History of 2D Animation

History of 2D Animation

Persistence of Vision

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The persistence of vision is an theory based up the idea that after viewing an image our eyes (specifically the retina); will retain an image. It is said that the eye will keep/retain 1/25 of a second (0.04 seconds) at a time, which is an explanation of how we perceive motion. This means that no matter what we see, it is a blend of what just happened and what is currently happening.  So if we have an animation that uses 25fps (frames per second) our brain will not be able to tell that there are 25 separate images , which creates the illusion of continuous movement.  This theory is one of the possible explanations to how our eye creates the illusion of movement.  

A good example of this, is when you rub two coins together. If done quickly, it creates the illusion that there are 3 coins. This is because our brain only see's 1/25 of a second so when we see both coins move, our brain displays one of the coins in the middle during the movement,then blends them together. Creating the illusion of 3 coins.

Zoetrope

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The zeotrope/ "Wheel of life" is a 19th century toy that demonstrates how our retina perceives images. The device is a cylinder, with an open top,  that rests upon a iron pole that is connected to a wooden base.In the drum are a series of images, the drum itself is covered in vertical slits. So when it is spun quickly by hand the images inside blend together, creating the illusion of movement. The faster the drum is spun, the smoother the image looks. The images were hand drawn on paper, which would line the bottom of the drum. The slots would at equal distances so that they lined up with the image adjacent to it.  

It was invented in 1834 by William Horner who first called the device a "Daedalum". It was based of the the phenakistoscope but was more effective as more than one person could use it.  Although once the praxinoscope was invented in 1877, the zeotrope had lost interest and was no longer used.

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Phenakistoscope

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The phenakistoscope, like all motion picture devices used the persistence of vision theory to create an illusion of movement. The phenakiscope was a device that had 2 discs that were mounted one above the other. The first disc had slot around the edge (like a zoetrope), the second one had all the drawings on it. When the slots from the first layer were viewed through a mirror, the drawings appeared to move. Because the slits were reflected it stopped the image from blurring so you could see a quick succession of images that appeared as one smooth motion. 

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The idea of this device was first recognized by a Greek mathematician Euclid, although in 1829 the idea was created by Joseph Plateau.

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Kinetoscope

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He had took inspiration from Eadward Muybridge and used it in his work. His development into the field of 2D animation was the kinetoscope.

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The final product was said to have been completed in 1892. The kinetoscope was described to be an upright cabinet that had the following dimensions: 18 in x 27 in x 4 ft high. On top of the box was a peephole slot with a magnifying lens so the general public could see the film. In the box a long band that was approximately 50ft was wrapped around a series of spools. Under the film was a lamp and the film, between the lamp and film was a revolving shutter containing a narrow slit.  So as each frame came under the lens, the shutter created a flash of light so the frame appeared froze. Then if you put together the series of frozen images and a moving image appears due to the perception of the human eye.

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The peep show was put in penny arcades and allowed only one person to watch short films at a time. This would be popular, until the Lumiere brothers would bring out their device. The cinematograph which was a camera/projector and allowed big crowds to watch films at a time.

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Here are some films that were produced on a kinetoscope:

Mutoscope

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The Mutoscope was another early motion picture device. Like Edison's Kinetoscope only one person could view a film at a time. The device was patented in late 1894, by Herman Casler. To use the machine you would insert a coin, you would then turn the handle/crank on the side which would cause the pictures inside the device to flick from one to another. The boundaries of for how many pictures you saw a second was from 16 - 18 FPS. Because you would be looking at these many images per second, it created the illusion of movement. Here is an example of somebody using a mutoscope. 

In England the device was known as " What the Butler saw" as the device acted as a peep hole and acted as if you were putting your eye through a keyhole. The name was based off a film produced on the mutoscope, also known as "What the Butler saw". Each film would last around about a minute. To build up a film, contact prints from 68mm film would be on 800 cards. Each card contain one photograph/still which would be in high def. The reel of cards would then be put inside the Mutoscope; in order to unlock the reel a coin would be needed.

 Because the machines would be used alot, the flicker that moved the cards would damage the stills. So the device wasn't that effective.  Here is one of the films an 19th century human may well of witnessed on a Mutoscope , "Late one night in the bedroom" :

Many films produced were said the be of erotic nature, there was over 300 films produced for a mutoscope, but like other early motion picture device this also stopped be popular and devices were often thrown off piers when deemed worthless.

