History of Animation & VFX Mock Exam PDF

History of Animation & VFX Roundup  Mock Exam Exam duration: 45 minutes Put your student ID card on table Leave your notes, books and smart phones under your chair About the Exam  Exam Format 2 hours long 10 Multiple Choice (20%) 3 Short Q...

History of Animation & VFX Roundup  Mock Exam Exam duration: 45 minutes Put your student ID card on table Leave your notes, books and smart phones under your chair About the Exam  Exam Format 2 hours long 10 Multiple Choice (20%) 3 Short Questions (50%) # => 40 % 1 Long 2 Questions (30%) - 40 %  Exam Reminders Be punctual (please arrive at least 15 minutes before exam starts) Remember to bring your student ID card Answer EVERY question Do not do dubious things Apply for deferral if you cannot attend the exam Course Re-cap  “What is animation?” Animation is the creative interpretation of motion It was a process art in which drawings, objects or characters were filmed ‘frame- by-frame’ In between each frame an alteration of the materials was made to create the illusion of movement Early Animation pioneers  Animation Pioneers Emile Cohl (1857 – 1938, French) J. Stuart Blackton (1875 – 1941, American) Winsor McCay (1871 – 1934, American) John R. Bray (1879 – 1978) & Earl Hurd (1880 – 1940)  Emile Cohl (1857-1938, French) Cohl was a French cartoonist and animator, known as "The Father of the Animated Cartoon" He created a new surrealistic cartoon style to the public which was before the realism in animation from Disney and Warner Bros Famous works included Fantasmagorie (1908)  James Stuart Blackton (1875-1941) James Stuart Blackton was an Anglo-American film producer, most notable for making the first silent film that included animated sequences recorded on standard picture film - The Enchanted Drawing (1900) - and is because of that considered the father of American animation. Both stop-motion and drawn animation techniques were used in his films. He was also director of the Silent Era, the founder of Vitagraph Studios. Famous works included Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906)  Winsor McCay (1871 – 1934) Winsor McCay started out as a newspaper cartoonist, achieving a national reputation for his strips 'Little Nemo in Slumberland' and 'Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend'. He spent four years and produced four thousand individual drawings in making his first animated cartoon 'Little Nemo', completing it in 1911. Famous works included 'Gertie the Dinosaur' (1913)  John R. Bray & Earl Hurd Both of them are animators and collaborators who invented and patented the use of large background drawings and panning camera in 1915 which remained the standard for hand- drawn animation for decades. They also patented Translucent Cels and Registration Peg for drawing alignment.  Golden Age of American Animation (1930s-1960s) Walt Disney (1901-1966) Born in Chicago 1901, Walter Elias Disney was an entrepreneur, animator, film producer, and a pioneer of the animation industry. Today, Walt Disney Company subsidiaries includes Pixar, Marvel, Lucas Film, Disneyland Resorts, the ABC network, ESPN. Net worth of the company is US74.9 billion… Walt Disney Strategies Heavily invested in advanced technologies One feature film a year model Set up the industrial standard of animation assembly lines Character-centric strategy Found the business model (copyright-centric) for animation studios Nurturing talents (Funded CalArts)  Flowers & Trees - Silly Symphonies was the first commercially released film to be produced in the full-color three-strip Technicolor process. The first animated film that receives an Academy Award for animation.  The Nine Old Men Les Clark Eric Larson Marc Davis John Lounsbery Ollie Johnston Wolfgang Reitherman Milt Kahl Frank Thomas Ward Kimball  Disney’s Legacies Set up the standard for top-notch animation assembly lines Raise the bar for feature animation Create lot of cartoon superstars Found the business model for all animation studio Funded CalArts  Max Fleischer In 1915, American filmmaker Max Fleischer invented the rotoscope technique, a device that allowed for animation to be more lifelike by tracing motion picture footage of human movement. UPA Limited Animation Broadcast Medium (Theatre vs Television) Frame Per Second on twos / threes (Limited to 8 frames) Horizontal Movement (Limited perspective) Repeated Footages (Running gag) Interesting background music and dialogue Warner Bros Cartoons Many of the creative staff members at the studio, including directors and animators such as : Chuck Jones Friz Freleng Robert McKimson Tex Avery Robert Clampett Frank Tashlin National Film Board of Canada John Grierson arrived from England in 1939 as the first director of the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) In 