Portal:Animation

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Introduction

The bouncing ball animation (below) consists of these six frames, repeated indefinitely.

Animation is a method in which figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most animations are made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation, while 2D computer animation (which may have the look of traditional animation) can be used for stylistic reasons, low bandwidth, or faster real-time renderings. Other common animation methods apply a stop motion technique to two- and three-dimensional objects like paper cutouts, puppets, or clay figures.

An animated cartoon is an animated film, usually a short film, featuring an exaggerated visual style. The style takes inspiration from comic strips, often featuring anthropomorphic animals, superheroes, or the adventures of human protagonists (either children or adults). Especially with animals that form a natural predator/prey relationship (e.g. cats and mice, coyotes and birds), the action often centers around violent pratfalls such as falls, collisions, and explosions that would be lethal in real life.

The illusion of animation—as in motion pictures in general—has traditionally been attributed to persistence of vision and later to the phi phenomenon and/or beta movement, but the exact neurological causes are still uncertain. The illusion of motion caused by a rapid succession of images that minimally differ from each other, with unnoticeable interruptions, is a stroboscopic effect. While animators traditionally used to draw each part of the movements and changes of figures on transparent cels that could be moved over a separate background, computer animation is usually based on programming paths between key frames to maneuver digitally created figures throughout a digitally created environment. (Full article...)

Outline of animation

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Batman: Mask of the Phantasm is a 1993 animated superhero film based on the fictional DC Comics character Batman, and is a spin-off of the Emmy Award-winning Batman: The Animated Series. Eric Radomski and Bruce Timm directed the film, which stars Kevin Conroy as Batman (pictured) and Mark Hamill as the Joker, as well as Dana Delany, Hart Bochner, Abe Vigoda, and Stacy Keach. The film's storyline introduces Andrea Beaumont, an old love interest of Bruce Wayne's, who returns to Gotham City, restarting their romance. At the same time, a mysterious killer begins systematically eliminating Gotham's crime bosses, and due to the person's dark appearance, he is mistaken for Batman. Now on the run from the police, Batman must apprehend the killer, clear his name, and deal with the romance between himself and Andrea. Mask of the Phantasm was released with positive critical success, but resulted in poor box office returns due to the decision to release the film in theaters on such short notice. The film has since found cult success through its various VHS and DVD releases.

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Flip the Frog

Credit: Ub Iwerks Studio

Flip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American cartoonist Ub Iwerks. He starred in a series of cartoons produced by Celebrity Pictures and distributed through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1930 to 1933. The series had many recurring characters besides Flip, including Flip's dog, the mule Orace, and a dizzy neighborhood spinster.

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... that Raoul Servais invented a new technique for combining animation and live action for his short film Harpya?
... that the nickname of a Russian submarine constructed from interconnected spheres comes from an animated circus animal made out of juggling balls?
... that television producer J. Michael Mendel won three Primetime Emmy Awards for The Simpsons and another for Rick and Morty?
... that the Long Sault Parkway connects eleven islands created by the flooding of the Long Sault rapids during the construction of the St. Lawrence Seaway in the late 1950s?
... that before becoming a film director, Nepal's Nischal Basnet went to Australia to study 3D animation, but ended up studying hospitality and becoming a chef?
... that the animated film The Exigency took thirteen years to make?

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Sweetheart, I'm the biggest ripped-off cartoonist in the history of the world, and that's all I'm going to say.

— Ralph Bakshi, 2000

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William Denby "Bill" Hanna (July 14, 1910 – March 22, 2001) was an American animator, director, producer, television director, television producer, and cartoon artist, whose movie and television cartoon characters entertained millions of fans worldwide for much of the 20th century. During the 1930s, Hanna steadily gained skill and prominence while working on cartoons such as Captain and the Kids. In 1937, while working at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Hanna met Joseph Barbera. The two men began a collaboration that was at first best known for producing Tom and Jerry and live action films. In 1957, they co-founded Hanna-Barbera, which became the most successful television animation studio in the business, producing programs such as The Flintstones, The Huckleberry Hound Show, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, and Yogi Bear. In 1967, Hanna–Barbera was sold to Taft Broadcasting for $12 million, but Hanna and Barbera remained heads of the company until 1991. At that time the studio was sold to Turner Broadcasting System, which in turn was merged with Time Warner, owners of Warner Bros., in 1996; Hanna and Barbera stayed on as advisors. Hanna and Barbera won seven Academy Awards and eight Emmy Awards.

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There have been 61 episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, an Emmy Award-winning American animated television series written and created by Michael Dante DiMartino (pictured) and Bryan Konietzko. It first aired on February 21, 2005 with a one-hour series premiere and concluded its run with a two-hour TV movie on July 19, 2008. The Avatar franchise refers to each season as a "Book", in which each episode is referred to as a "chapter". Each "Book" takes its name from one of the elements that the protagonist must master: Water, Earth, and Fire. The show's first two seasons each consisted of 20 episodes, while the third season had 21. In addition to the three seasons, there were two recap episodes and three "shorts". The first recap summarized the first eighteen episodes while the second summarized season two. The first self-parody was released via an online flash game. The second and third were released with the Complete Second Season Box Set DVD. The entire series has been released on DVD in both Region One and Region Two.

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More did you know...

...that Disney characters will regularly appear in 3D on television for the first time in the children's television series Disney's Mickey Mouse Clubhouse?
...that The Simpsons episode "In the Name of the Grandfather", scheduled to debut on Sky One, will be the first episode of the show to air in Ireland before airing in the United States?
...that Bulgarian animator Donyo Donev used deformed speech and interjections as a soundtrack for his films?