Animation Past And Present

I will now research Tim Burton

"A lot of things you see as a child remain with you…you spend a lot of your life trying to recapture the experience." (1)

Tim Burton was born in 1958 the 25th August in California. When he was in college he got his first job at Disney.

In 1982 he then created his first 6 minute film called 'Vincent' which was all filmed using stop motion.
After he graduated from college the first major film that he directed was called 'Batman' after he directed a lot more films he then teamed up with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter to star in most of his films now such as 'The Corpse Bride' and Alice In Wonderland' which was his newest film to date so far.

Johnny Depp's first film with Tim Burton was called 'Edward Scissorhands' which is about a man born with scissors for hands. Helena Bonham Carter's first film with Tim Burton was called 'Planet Of The Apes'. Tim Burton then decided that the two actors should work together so he put them together in the animation film called "The Corpse Bride'.
“Most people say about graveyards, ‘Oh, it’s just a bunch of dead people; it’s creepy.’ But for me, there’s an energy to it that is not creepy or dark. It has a positive sense to it.”(2)




I got all of my information from this website called:(2) http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/directors/03/burton.html

Animation Past And Present

I will now research 'The Brother's Quay'

"What happens in the shadow, in the grey regions, also interests us – all that is elusive and fugitive, all that can be said in those beautiful half tones, or in whispers, in deep shade." (1)


The Brother's Quay are identical twins and were born in June in 1947 near Philadelphia which is where they went to there college called the College of Art.

The Brother's Quay currently work in England in1969 because they studied movie design there. They made their first short films there whcih no longer exist except for the original script.

Some of their short films include: 'Ein Brudermord' and 'The Eternal Day Of Michael de Ghelderode. These films were both made in 1981. There current short film that was released was called 'Maska'.





I got most of my information from this website:http://www.awn.com/mag/issue1.3/articles/buchan1.3.html
and http://www.egs.edu/faculty/stephen-timothy-quay/quotes/

Animation Past and Present

I will now reseach Jan Svankmajer who directed Alice in Wonderland

Jan Svankmajer was born in 1934 in Prague where he still currently lives.

In 1987 he then finished work on his movie called Alice. The original name for it was Alice in Wonderland by using stop motion and claymation.

"For me, animated film is about magic. This is how magic becomes part of daily life, invading daily life.... Magic enters into a quite ordinary contact with mundane things ... (making) reality seem doubtful. " (1)

In 1972 he was banned from making anymore movies and any later films that he made were suppressed and weren't released to the public. When this happened he wasn't really known in the West in the 1980's.

This link will show you a small clip of his most famous and first productions called 'Alice In Wonderland':
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5wHMgTPF-s

The clip will feature a real rabbit which was stuffed and an antique doll which is actually portrayed as a young girl. This production of Alice would possibly not be suitable for very young children as there are some frightening images. The next link will show you some clips of the actual film: http://www.awn.com/heaven_and_hell/svank/svank2.htm

http://www.jansvankmajer.com/ and http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/841546.Jan_Svankmajer

There has also been a newer version of 'Alice in Wonderland' released this year and it has been put into 3D so people can see all of the special effects better. The newer version of this film shows that time has passed a lot since Alice was last in wonderland as she didn't recognise most of her old friends, however all of her old friends recognised her especially Johnny Depp who portrayed the Mad Hatter.  

Animation Past and Present

I will now research Ray Harryhausen who made the animated films 'Jason and the Argonauts' and 'The Story Of The Tortoise And The Hare'

"I brought in the stories many times. I don't just do animation"(1)

Ray Harryhausen was born 29th June 1920.

In 1946 Ray Harryhausen decided to make some of his own film animations. He started off by creating the film called 'Mother Goose' which is a selction of fairy tales such as 'Rapunzel' and 'Hansel & Gretel'. The fairy tales only lasted 20 minutes so he was able to fit about 4 or 5 onto one film.

Ray Harryhausen's first film was called 'The Story Of The Tortoise And The Hare'but it was never finished so he left it for a while. After many years after he had retired he was approached and was asked to complete it using his own designs. Not much had to be replaced except fora couple of things because they were lost. It took a long time but the film was eventually finished.

"I took courses at USC in film editing and art direction and photography when I was still in high school.'(1)

I gathered my information from this website's below:
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/ray_harryhausen.html
http://www.rayharryhausen.com/index.php
The next link is a video of his most recent production called 'The Story Of The Tortoise And The Hare'. however the film has been broken down into two parts so i will put up both links.
Here is the link to part : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjCg4kjJJY4
And here is the link to part 2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miPLXkaAIik&feature=related

Animation Past And Present

I will now research Willis O'Brien who made the film King Kong.