1941 he appointed the Scot Norman McLaren to head the NFB’s animation department The NFB was inclined to explore more experimental forms in order to establish an identity for Canadian animation that differentiated it from the commercial mainstream of the USA  British Animation Many of the most revolutionary ideas in abstract and modem art were coming out of Europe Halas & Batchelor was formed in 1940 and always affectionately referred to as 'the British Disney’ Aardman Animations, found in 1972, became one of the leading exponents of the traditional art of stop motion  Dutch Animation Hungarian emigré George Pal established a tradition of puppet animation in the Netherlands in the 1930s before moving to the USA Michaël Dudok de Wit won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Father and Daughter (2000) and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for The Red Turtle (2016)  French Animation Since the pioneering days of Charles-Emile Reynaud, Georges Méliés, and Emile Cohl, France has maintained a passion for cinema, animation, and comic books A string of independent movies were released by directors such as Michel Ocelot and Sylvain Chomet  Russian Animation The large-scale development of animation in Russia was driven by politics rather than economics. Ladislaw Starewicz is hailed as Russia’s first animator for his 1910 stop-motion work using dead insects Animators continued experimenting with techniques including puppet animation, painting on glass, cel, and cutouts. The results were such masterpieces as Fyodor Khitruk’s Story of One Crime (1962) and Yuri Norstein’s Hedgehog in the Fog (1975) Stop-motion Animation Types of Stop-motion A. Clay Animation (Claymation) B. Pixillation C. Model / Puppet Animation D. Cutout Animation A. Clay Animation Making of a model rig  B. Pixillation Stop-frame animation technique using human actors instead of models or puppets. C. Model / Puppet Animation An older term which refers to stop- motion animation in which human figures or animal character models are used, referred to in this case as puppets. D. Cutout Animation The technique of cutting out drawings on card, often into various sections that are put on a background and then moved and photographed frame by frame.  Stop-motion Animation Masters Ladislaw Starevicz (1882-1965) Ladislaw Starevicz was born in Russian and then became a stop-motion animator in France. He was notable as the author of the first puppet- animated film The Beautiful Leukanida (1910). He also used insects and other animals as protagonists of his films. Considered the father of stop-motion animation. Willis Harold O’Brien (1886-1962) was an American motion picture special effects and stop-motion animation pioneer, who is best remembered for his work on The Lost World (1925), King Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949), for which he won the 1950 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. Ray Harryhausen (1920 – 2013) was an American visual effects creator who created a form of stop-motion model animation known as “Dynamation”. His most memorable works include Mighty Joe Young (1949), The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958), and Jason and the Argonauts (1963), featuring a famous sword fight against seven skeleton warriors. His last film was Clash of the Titans (1981). Phil Tippett (1951 – ) is an American movie director and a visual effects supervisor and producer, who specializes in creature design and character animation. Works including stop-motion scenes from Starwars, Robocop, and The Jurassic Park. …was founded in 1972 by Peter Lord and David Sproxton in Bristol. Aardman is known for films made using stop-motion clay animation techniques. Lord and Sproxton met Nick Park at the National Film and Television School when he was working on his student film A Grand Day Out. He joined Aardman full time in 1985 and produced his Oscar-winning series - Wallace and Gromit as a result. War Story, Next, Creature Comfort are also notable works of Aardman Studio. Laika Entertainment, previously known as Will Vinton Studio, was re-purposed into a feature film production studio in 2002. The studio was joined by Henry Selick to produce Coraline. Other productions include ParaNorman, Boxtrolls, and Kubo and the Two Strings.  Japanese Pioneers Kenzō Masaoka 政剛 憲三 Masao Kumakawa 熊川 正雄 Yasuji Mori 森康 ⼆ Akira Daikubara ⼤⼯原 章 (UPA) Yasuo Ōtsuka ⼤塚 康⽣ Osamu Tezuka ⼿塚治⾍ He is the most important and the most famous person in the history of manga He is often called ‘manga no kami-sama’ (the god of manga). Works include 火の⿃、Black Jack 怪醫秦博⼠、阿童⽊AstroBoy、⼩ ⽩獅、三眼神童、藍寶⽯王⼦ （リ ボンの騎⼠）、⼈間昆蟲記、佛 陀、火箭⼈⾦達（マグマ⼤使）… Osamu Tezuka’s Contributions Introduced innovative movie technique to manga creation Expanded the audience base to adult readers Found his way to TV animation market Astro Boy (1963) was a runaway success that the rating roars above 40% on local TV. Running on one half hour show a week, Tezuka had to find a low way to produce volume…  Tezuka’s Approach 1.Bank system 2.Emphasis on storyboards 3.Refinement of still images 4.Distinctive sound production  How is Japanese anime different from American animation? 