation style with a long history and one I have little interest in. My aim is to find every animation type and briefly describe how it's made and when it was first utilised.
The earliest and arguably most primitive form of animation is the Zoetrope. The Zoetrope was first invented in 1832, it worked by having two discs divided into various sections, the discs would have pictures drawn on and when spun it would create a form of animation. Around that same time the phenakistoscope and praxinoscope were created. A phenakistoscope is essentially a flat version of a zoetrope. The difference between a zoetrope and a praxinoscope is a praxinoscope utilises mirrors to showcase the animation instead of slits. In 1868 John Barnes Linnet would create the first ever flip book under the name kineograph. This consisted of a series of drawings taped together in a stiff book, when the pages are flicked one by one it would create animation. Around this time the kaleidoscope was also invented, this is a very simple form of animation that simply worked by having two or more mirrors slide into a telescope type object. By using a dial, you could move the mirrors making for abstract patterns that move in a smooth way. In some ways live action video could be considered an offshoot of animation. In the late 1800s Thomas Edison created the kinetoscope, these worked by someone essentially taking many pictures per second and then feeding them into the machine to display each picture at a fast frame rate. This created live action movement simulating a live action film but technically being animation. (Animation techniques Steve Robert's pg. 12-14) (the animation bible Maureen Furness, pg. 126-127)
Melbourne cooper would create the first ever stop motion film in 1899 titled "Matches an appeal". It would be another 6 years before animation was used again in film, stop motion effects would be utilised in the live action movie "The electric hotel" to create moving objects like self-tying shoes. James Stuart is considered the first person to utilise hand drawn animation in a movie, his 1906 film "humorous phases of funny faces" utilises various 2D scenes such as a man puffing smoke. Another film considered the first 2d animated picture is Emile Cohl's "fantasmagorie" which features much more smooth animation. (Woodcock, 2023)
In 1910 Ladislaw Starewicz essentially made the first stop motion puppets by using dead beetles. He cut up the beetles' body parts and would restick them using wax, he made the beetles look anthropomorphic and made a stop motion movie about the beetles fighting over a queen beetle. The film was so realistic for the time that London thought they were real beetles trained by Russian scientists. John Randolph bray would create the cel technique of 2D animation. Cel animation is essentially drawing over a box producing light. Because the box produced light it made paper tranparent meaning you could look at your last drawing and make the next one similar, while still adding subtle differences to produce the animated movement. (The world history of animation, Stephen cavalier pgs. 46-50, 58)
In 1914 Winsor McCay would make a huge step forward for the animation industry with his animated film "Gertie the dinosaur" the film featured heavily detailed backgrounds, very realistic movement and his character also had a very clear and exaggerated personality. While aspects of this film had been done before, it had never been seen to this scale or professionalism. In 1916 the Fleischer brothers created the famous technique rotoscoping. Rotoscoping is a technique that utilises live action footage, turning that footage into frame-by-frame screenshots and then drawing over each frame. Rotoscoping is often utilised in 2D animation as it helps create much more natural and realistic movement, but rotoscoping can also be its own unique art style. In 1925 Willis O'Brien would create the movie "the lost world" it was the first full feature length movie to feature stop motion. It involved explorers finding a hidden world with dinosaurs. The plot and style of filmmaking would later be utilised for the 1933 movie King Kong. (The world history of animation, Stephen cavalier pgs. 61-62, 66)
While Paul Terry's 1928 film "dinner time" was the first animated feature to contain audio, Walt Disney's "steamboat willy" was the first high quality animation to feature audio. Paul Terry has admitted many times in the past that his animations were cheaply produced and didn't match the quality of Disney "Disney is the Tiffany's in this business, and I am the Woolworth's.". In 1930 Berthold Bartosch would make the short film "the idea". This movie utilised a unique form of animation using cut out paper figures against a backdrop and using those figures to create animation. In 1933 Alexander Alexieff, due to limited resources, would create a new type of animation known as pinboard animation. The technique utilised a pin screen device made of 100s of pins that could easily slide in and out of the board. The surface utilised a grid structure that made an infinitely flexible surface shape that could produce relief shadows images, especially when lit from the side. In 1936 Len Lye would create a new animation style known as direct animation, the process involves taking a film strip and scratching or painting the animation straight onto the strip. In 1937 Disney would release the first animated feature film, known as "Snow White" the film encountered many budget issues and took a very long time to finish, due to Walt Disneys perfectionism on its emotional moments. (The world history of animation, Stephen cavalier pg. 97, 104, 109, 116, 118-120) (Woodcock, 2023)
