Animation from the 1980s - Present Day

Animation 1980's - Present Day

Animation has changed considerably over the last thirty years due to advances in technology and software that's been produced and is now made readily available for animators all over the world.  This makes it easier for aspiring animators to experiment with their animations, it is also alot more affordable and accessible for people to create and release their own animations.  Another aspect of the change in animation is attitude, cartoons share some common traits but ever since the success of the US television show The Simpsons, cartoons seem to involve adult themes for example Larry in one episode alludes to be a transvestite. There is overtones of adult humour in cartoons everywhere today and its not seen necessarily as a bad thing.

The Simpsons

The Simpsons are created through cell based animation but not in the classical sense cell based animation rendered through computers and software.  According to The Simpsons' homepage the show is 'the longest-running scripted show in television history' The Simpsons was created by Matt Groening who first started out illustrating comic strips, perhaps his most famous being 'Life in Hell' these strips first featured in the Los Angeles Reader.  James L Brooks a well known american producer was working on the semi-successful 'Tracey Ullman Show'. He decided he wanted short animations to feature before and after the commercial breaks on this particular show. Brooks asked Groening if he would pitch an idea for a series of animated shorts, originally Groening was going to use his Life In Hell series and expand that into moving animation but Groening knew he would require the publication rights to his Life in Hell series from the LA Reader. While Groening sat in Brooks' lobby, he formulated an idea for these animations to be centered around a dysfunctional family, this family would become The Simpsons. The Simpsons is known for its tongue in cheek humor parodying american society, films, music, politics, media, internet and religion.  It was also voted the number one cartoon of all time by UK viewers in Channel 4's '100 greatest cartoons ever' poll. Since the shows launch in December of 1989 The Simpsons has broadcast a total of 510 episodes. The show has garnered controversy from broadcasting associations in other countries due to the stereotyping and at times "crude" humour that feature in the show. As a result other countries not as familiar with westernisation have sanctioned the show from being aired.

Ren and Stimpy

Ren and Stimpy paved the way for satirical shows like Beavis and Butthead and South Park and the chief writer/animators Allan Neuwirth and John Kricfalusi brought in the grotesque close up technique using different colours and hues this set a trend for later animations a direct example would be Spongebob Squarepants, which use that same technique occasionally to emphasize the grotesqueness of a situation. During the production stages the creator of the show John Kricfalusi emphasised that they worked extensively in the layout side of the production, especially the story boards which is said to have helped in the post-production stages helping them incorporate ideas previously discussed during focus groups their production team held. The 'Ren and Stimpy Show' was first produced by Kricfalusi's own animation studio production company  Spümcø. For the first two seasons aired from 1991-1993 on Nickelodeon alongside late night re-runs of 'Doug' and 'Rugrats'.

Kricfalusi had made an agreement with the board of directors that in exchange for some heartwarming episodes he could "make a few crazy ones". One Kricfalusi was dropped by Nickelodeon due to irreconsilable differences the instiution moved the show from Spümcø to Nickelodeon's newly found subsidiary Games Animation. The show ran for another three years but soonafter critics found the original flare that set the tone for the Ren and Stimpy Show had declined. The show's planned programming came to an end around christmas 1995. 

 

Beavis and Butthead

Beavis and Butthead are two hand drawn slacker adolescent animated characters created by the chief animator/writer of the show Mike Judge (creator of 'King of The Hill' the longest running animated primetime programme third to 'South Park' and 'The Simpsons). Mike Judge is known for using his animations as a vehicle for his satirical criticism of society. The characters originated from a short movie Judge created in 1992 'Frog Baseball'. After producers from MTV seen the short they contacted Judge and asked if he'd be interested in creating a series for the institution. The characters live in the town of Highland Beavis and Butthead are two heavy metal loving juvenile idiots who are often bullied or embarressed by their counter-parts. Their cynical and immature lookout on life and looser lifestyles lead them to be bullied, disregarded and victims of their own stupidity. The show features music videos which both Beavis and Butthead criticize and often allude to the sexual, violent or lyrical content of the music videos they are seen to be watching. The show still maintains a cult following and is often used as an example of 'Generation X' comedy from the 1990s (Generation X the post WWII baby boom) it seems as though animation comedy for children and young adults has become more juvenile and almost annoying but one can see how the show would amuse people, the character flaws, the social commentary and the musical presence one can see how it would be amusing, the show largely appeals to a more alternative audience. The show was realeased in 1993 and continued to air till the late 1990s, Judge later produced a film around that time 'Beavis and Butthead do America'.



  

Our Stop Motion Short - The Table Slide

Today we (Jack, Ben, Leah and Me) created a stop motion short using pixilation techniques.  
Pixilation is a method of stop motion animation that is a frame by frame (step by step) process that involves live actors. Each frame requires the tiniest bit of movement, the tinier the movement the better the effect seems. 