1.Frame Per Second (8 vs 24 frames) 2.Emphasis on (Layout vs Motion) 3.Broadcast Medium (TV vs Theatre) 4.Creative source (Manga vs Screenwriter) Japanese Anime’s Properties 1.More detailed and stylized characters 2.Wide variety of age groups and genre 3.Heavily influenced by by-products  Important Works 1963 Astro Boy 鐵腕阿童⽊ 1974 Space Cruiser Yamato 宇宙戰艦⼤和號 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam 機動戰⼠ 1982 Macross 超時空要塞 1984 Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind 風之⾕  Important Works 1988 Akira 阿基拉 1995 Ghost in the Shell 攻殼機動隊 1995 Neon Genesis Evangelion 新世紀福⾳戰⼠ 1997 Perfect Blue 藍⾊恐懼 2006 The Girl Who Leapt Through Time 穿越時空的少女  C. Major Genre 1. Mecha 2. Sports 3. Sci-fi 4. Romance 5. Comedy  Xerox Popularity Xerox largely reduced the workload of repetitive tasks in animation production. It also provided new creative alternatives to comic artists and animators.  Impact of VHS With a tape recorder, audience not only consume their favourite anime. They actually OWN it. Rise of Original Video Animation (OVA) marked a new business model for high quality anime Video replay help up-and-coming animators to improve dramatically by studying works of the masters.  Sakuga Artists 磯光雄 Mitsuo Iso ⻲⽥祥倫 Yoshimichi Kameda 井上俊之 Toshiyuki Inoue 吉成曜 You Yoshinari 中村 豊 Yutaka Nakamura  Conclusion Japanese Anime is born out of special cultural and social environment, make it harder to replicate. The tight integration of Manga, toys and anime provided a clear business model for monetization, but it restricted the growth direction as well. The diversity of anime genre has no match in another society, which formed the solid basis of anime lovers around the world. Animation in Greater China  The Wan Brothers The Wan Brothers (Chinese: 萬⽒兄弟) were born in the early 20th century in Nanjing, China. They became the founders and pioneers of the Chinese animation industry and made the first Asian animation feature-length film, Princess Iron Fan in 1941.  Havoc in Heaven (⼤鬧天宮) is an adaptation of the novel Journey to the West, directed by Wan Lai ming and produced by all four of the Wan brothers. The film was produced at the height of the Chinese animation industry in the 1960s, and received numerous international awards.  Te Wei 特偉 (1915 – 2010) Te Wei was one of the most influential artist during the so-called golden era of Chinese Animation. He was made the supervisor of Shanghai Animation Film Studio since 1957. His most important work are the Chinese ink and paint series. The 1980s Reform Period Development of animation came to a standstill during the 60’s and 70’s After a brief recovery in the 80’s, the switch to a open economy means the market being flooded by Japan and American programs. Audiences’ aesthetic standard was changed since then. Reform at the Millennium A survey revealed the top 20 popular animated shows were mostly Japanese (with US-made Tom and Jerry the only exception). In 2001, SAFS tried Japanese style anime Music Up, target young adult market. Early 2000 TV Animation China emerged as a global economic power during the “Socialist Market Economy Period” Central government had new policy encouraging local animation productions Paola Voci notes television animation increased from 12,000 minutes in 2003 to 100,000 minutes in 2007 OEM Animation of Taiwan  1970’s to 1980’s After President Chiang Kai-shek’s death in 1975, Taiwan suspended Marshall law. Creative industries reborn since then. Demand of Japanese and US animation production drove orders to Taiwan OEM factories. Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd.宏廣公司 was the market leader at the time.  1990’s As Taiwan economy took off, Taiwan dollar appreciated significantly. Cheap labour became a thing of the past. Taiwan OEM productions moved over to the newly opened Mainland China cities like Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou… Wang Film failed to turn around with original feature film production.  