Early Pioneers in Animation

George Melies

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George Melies, who was a magician, was at the Lumiere brothers screening in the grand cafe. He tried to buy a cinematograph for 10,00 francs from the Lumieres. Although they viewed Melies as a threat so the offer was denied. Instead of buying the french device, Melies bought an english device called the, Animatograph. He then modified the device using his knowledge of mechanics and reversed the devices process to make his own camera; and it only cost 1,000 francs. A couple of weeks after the screening, Melies had turned himself into a filmmaker and showcased his films during his magic act. 

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In 1896, whilst out filming the film in his camera jammed after shooting a bus coming out a of tunnel. After sorting the jam, he began to crank his camera again, although the bus had gone and a hearse replaced the bus. After the shoot, he developed the film and witnessed that the bus had turned into the hearse as if it was a special effect. Melies had also did this to turn men into women, on screen. This technique got given the name of a "jump cut" which Melies started to use in his work. It seem that his favorite time to use this was for appearing and disappearing people. I.E dropping a smoke bomb and poof, your gone. Here is an example of this being used in his film, "The Temptation of St Anthony"

Although his films were shot at the same angle and appeared more as a stage show, in turns out that after all his films/animations he never moved the camera once. In one of Melies famous movies, " A trip to the Moon" a series of pulleys and mechanics were made to make a rocket go into the eye of the moon. If he decided to move the camera instead; it could've saved a lot of time and ease. There are also lots of effects that we cannot explain today. 

Winsor Mccay

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Winsor McCay was born in Canada in the year 1867.  Throughout his life he always had an interest in drawing. After leaving school at the age of 21, he went to work as a poster and billboard artist for the National Printing Company of Chicago. He worked on tasks such as producing posters for circuses and other promotional items. After 2 years McCay began working as a cartoonist for the Cincinnati Commercial Tribune. This was the point in his life where he began to create a reputation.  In 1903 McCay produced a comic strip called "Tales of The Jungle Imps by Felix Fiddle"

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After trying several times, Mccay produced a comic strip called "Little Sammy Sneeze":

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After this, he created "Dream of a Rarebit Fiend"

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These two strips were created for different companies, the editor of the Herald made him use a fake name when producing "Dream of a Rarebit Fiend" and used the alias of "Silas".  His next works was the "Little Nemo in Slumberland" which was eventually turned into an animation. When producing his work, he was an incredibly fast drawer. this was known as " Speed Drawing". After producing hundreds of cartoons  and 8 years of work ,McCay left the newspapers.

Whilst working for someone else, William Hearst, McCay started experimenting with animated pictures. His first animated picture was made using the characters from "Little Nemo":

Winsor was incredibly talented as he had to draw out each image individually. Not only did he do this, he also stretched out characters which was very risky as no one had tried doing this before. Although, it was a success and captivated audiences. The next film he produced as "How a Mosquito Operates"

And in 1914 McCay created "Gertie The Dinosaur" Which showed Winsor McCay interacting with Gertie and was the first character not based on one of Winsor's cartoons. The interactions included such things as McCay asking Gertie to move her left foot; the animation would then show her completing the action. 

Each film had more than 10,00 drawings with were all drawn by McCay. All the backgrounds and other items in the frame had to be copied as there was no way of keeping them. Though his films were big hits, he had to spend his time working on cartoons as he was told by his boss, who was still William Hearst. The last two animations McCay produced before his death, of a stroke , in 1934 were "The Sinking of the Lusitania" and "The Flying House".  "The Sinking of the Lusitania" was one of the first films to use the cel animation process, where the animation was drew on a celluloid sheet/ raw film which could duplicate frames. This meant you could use the same background without redrawing it.

Lotte Reinger

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Lotte Reinger was another animation artist who used black and white silhouettes in her animations; which often consisted of interpretations on myths and fairy tales. As a teenager, she discovered a hobby for cinema and took inspiration from George Melies.

