Documentary Research and Planning

 

History of animation

 

Early

Rubber hose animation:

Rubber hose animation is the defining characteristic of the earliest inkblot cartoons which emerged during the mid-1920s. Rubber hose had defining characteristics of flailing rubber-hose limbs without joints. These characteristics in characters originated from comics and were brought along to animation. (https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/animation/discover/rubber-hose-animation.html)

The rubber hose animation style is mostly credited to artist Bill Nolan, best known for working on Felix The Cat shorts and giving the character a new lease of life with the introduction of musical accompaniment - a few years before the “talkies” brought this era of animation to an end.

Some notable examples of early rubber hose are Betty Boop, Popeye, and early mickey mouse in Disney’s Steamboat Willie released in 1928. More modern applications of this technique can be seen in Steven Universe: The Movie and the villain of the movie Spinel. Her clearly rubber like limbs are an obvious link to this key technique in animation history.  

Stop motion animation:

Stop motion animation is an advanced flipbook-style form of animation. It involves photographing and then physically manipulating objects within your frame. As each frame is played in sequence, the technique creates the effect of an object moving itself.

There are many examples of stop motion animation such as:

·         Object Motion - The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1898)

·         Claymation - Wallace & Gromit 

·         Pixelation - Hôtel électrique (1908)

·         Cutout motion - The Spirit of Christmas (Matte Stone and Trey Parker)

And a couple more.

The most notable modern stop motion films would be the Tim Burton films such as The nightmare before Christmas, corpse bride, and Frankenweenie.

(https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/animation/discover/stop-motion-animation.html)

 

The golden age:

The golden age of American animation was a period in the history of U.S. animation that began with the popularization of sound cartoons in 1928 and gradually ended in the late 1960s, where theatrical animated shorts began losing popularity to the newer medium of television animation, produced on cheaper budgets and in a more limited animation style by companies such as Hanna-Barbera, UPA, Jay Ward Productions, and DePatie-Freleng.

Many famous characters emerged from this period including: 

·         Disney - Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy

·         Warner Bros - Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Tweety, and Sylvester

·         MGM - Tom and Jerry, and Droopy

Feature-length animation began during this period, most notably with Disney's "Walt-era" films, spanning from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 to The Jungle Book in 1967. Animation also began on television during this period, with the first animated series airing on television in 1948 starting with Crusader Rabbit.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age_of_American_animation#:~:text=The%20golden%20age%20of%20American,on%20cheaper%20budgets%20and%20in)

 

Modern

CGI:

CGI (computer generated imagery) is a sub-category of VFX (visual effects). It refers to scenes, effects and images created with computer software. CGI can be static or dynamic, 2D or 3D and used in either subtle or obvious ways.

In live action filming, CGI is often used to insert animated elements into raw footage — think the T-Rex chasing Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park. Similarly, it might be used to create elaborate scenes that would be too expensive or difficult to build in real life (see Game of Thrones’ epic battles). It can even be used to make actors appear decades younger, as in Netflix’s The Irishman or to insert actors into fantastical backdrops using green screen.

(https://www.adobe.com/uk/creativecloud/animation/discover/cgi-animation.html)

3D animation:

3D animation is synonymous with computer animation since this style arose thanks to the development of computer graphics and visualization software. The first attempts to create a three-dimensional image were made in 1961, and the first-ever animated 3D clip appeared in 1972.

A company famous for 3D animation would be Pixar who’s first film Toy Story was released in 1995. In recent years Disney has joined and created their first 3D animated movie Tangled in 2010.

(https://www.yansmedia.com/blog/types-of-animation-styles-and-techniques)

 

Fair Use Copyright

Documentary

 

Source reference: https://www.bl.uk/business-and-ip-centre/articles/fair-dealing-copyright-explained#:~:text=The%20concept%20of%20fair%20usage,s)%20or%20infringing%20their%20interest.

 

The idea of fair usage exists inside UK copyright law; ordinarily referred to as fair dealing, or free use and fair practice. It’s a framework designed to grant the lawful use or reproduction of work without having to seek license from the copyright owner(s) or creator(s) or infringing their interest.

As an exception to British copyright law, fair dealing is governed according to Sections 29 and 30 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, which outlines three example where fair dealing is a legitimatise defence:

·         If the use is for the purposes of research or private study.

·         If it is used for the purposes of criticism, review or quotation.

·         Where it is utilised for the purposes of reporting current events (this does not apply to photographs)

 

I am able to use copyrighted clips and images in my documentary for critical review, so I have no need to gain permission from the copyright owners.