Government Policy Taiwan government do not have well-planned policy for comics and animation industry. Comics under Ministry of Culture, animation under Ministry of Commerce 臺灣新聞局 tried to rescue industry by introducing patronage program (短⽚輔導⾦計劃） Taiwan Local Productions Original animation turned to local topics. Grandma and Her Ghosts 魔法阿媽 (1998 directed by 王⼩棣) Hong Kong Animation Local Animation Industry One of the first successful Hong Kong animated feature film is Old Master Q in 1983, but it was done in Taiwan. After the turn of Century, computer animation started to take over. The choice of subject became more and more localized  Imagi Studio was found in 2000 Works include Zentrix, TNMT (Teenage Ninja Mutant Turtles 2007), and Astro Boy (2009)  After TMNT topped US box office for 2 weeks， Imagi thought they had unearthed a winning formula - by using state-of-the-art computer animation to reboot classic anime They set their sight in《Gatchaman 神勇⾶鷹 俠》and《Astro Boy 鐵臂阿童⽊》  Strengths of Hong Kong Animation Industry Lots of creative talents Strong tradition in pop cultural products (Film and music) International city where East meets West  Why Did Hong Kong Failed in Animation Productions Extremely small local market Marginalized by Mainland market Lack of long-term development Lack of mainstream genre Visual Effects Technological Breakthroughs Invention of Motion Pictures Colour Film Sounded Movie Digital Film- making  Cinématographe Invented by two brothers from Lyon named Louis and Auguste Lumière. Improved on the American inventor Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope by combining it with a magic lantern projector to create a true theatrical experience, called it a cinématographe Motion Picture Special Effects In 1895, Georges Méliès, a professional magician, tried to buy the cinématographe from Lumière senior but was told it will ruin him Georges Méliès Inventions Jump Cut Dissolve The Matte - combining several strips of film Made 500 films between 1896 to 1912 Father of Motion Picture Visual Effects  How Georges Méliès Inventions Changed the Film Industry? Change the perception of visual narratives Provided a platform for image manipulation Foundation of practical and optical effects Infant Stage of Visual Effects (1900-1945) In the early days, French & German film pioneers are far more superior in terms of creative & technique In the 30’s, sound recording gradually overtook silent films Out broke of WWII had halt the progress of European film makers Schüfftan Process  Post-War : 1950’s After WWII, Europe was busy rebuilding while the largely unscathed US came to world dominance Availability of Kodak Eastmancolor in the 1950 changed film production landscape Widescreen epics was created through the use of advanced visual effects Post-War Visual Effects In the 60’s, popularity of colour television changed the way of visual entertainment forever During the Cold War, the race for space exploration between USA & USSR had lead to works about space fantasies (E.g. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) Star Wars (1977-1983) Star Wars Trilogy is the landmark films that changes visual effects in every possible ways Found by the visionary George Lucas, the Star Wars production team was lead by VFX legends like John Dykstra, Richard Edlund, Dennis Muren, Phil Tippet, Joe Johnston and co… VFX powerhouse Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Studio were found to cope with the trilogy’s production Star Wars’ Inventions Revolutionary Miniatures Ground-breaking Stop-Motion Motion Control Camera (Dykstraflex) Lightsaber Rotoscoping Gigantic Matte Painting Multi-head Optical Printer Industrial Light & Magic Reinvented VFX techniques like motion-controlled photography, chroma-keying, realistic miniature set, and computer graphics. It had a monopoly on Oscar visual effects awards for two decades. It’s graphics division revolutionized computer- generated imagery (CGI). VFX Techniques Digital Practical Effects Effects Optical Effects  VFX Techniques 1. Practical Effects 2. Optical Effects 3. Digital Effects Practical Effects Scale Models (miniature) Special Props Special Makeups Motion-control Camera Physical Effects  Physical Effects Atmospheric Effects Stuntman Vehicle Stunt Explosives Optical Effects Jump Cut Multi-exposure Matte Painting Rear-projection Chroma Key Rotoscope  Digital Effects Digital Backlot Motion-tracking Dynamic Simulation Crowd Animation Pre-visualiztion Motion-capture Animation Advantages of Digital Effects Infinite layers of images More realistic composites Save time and costs in certain film genre Revolutionized film distribution  Digital Backlot Digital backlot is a motion picture set that is neither a genuine location shoot nor physical sets on the soundstage Shooting takes place entirely on a stage with a green screen background that will have an artificial environment put in during post-production. It is often used in futuristic films to achieve what would otherwise be too expensive or impossible tobuild as a real set.  