Reinger was German and specialized in her silhouette animation, which she did by inventing a technique of cutting out sheets of lead and cardboard. These could then be placed on a light which would enhance the silhouette style nature. Each figure had a series of pivots, which meant the arms and legs could move separately to the body. To create the illusion of movement, Reinger would put the figure in one position and take a photo, then move the figure slightly and take another photo. All the photos combined created the illusion of movement. Here is a video which demonstrates the technique Reinger used to create her animations:

One of Reinger most well known works, is her feature length film "The Adventures of Prince Achmed which was released in 1926. The film was in production for 3 years from 1923 - 1926 and used 24fps (frames per second). Because the film was 65 minutes long, that would mean that 93, 600 photographs were took to make the  overall film sequence. (65 in seconds = 3900. 3900 x 24 = 93,600).  This was the first full length animation before Disney s "Snow White",  the film was based on  the book "The Arabian Night". The film follows the story of Prince Achmed who is tricked by a sorcerer to mount a flying horse; over the course of the film he joins forces with Aladdin and battles several mythical creatures. He is a snippet from the film: 

After the great success of her first feature, she created a second "Doctor Dolittle and his Animals " which consisted of 3 shorts. The films follows the journey of Dolittle and his acts of good nature of in the continent Africa. During her life time she also created a whole series of short films, such as "Hansel and Gretel", "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Aladdin and the Magic Lamp". Here are some clips which come from these films:

Lottes work was groundbreaking, she had incredible skills with scissors. Unfortunate Reinger died in 1981 but her work didn't go unnoticed.  Her work created inspiration for many animators in the current day. In fact "The tale of 3 Brothers" scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows took inspiration from Reingers technique. In fact the animation supervisor, Dale Newton states "Newton: One of the things that got me excited about it in the early stages was the question of what it should look like. We knew it was going to be stylised, but not exactly how. The producers came along with the suggestion of creating something in the vein of Lotte Reiniger, an Austrian-born animator working in the 1930s and 50s doing silhouette style animations. "

Walt Disney

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Walt Disney was one of the biggest pioneers in the cartoon industry. His full name is Walter Elias Disney but was shortened down to Walt Disney. He was born in 1901, in the state of  Illinois and had 4 siblings, 3 brothers and a sister.  As a child he would draw, paint and sell pictures to his neighbors and family.  Disney went to McKinley School which was in Chicago and specialized in drawing and photography.  He was also a cartoonist for the school his cartoons focused on topics relating to WW1, he also took up night classes at a local art institute.  At the age of 16 Disney dropped out of school to try and join the army, but because he was underage he was rejected. Instead he spent a year in France, driving an ambulance for the Red Cross.

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When he returned from France, his brother Roy got Disney a job at the Pesmen-Rubin Art Studio, were he met cartoonist Ubbe Eart Iwwerks or Ub Iwerks for short. To earn some more money, Disney worked for the Kansas City Film Ad Company. The adverts used the animation technique of cutout animation. Although after readings "Animated Cartoons: How They Are Made, Their Origin and Development" Disney started to consider using the cel animation technique rather that the cutout method. This was the process where you actually drew onto the frames of film, you could also draw on paper and copy it across onto the film.

From this he opened his first company and started producing his first cartoon series "Laugh O Grams" with his employee Fred Harman. Because of the success who opened his own studio which was also called "Laugh O Gram". He then hired Ub Iwerks and a series of others to work for him. 

Although after becoming bankrupt, Disney, Roy and Iwerks relocated to Hollywood where they began the Disney Brothers Studio. During this they invented a character called Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. They were distributed by Margaret Winkler who was from New York and they earned around £1,500 from each short. Although years later, it happened that Winkler had took the rights of Oswald the Lucky Rabbits and all the staff apart from Ub Iwerks. Here is a clip from the first Disney Film:

After this event, Disney needed a new character, this was where Mickey Mouse came in. The first animations to feature Mickey were the silent films "Plane Crazy" and "The Gallopin' Gaucho" 

After this came the world famous, "Steamboat Willie". Mickeys voice was actually Walt Disney and was animated by Ub Iwerks and others. This was the first debut of Mickey as the other 2 shorts were not distributed. It is also said to be the first cartoon that has synchronized sound. 

For the rest of Disney s life he continued to make animations using the cel technique. Creating other characters such as: Donald Duck, Pluto and Goofy. In 1937 the first ever full length animated film (not included Reingers film) film was released "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs". There were also more feature films such as Dumbo and Bambi. To this day the Disney franchise carries on, with living memory to Walt Disney who sadly died of Lung Cancer in 1966. Although Disney no longer focuses on just animation, it is still the core to the company. 

Development in 2D Animation

Over the years there has been a huge rise in cartoons. The first cartoons that used old school animation techniques ranged from the 1930 - 1990's. I will be looking at a variety of cartoons and creators across the years.