In 1952 Norman McLaren would pioneer the animation technique pixilation, the technique works by using actors as if they're puppets in stop motion, making the actors slightly move for each frame. In 1958 Robert Breyer created the animated short "A man with his dog out for air" the movie was an interesting style of 2D animation as while it was a standard animation, the style was incredibly simplistic only using a couple haphazardly drawn lines for each frame to give the basic impression of the image. In 1973 the first Lego stop motion short would be released titled "Journey to the moon". Lego stop motion is a stop motion style that utilises Lego style building blocks as its puppets. In 1976 Coraline Leaf would create the animation technique known as sand animation. Sand animation utilises sand poured onto a lightbox, the animator would then remove sand from areas and create a picture, they would then slightly change the picture to create each frame of the animation. Coraline Leaf would also popularise the animation technique glycerine (also known as paint on glass). Paint on glass animation works by using slow drying oil paints on a sheet of glass. Will Vinton would create the first feature length Claymation film in 1985. Claymation is a type of animation where the models are made with easily moveable clay. Similar to stop motion the animator will mould the clay slightly for each frame to create movement. In 1997 trey parker and Matt stone would popularise cut paper animation, in which paper 2D dolls are created and moved around a 2d backdrop. In 2008 Blu Muto would create an ambitious animated movie solely by painting each frame on a wall. In the age of Videogames, a new form of animated storytelling was created known as machinima. A machinima is where players of a videogame will make stories or skits within the game engine, this is often done with modifications to the game. (The world history of animation, Stephen cavalier pgs. 303, 171, 228, 258-259, 309, 378, 398) (Woodcock, 2023) (Priyanka Sakpal, 2020)
After finishing research on the history of animation, I've had a lot of time to think about what styles exist and which ones I may utilise in the future. I have decided I will not utilise zoetrope's, phenakistoscopes, praxinoscopes or kaleidoscopes as they are very limiting in length and detail. I am considering making a flipbook as I think it could be a very fun challenge and would have a slightly longer length the other early uses of animation. I will unlikely use any forms of 2D animation, due to it being one of the lengthiest animation processes and my lack of skill in art. I may, however, utilise a small amount of 2d animation or rotoscoping to create a fight involving stick figures as that would be a much easier animation to create. I will not utilise pinboard animation due to the lengthy process and I will not utilise direct animation as it isn't very applicable to the modern era. I will also not utilise pixilation animation as I will already be using live action footage, and I don't believe pixilation animation fits with my project. I will not utilise sand or paint on glass animation due to the lengthy process and I will also not utilise machinima style animation as I don't believe it will fit in my project. I am planning to use many forms of stop motion in my project, I plan to utilise cut paper animation, Lego stop motion and possibly a simplified version of Claymation. I will not utilize puppet animation as puppets are expensive and hard to make. I may also utilise these other animation styles in the future for another project.
Planning the project
When doing fight choreography, it is very important that eye contact is almost always utilised, eye contact allows the actors to more easily predict their next moves and understand what's happening. Another important factor is practice, actors should have lots of practice with the choreography, starting off slow and then slowly speeding up once the actors are comfortable. Eye contact, Look at the target, preparation, action and reaction are the laws of choreography. (unarmed stage combat, Philip d'Orléans pg. 46-48)
The actor must stay mentally calm through every fight and focus on being safe. With that said, the actor must also make the audience believe they're the opposite. As an actor you must embody the character without being them, you must think of all the intricacies to act. Moving frighteningly fast to show your blind rage but never getting too close and never landing a hard hit or a hit in a dangerous place. You must also know how to control your sounds; you must be breathing heavily or fast to show the fear or strength coming from the character. You must grunt and make sounds as you try to hit punches or as you take hits. Another important thing is to always remember where your character has got injured, if you or the actor put force on an injury (or make it look like they have) you must remember to have a more extreme reaction to your weak spot. (unarmed stage combat, Philip d'Orléans Pg. 78-85)
The first animation i will do will be cut out paper animation. I will create this by first getting black card material. I will then draw on paper the template for my puppets and their limbs. I will then tape aluminium wire on the backside of my puppets. Finally, i will animate my cut outs on top of blue paper on top of a light box. Tape tripod to floor to ensure it doesn't move and block out all light relying only on studio lamps. (Eyf, 2022)
To animate my Lego animation, I will utilise a dark room and create a small Lego brick-built set. I will have a small lamp shining over the top of the set to give the scene a controlled light. I will then move Lego minigures around the set taking a picture of each frame I make. I will utilise a taped tripod similar to cut paper animation and I may use a blu tac to keep the Lego steady.
Sources:
Museums Victoria Collections. (n.d.). Philosophical (Optical) Toys - The Details. [online] Available at: https://collections.museumsvictoria.com.au/articles/2908.
Gibbs, M. (2012). How Kaleidoscopes Work. [online] HowStuffWorks. Available at: https://science.howstuffworks.com/kaleidoscope.htm.
Woodcock, E. (2023). The Evolution of Animation: From Classic Cartoons to Modern CGI. [online] www.squideo.com. Available at: https://www.squideo.com/the-evolution-of-animation-from-classic-cartoons-to-modern-cgi.
Cavalier, S. (2011). The world history of animation. Berkeley, Ca: University Of California Press.
Roberts, S. (2021). Animation Techniques. The Crowood Press.
Furness, M. (2008). The Animation Bible. Maureen Furness.
Priyanka Sakpal (2020). 30 DIFFERENT TYPES OF ANIMATION STYLES AND TECHNIQUES. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@priyankaradiancevision/30-different-types-of-animation-styles-and-techniques-8abbb4086028 [Accessed 2 April 2025].
d'Orleans, P. (2021). Unarmed Stage Combat. The Crowood Press.
Eyf, E. (2022). A Brief Guide To Cut-Out Animation With Examples. [online] https://buzzflick.com/. Available at: https://buzzflick.com/cut-out-animation/.
Songel, A. (2020). 7 Easy Tips for Making Brickfilm LEGO Stop Motion Videos. [online] Mysite. Available at: https://www.ananimates.com/post/7-easy-tips-for-making-brickfilm-lego-stop-motion-videos [Accessed 13 May 2025].