|
Many different types of images and objects can be animated, including hand-drawn illustrations, paper cutouts, puppets, clay figures, still photographs of live actions, and computer graphic images. All of these forms of animation are based on single frame recording techniques.
It is often helpful to distinguish between flat and plastic animation, as well as between film and digital animation. Flat animation is two-dimensional (2-D) and includes such techniques as cel animation, in which individual illustrations are drawn for almost every frame animation, encompasses the use of three-dimensional figures, such as puppets or clay figures. Single-frame recording of people and three-dimensional objects is sometimes called pixilation. In a sense, all of these techniques or types of animation elevate the animator to the status of director, editor, and scenic designer.
Flat animation refers to the recording of two-dimensional images using single-frame recording techniques. One of the most common forms of flat animation is cel animation. Cels are individual sheets of clear acetate on which images can be drawn or painted, usually with ink and opaque watercolors. Cels are perforated with holes at one end so they can be inserted over the pages of a movable table, called an animation rostrum, for precise registration and framing. An animation stand consists of a rostrum, lights, and a movable camera platform.
Cel animation gives the animator or graphic artist complete control over the design of the image. However, drawing each frame individually on a cel can be quite time-consuming and expensive, so many shortcuts are used to conserve time. Because cels are transparent, they can be sandwiched together to combine images drawn on different cels. A background cel can be used over and over again while changes are made in the placement of foreground objects, eliminating the need to redraw the background for each frame, Individual movements of characters’ feet, hands, and mouths can be repeated or recycled with different bodies and backgrounds.
Another commonly used technique for cutting costs and increasing cel- animation efficiency is called rotoscoping. In rotoscoping, a sequence is first filmed in live action; the individual frames of the motion picture are then projected on a cel, and an outline of the objects in the frame is drawn and hand-colored. Subjects are normally photo-graphed against a contrasting background so that outlines are clearly visible. The drawn outlines are then colored like standard hand-drawn animation cels. Although rotoscoping makes the production of cels more efficient, it often produces images that are less aesthetically pleasing than hand-drawn animation. Motion capture (MoCap) takes rotoscoping one step further.
Hand-drawn illustrations are not the only flat image that can be animated. Paper or fabric cutouts and still photographs can also be set into motion. A paper cutout of a person or animal can be constructed so that it has moving body parts. It can then be placed over a variety of backgrounds so that it seems to come alive and move on the screen. A flicker effect can also be achieved by recording frames of colored paper in between frames of specific photographs or illustrations. The change in photographs can be timed to the beat of music. In this way what might otherwise be a boring presentation of static images acquires kinetic energy. Still photographs and printed illustrations, such as magazine images, can be animated through single-frame techniques, such as those used by Frank Mouris in his famous Frank Film (1978). Mouris’s film is as much a feat of optical printing, discussed later in this chapter, as of animation plastic animation refers to the animation of many different types of 3-D figures and objects using single-frame recording techniques. Puppets, clay figures, miniature vehicles, and even still frames of live action can be animated.
Although hand puppets and marionettes are usually recorded in live action so that the mouth and body movements can be synchronized to speech or music, it is possible to animate more rigid puppets and clay figures by moving them slightly between frames.
Unlike the animator of flat, tow-dimensional characters, however, the plastic animator must create a miniature three-dimensional world of sets and props within which puppets and figures will move. Careful attention must be paid to minute details. Backgrounds must be painted to scale, and everything must be proportional to the size of the figures. The camera is usually placed in a horizontal position with respect to the scene rather than above it, as with an animation stand. Miniature vehicles, such as cars and trucks, can also be animated through single-frame techniques. Sometimes these animated miniatures are used as a substitute for more costly and dangerous stunts and special effects in live-action films.
An animated three-dimensional figures sequence is shot much like a live-action scene, except that the pictures are recorded frame-by-frame. More than one camera is frequently used so that action does not have to be repeated for different shots, as in single-camera live-action recording.
Human figures can also be animated by a technique known as pixilation. Images of human beings can be pixilated by recording one frame, moving the image, and then recording another frame. Pixillation has been used in many films to animated images of human beings so that they seem to perform extraordinary feats. In Norman McLaren’s famous film Neighbors (1955), two neighbors fight over their adjoining territory. This clever film offers a symbolic treatment of war by presenting a unique abstract image of human behavior and actions. In one scene, the human figures hover across the ground with no apparent movement of their limbs. McLaren achieved this image by photographing single frames of his subjects leaping into the air. Only the apex of each jump was recorded, making the people seem to hover over the ground.
|
Participants