Walt Disney - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

In 1937 the first ever full length animated film (not included Reingers film) film was released. It was known as the first full length animation as it was a success, this was  "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".  This was created by Walt Disney productions, and was produced by Walt Disney. The content focused on Snow White living with Seven Dwarfs to avoid her evil step mother, the Queen.  The themes had lots of interaction with nature and focuses on how the innocent are targeted by the powerful. The target audience was for young children which was a new idea at the time, as the first animations focused on adult themes. This used the cel animation technique.

Walt Disney - Dumbo

Walt Disney also created Dumbo and released it in 1941 and was the 4th feature film by Disney. The content focused on a baby elephant who works in a circus, he is laughed at by his friends and his mother is locked up as she is thought to be mad. The themes also focus on those who are mocked to be successful and better off in the end.  This is also aimed at young children, like all animated movies released by Disney. 

Tom and Jerry

As television wasn't around at the time, short cartoons were often shown before feature length films. These shorts were often 5-10 minutes long. A good example of this was Tom and Jerry which was produced in the 40's by William Hana and Joseph Barbera. This focused on the combat between the mouse Jerry and the cat Tom.  The shorts follow the mishaps of the pair, such as playing with a fridge settings to form an ice ring. The two always fight and no blood is ever shown, although Tom has died a couple of times. The target audience was also aimed at children as is often shown on TV channels today.

Wacky Racers

Wacky Racers was another cartoon created by Hannah Barbara. The show focuses on the Villains who you love to hate, Dick Dastardly and Mutely. In every episode the pair try and fix the race so they win, but they lose every time and often come last. The same characters are used in every episode with some famous regulars being the "Captain Cavemen" team. The target audience is also children but is appreciated by older audiences today. 

Computer Based Animation

After the 1990's the use of computer animation started to be introduced. This was because early computers were becoming available to the public after the launch of the windows program. As early computers such as Omega and Atari were used for video games. Until other computers were used in universities as they were expensive.  This started to become popular because it wasn't easier to draw and create the characters, but the transferring and photographing of the drawings were easier to animate. As you could insert key frames between frames and the computer would do the animation for you.  

Black Cauldron

Early computer works such as the "Black Cauldron" could only use computer animation for title sequences as it was harder to reproduce other images. So only titles and backgrounds could be covered due to the technology of the time. Although, over the years home users started to develop programs that could out beat Disney in the animation industry.

The content was focused on an old novel which wasn't very popular at the time. The land was in the world of Prydain and focuses on a series of hero's that must stop the Horned king. This was aimed at children as it was a Disney creation. 

Lord of the Rings

Before the feature films created by Peter Jackson, and animated called Ralph Bakshi. He used the money from the success of one of his old animations, although the funding for the Lord of the Rings animation was too low, so the movie was cut short. With the animation ending at the start of the 3rd book. Which made the film a financial flop as fans were angry and claiming they were ripped off. Bakshi used a photographic technique to make the orcs look like real people and used early computer graphics. The target audience was aimed at fans of Tolkien's original work and young adults/adults. 

The Simpsons

Although the Simpsons has the 2D animation feel , it uses computer animation in order to produce it. This had a cinematic feel to it and all the different shots would need to be animated to make it look like one smooth flow. These days computers can be used to show the image from several camera angles without having to try and picture it in your mind. The Simpson’s pilot/first episode was first broadcast in December 1989, created by Matt Groaning, still produces new episodes to this day. The Simpsons first appeared as shorts in the Tracy Ullman Show in the late 80’s. The idea of making them yellow came from a colourist, Gyorgyi Peluce, which is unique to this TV Show. The show became fully digital in 1995. 

The show follows the family get up to all sorts of mishaps making the audience laugh along the way. The family is made up of: Homer (A bumbling husband), Marge (A caring housewife), and Bart (A kid who likes to create trouble, Lisa (The brains of the family), Maggie (A young infant) and the pets (Santa’s little helper and Snowball). The target audience for the Simpsons is aimed at adults although like many other animations has appeals to both younger and older audiences. So whilst a child may be interested in Homers mishaps, adults will appreciate the adult jokes that go over the children's minds.   

Family Guy

Family guy is a 2D animation that was created by Seth MacFarlane. It follows the adventures of the Griffin family which consists of: Peter Griffin (The father), Louis Griffin (The mother), Brian (The family dog), Meg (The unloved daughter), Stewie (An evil child with plans for world destruction) and Chris (The overweight son). The series’ first aired in 1999 and was once cancelled. This a great example of who computer animation allowed for creators to start using adult content in their animations. As in Family Guy the target audience is adults as there are several drug, sex and violence references. Which moved away from the child friendly, Disney animations. 