We used iStopMotion at its default setting of 12 frames per second, we were careful to make sure the photos were taken with some precision. Once we were happy with the 9 second short Jack uploaded it from his computer to his youtube account. After it was uploaded I found the link via Jack's account and used the 'insert a video' link and included it in the post seen above ^

Animation from the 1950's-1970's

Looney Tunes

Looney Tunes popularity sky rocketed in the 1950's when Warner Brothers were producing the shorts to be aired on network television. The program became immensely popular by the 1960's.


The characters reckless behavior included smoking, drinking and ingesting pills but this isn't what rose to controversy it was the racial stereotypes made within the characters that became a problem, later leading to the censorship of Speedy Conzales in 1999.

The animation is appealing to look at and the content delivers for both children and adults, its a clever medium for cartoons not just to appeal to those of young ages but old to.

1930's-1950's Prominent Animators

Cel Based Animation

Cel Based animation became the basis of traditional animation by the 1930's anything pre 1930 was post-synced, each frame is drawn by hand and was the dominating medium of feature length animation until the age of computer animation occurred. Each character would need a model sheet which would show a character or characters from different perspectives animators may use maquettes to see what these characters would like in a three dimensional perspective.

Walt Disney

Perhaps one of the world's most recognized animators and character creators to this day. Walt Disney had a vision to transpose to the world, an almost dream-like landscape full of rich content and colorful, memorable characters. 

Walter Disney was born in December of 1901 in Chicago Illinois. Walt father was of Irish/Canadian and his mother was of German/American ancestry.  He was one of five children, ever since Walt was young he began drawing, painting and selling pictures to neighbors in his neighborhood. 

He first rose to commercial success after creating the cartoon character Mickey Mouse.  The character first appeared in some short silent animations 'Plane Crazy' and 'Gallopin Gaucho'. But soon-after sound and film were united and Walt Disney helped write and create 'Steamboat Willie' a cartoon that surely will never be forgotten.  Seeing both moving picture and hearing it was groundbreaking at its time. 

On December 21, 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first full-length animated film, premiered in Los Angeles. It generated an astounding $1.499 million worldwide, regardless of the depression and won a total of eight Oscars. During the next five years, Walt Disney Studios completed another string of full-length animated films, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo and Bambi.

The Fleischer Brothers 

Fleischer Studios Incorporated was first launched when Max Fleischer invented the rutoscope a true line animation method he had been inventing from 1915 up until its completion in 1917. When the true sound revoloution did come (post 'Steamboat Willie') the Fleischer brothers kept up with appearances by introducing their biggest star Betty Boop, some years being followed by Popeye the Sailor once licenses were born from King Features Syndicate. Popeye was well received as the character had been in publication previously. This enabled Paramount to keep producing Fleischer Studios productions, even in a Disney dominated animation industry.

The Fleischer brothers did go onto invent the 'Three Dimensional Setback' (a tiny vault with animation cels hung infront of it, creating a three dimensional effect). This device proved to be a worthy contender for Disney's multi-plane camera, that is until Disney created the never before made feature length animation Snow White. The Fleischer brothers did rise to the bait producing two feature length films 'Gulliver's Travels' (1939) and 'Mr. Bug Goes To Town' (1941) they did retain artistic credibility but didn't profit from the venture, the features were a box office flop, thus resulting in Paramount cutting their company funding and finally firing the Fleischer brothers.

 Norman McLaren

Norman McLaren is known as a pioneer and a historical indictment to the audio/visual filmmaking industry.  McLaren was born in Sterling Scotland in 1914, he is synonymous with his abstract style and experimental techniques. His strange use of method and 'trick shots' came underway after McLaren obtained a Cine'-Kodak camera which was the world's first 16mm film camera produced in 1923.  McLaren went on to get involved with political issues even once joining the British Communist Party. This went on to influence his following work 'Hell Unltd' (1936) which was created in the inter-war period, the film was a fusion of found footage, animation and graphics, creating a pastiche of visual and audiable warfare.

McLaren went onto find success winning an Oscar for his anti-war masterpiece 'Neighbours' the film's purpose and content was influenced by his year long stay at the People's Republic of China.

The film's simple and metephorical justice is clear, Norman's socialist expose' which helped him reach unforgetable status. The two puppet actors fight to death over a flower that grows inbetween both their homes when once appearing civil to one another. McLaren went on to live in America for the rest of his life retaining his credibility as a visual artist. He was a pioneer of Pixilation, a method in which a frame is taken and the subject's posture or figure moves or is altered slightly this gives the illusion that the subject which would be an actor appears to be moving in a puppet-like fashion. This is done by carefully taking hundreds of pictures frame by frame, McLaren will not be forgotten for his innovations and artistic endeavours.