Willis O'Brien was born on the 2nd March 1886 to the 8th November 1962.

Willis O'Brien directed many silent movie monster films such as King Kong, The Lost World and The Ghost Of Slumber Mountain. When O'Brien was making the movie King Kong the original model was only 18 inches tall so he had a bit of a challege to try and get it 50 feet tall. Ever Since Willis O'Brien made King Kong he was then named a legend among horror, dinosaur and animation among his fans.
This is a picture of Willis O'Brien below working on another animation:-

 I got most of my information from the website below

http://silentmoviemonsters.tripod.com/TheLostWorld/LWOBIE.html

Animation Past And Present

I will now research the Lumiere Brothers who invented a motion-picture camera and projector.

Auguste and Louis Lumiere created the Cinematographe which is a projector.
When this was invented there first screening was in 1895 which was in front of a private audience to see how they reacted to the movie. In the same year they then held a public screening.

Louis had created and patented the cinematographe this device that changed early cinema. A combination of a camera, projection device, printer and the hand-cranked cinematographe differed from Edison’s camera in that it was relatively compact and easy to transport.Though Edison's device used 48 frames per second the Lumiere Brothers used 16 Frames Per Second which made showing films easier.

http://www.newsfinder.org/site/more/the_lumiere_brothers/

Animation Past And Present

I will now research Edison who is is the inventor of the 'Kinetoscope'

Edison was born in 1847. The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device. Though not a movie project it creates the illusion of movement by showing a strip of film bearing different images over any type of light with a high-speed shutter so that an image is shown.

Ever since the kinetoscope was brought to public attention and proved to be so popular, inventors have been striving to perfect apparatus for success-fully projecting these miniature images upon the screen, producing the same effect of motion as in the kinetoscope. In the kinetoscope the successive images illuminated by reflected light are seen through a lens, making them bigger from an image half an inch to about four inches.


Here is a video of Edison's work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p94yQ8cvTHg

This video shows a woman dancing as her dress changes colours very quickly as she moves about.


 This image shows Edison working on his Kinetoscope to try and improve it.

Animation Past And Present

I will now research Edward Muybridge

Muybridge's experiments in photographing motion began in 1872, when the railroad magnate Leland Stanford hired him to prove that during a particular moment in a trotting horse's gait all four legs are off the ground simultaneously. His first efforts were unsuccessful because his camera lacked a fast shutter. The project was then interrupted while Muybridge was being tried for the murder of his wife's lover.


http://www.biography.com/articles/Muybridge-Eadweard-9419513

Animation Past And Present

I will now research Emile Reynaud who is the inventor of the 'Praxinoscope'
Improving on the Phenakistiscope and Zoetrope, Reynaud devised the Praxinoscope.
The Praxinoscope was invented in 1877. The Praxinoscope consisted of a central drum of mirrors, which were between the axis and the picture strip, so that as the toy revolved the reflection of each picture seen in the mirror-drum appeared stationary, withThere was a central drum of mirrors.




http://www.victorian-cinema.net/reynaud.htm

Understanding The Techniques And Development Of Stop Motion Animation Past and Present

I will continue my research by researching William Horner who is the creator of the Zoetrope which was invented in 1834.
The Zoetrope was orignally called the Daedlum which means "The Wheel Of The Devil".
The Zoetrope was based on Plateau's phenakistoscope, but was more convenient since it did not require a viewing mirror and allowed more than one person to use it at the same time.
The Zoetrope was for nearly thirty years until 1867. It was then later renamed the 'Zoetrope' or 'The Wheel of Life'



http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit10.htm

Understand the Techniques and Development of Stop Motion Animation

I will start my research by researching Joesph Plateau who was the inventor of the 'Phenakitoscope'

The stroboscope is a device that employs bright pulses of light to illuminate a vibrating or rotating object and to make it appear motionless or moving very slowly. The stroboscope works by permitting the eye only a brief glimpse of the object or a portion of it at time intervals that correspond to the object's rate of vibration or rotation. The rate of movement and the light pulses can be adjusted to match.
In 1836, The Phenakistiscope. It consisted of two disks, one with small radial windows, through which the viewer could look, and another containing a sequence of images. When the two disks rotated at the correct speed. The projection of stroboscopic photographs, creating the illusion of motion, eventually led to the development of cinema.

Here is a link to Joesph Plateau's website:

http://www.famousbelgians.net/plateau.htm