The show often gets pulled up for its cruel humor and plot lines for being controversial. A prime example of this was a recent plot line which involved the family, trying to get Jesus to lose his virginity. Which caused outrage by the christian community. There is also crossovers with over animations such as "The Simpsons".

Salad Fingers

Although animations do not need to be shown on TV or in Movies, they can be shown online for private audiences or for the public to see. A good example of this is a flash based animation called "Salad Fingers" which was created by David Firth, who also voices the animation. The animation follows a creepy character, Salad Fingers who is a thin, green and mentally crazed man who lives in a empty world.The target audience for this is young adults- adults who use the internet as the character maybe to creepy for younger audiences. Only 10 episodes were created and has been going for over 10 years from the production company Fat-Pie.

Genres of Animation
Animation is seen across a whole range of formats. These formats will often use a different range of time length depending on where it is being shown.

Cinema

One of the biggest genres in cinema is the animated section. Which the most common type of animation being 2D, although other techniques can be used such as claymation. This is mainly used in movies aimed for children and will range from the 90-120 minute mark. The quality of this animation is high as they will normally belong to a big franchise such as Disney or Dreamworks. Compared to TV, which has a longer running time overall (add up the episode lengths); the animation is more detailed. As for TV they batch produce episodes so scenes and themes are often repeated. As the audience, children, would not be aware of this. A good example of a 2D animation released in cinemas is "The Lion King" which is the 32nd film in the classic 2D animations Disney created:

The animation was released in cinemas in 1994 and went on to be turned into a musical, along with various other sequels and mini shots. It lasted for 89 minutes and was a highly detailed animation. Everything moved as if it was being shot on a camera. Compare this is a basic 2D animation for TV, the Lion King has a wider range of detail. Such as the backgrounds. It also uses various shades of colours and creates extra details such as shadows. Although the use of 2D animation in cinemas has seemed to drop over the years; as Disney switched the traditional method to computer based 3D animation.

Childrens TV

2D is more common in modern day TV than 2D is in modern films. Although the quality is not as good as those that were released in cinemas.As for TV they batch produce episodes so scenes and themes are often repeated. In order to view this animation you need to pay for a subscription service. These animations are often played on Cbeebies and various other childresn channels. As the audience, children, would not be aware of this. A good example of a 2D animation for children is "Pepper Pig":

The show has been running for over 11 years and has aired a total of around 209 animated episodes. With each episode lasting around 5 minutes long. This is common for childrens TV as they will be batched together with other episodes to fill a 30 minute slot. The techiques used are very basic compared to over methods and the animation is very simple to apply to children. As they appreciate the colourful vibe of bold and strong colors. Where as other ages would be more intrested in what is going on in the animation plot, rather than being amused by a talking pig. The charcthers used in 2D animation are often animals for children, as they can relate to them in an engaging way. Here is another exapmple of a 2D animation:

Note: This example used is for preschool children. 2D Animations aimed for older children are the first couple of seasons of Spongebob Squarepants which used the traditonal 2D method. This type of animation is inbetween the preschool-cinema styles and explores more themes than a younger audience:

Again, they chose to not use human characthers but instead a living sponge and a squirrel. They also use a lot of bright colors such as the bright green and blue and have lots going on screen to keep the children interested. For example the first thing we see is Spongebob running around trying to catch a jellyfish and fighting an oyster. These episodes are around 10-15 minutes long and will often put 2 episodes together to fill a 30 minute slot.

Music Video

This style of music video harnesses the idea using a series of images that are played together rapidly to form the illusion of movement. This is known as animation. Music videos can use a variety of animation techniques such as: cartoons, stop motion , computer generated, claymation and paper cut outs. Although in this example we are looking at 2D animation. This style of music video is often chosen when it is hard to replicate an idea in real life. This also allows the creator show of lots of flair and creativity as you can animate anything you like. This means that this style of music video can have cross links with other styles such as: Parody, Surrealist and Conceptual. Lets take a look at an animated music video:

"Feel Good Inc" by Gorillaz is an animated music video that has all the band animated as virtual people, it also used a mix of CG and 2D animation that intermingled the themes of political and social. As we see one of the members stand up above the rest with his megaphone whilst trying to wake up all the people who are half asleep. Which allow audiences to think deeper into the meaning of what appears to be a simple animation. This type of animation is commonly seen on TV or on the online format of Youtube.

The TV channel is would be shown on is MTV and other music channels. Whilst the viewer can watch a music video on Youtube at any time. The average time for an animated music video is between 3-5 minutes long. The quality will generally be of a high standard, as at the end of the day they are trying to sell a band. These animations are also alot darker and more complex , in terms of thoughts, compared to the animation seen in Cinemas and TV. This is because the animation is based towards an older audience; because they need to keep them entertained. Otherwise they will lose interest and not carry on watching.

Computer Games

Animation didn't have to just been seen for viewing. Audiences could interact with 2D animation in early 80's video games. The characters themselves were animated, every time they moved the legs would switch positions to make the character look like they were running.  Whilst around them the enemies would also move. Because it was a 2D platform game, they could only move up or down, diagonal or left to right.  The backgrounds would change for the different locations and 8 bit music could be heard in the background. Here is a clip from the Nintendo 2D game, Mario:

2D animation can also be seen in modern day app games. Instead of being a full AAA title, users can easily download an app and play a simple but addictive game. This is like the 2D platform games and can only move up, down, left and right.  These apps are generally free, compared to the bigger blockbuster games. Here is a clip from the app, worlds hardest game:

One of the first games to amaze audiences was the game Prince of Persia 2. Which recreated actually movement by doing research into how humans move. In the game users can fight with other NPCs (Non playable characters).  Other things that moved were platforms that could collapse and iron gates that would move up to let players through. Either way, this game was one of those that shocked the audience with the simple use of animation. Here is a clip of the game being played:  

Mobile Phones

As well on being devices that remain in one location. Animation can also be viewed on portable devices such as mobile phones and tablets. They are capable of going onto to websites and watching animation, see below, or having custom apps to which you can load an animation up. For instance on the app Crunchy Roll allows users to watch Japanese animation known as Anime. One of the animated series featured on the website is : "Parasyte -the maxim-". These style of sites are often free, although network or premium sites may charge a subscription to watch. Here is a link to the first episode of the series: http://www.crunchyroll.com/parasyte-the-maxim-/episode-1-metamorphosis-662583. Here is a link from youtube of the series:

Another app that can be downloaded to a mobile phone is BBC IPlayer. Although it is not fully known for its animation, some of the TV channels under the company will produce animated series. For instance the animated series "Charlie and Lola" is available to watch on the App. This animation is aimed at children and is often played on the CBBC TV channel as well as being available online on websites and apps. Here is a link to BBC Iplayers website,which is also an app , http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b007937m/charlie-and-lola-series-2-2-i-spy-with-my-little-eyes. Here is a clip from youtube of the series:

Websites

Animation can also be seen online on websites. One of the biggest websites for watching videos and clips is the online media service, Youtube. For instance if I wanted to watch a clip of Family Guy online I would simply type in Family Guy and the name of the clip. This will then loads a series of videos that are related to the search and I can watch the animation as I please. This is much different to the TV genre as a TV is scheduled in broadcasting. Here is a clip of Family Guy from Youtube:

Although any one can upload things to Youtube. By those who do not own the rights to the animation could get into legal trouble for breaking Copyright. Although, the clips are sometimes allowed aslong as the user is not making a profit from the views. TV companies that make the animations will normally set up a channel to upload clips for promotinal purposes. Other websites users can watch animations on are, Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo, BBC Iplayer,Netflix, Crunchy Roll, etc...

My Own Animation

For my own animation I want to do something similar to the Game of Thrones animation I made. This will harness the motion tween feature as the characters move through various backgrounds from the TV show. I want to start the animation with the Game of Thrones title screen and use a motion tween to a see a map of Westeros. I want to then use the zoom in technique to zoom into a location. In each location I will have a series of interactions with 2 characters on screen. I.E if I go to Winterfell. I could have a interaction of Theon Greyjoy chasing Bran and Hodor out of Winterfell. This would allow me to use text to show the dialogue between characters and using music and sounds from the show to make it sound and look great. After I have done an interaction in one location, I want to go back to the map to a new location. Some locations I am thinking of covering are: The Wall, Kings Landing, Winterfell and Essos.

Another idea I had. Was to have an everyday man who lives in a house on a hill , who goes to drive to work. When he faces various challenges on the roads, such as traffic jams and people running across the road. Until, he gets captured by aliens which take his car up with him in the tractor beams. The animation would end with the guy beating up the aliens and falling from the skies in his car.

End of Animation