Motion-tracking Motion Tracking is a technique that allows the insertion of computer graphics into live-action footage with correct position, scale, orientation, and motion relative to the photographed objects in the shot. It can be done with several different methods of extracting camera motion information from a motion picture. Two common ways are using Motion Control Camera data or Motion Tracking software.  Dynamic Simulation Dynamic simulation is the use of a computer program to model the time varying behaviour of a system. In computer animation, things like hair, cloth, liquid, fire, and particles can be easily modelled.  Crowds Animation Crowds artists uses simulation techniques to populate large numbers of characters, animals, and vehicles that deliver compelling performances  Pre-Visualization (Pre-Viz) Pre-visualization in film production is a process to visualize complex scenes in the script before filming. It allows directors to experiment with different lighting, camera placement and movement, stage direction, without actual production. It is especially helpful on the scenes that involves stunts and special effects. Digital video, photography, hand-drawn art, clip art and 3D animation combine in use. Motion Capture Advantages Realtime capture saves time and cost Realistic and lifelike movements Interaction with creative professionals Disadvantages of Motion-capture The uncanny valley effects Captured movements take a lot of edits Master Disney animator Ollie Johnston explained : “Good animation is not about ‘copying’ real life. Good animation is about caricaturing real life. It is Life-Plus.” Animation should be larger than life Robotics professor Mori Masahiro 森 政弘 (Uncanny Valley) in 1970 恐怖⾕ ⼈形機械⼈ ⼯業⽤機械⼈ Familiarity 屍體 喪屍 Human Likeness Computer Animation  IBM Created the IBM 360 series of mainframe computers In 1954 they created the first disk drive In 1966, Big Blue employed John Whitney Sr. to create art on their computers  AT&T Bell Labs In 1947, they invented the first fax machine In 1972 Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie developed “C” languages. Scientists at Bell Labs experimenting with synthetically creating a human voice taught their IBM 7094 computer to sing the song “Daisy.”  Xerox PARC In 1935, when Chester Carlson invented the photocopier with an amateur chemistry set in the back of a beauty parlor In 1970, new facility was called the Palo Alto Research Center, or Xerox PARC Robert Taylor, Alan Kay, Alvy Ray Smith were hired to develop the next generation computer Together they invented the Ethernet, the computer mouse, WYSIWYG system, the GUI, Superpaint, and the concept of Dynabook (notebook computer) Academia Development  Academia Development By 1960s, Top US Universities like MIT (Engineering Department), Stanford (SRI), Cornell, UCLA, Ohio State established their Department of Computer Science In 1968, Charles Csuri founded the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design (ACCAD) at Ohio State University  Utah State University In 1965, funded by ARPA, Dave Evans and Ivan Sutherland (inventor of Virtual Reality) founded the computer science department at University of Utah, focusing on graphics They built the Defense Department’s flight simulator for its aircraft training program  Utah Graduates Alan Kay, inventor of laptop computer Alan Ashton, the founder of WordPerfect Nolan Bushnell, the founder of Atari Games John Warnock, cofounder of Adobe Systems Jim Clark, founder of Silicon Graphics & Netscape Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar  Other Utah Alumni Frenchman Henri Gouraud did his graduate work by developing a way to shade three-dimensional objects In June 1975, Bui Tuong Phong from Vietnam created Phong Shading, a way to give solid, textured objects realistic-looking light and shadow Jim Blinn created the concept of “bump-mapping”  University of Montreal Two young French Canadian students, Philippe Bergeron and Daniel Langlois secretly made a 7 minute film Tony de Peltrie in 1985.  Tony de Peltrie It was the first character acting, thinking, fleshy, not mechanical, and he expressed real emotions. Bergeron became a successful film maker in Hollywood. In 1986, Langlois left the Centre d'animatique and form the company Softimage. Nation Film Board of Canada The NFB was a pioneer in computer animation They made the first computer key frame animation Metadata (1971) and the Oscar-nominated animation Hunger (1974) In 1980, the Centre d'animatique was formed to develop new CGI technologies. Robert Abel and Associates Robert Abel began as a commercial art intern. In 1971 Abel started his boutique service house, Robert Abel & Associates Brilliance - The Sexy Robot ad, aired during the 1985 Super Bowl telecast gone down as the landmark achievements in the history of CGI  Rhythm and Hue was found by some of the CG pioneers at Abel & Associates (who helped developed Wavefront, the predecessor of Maya) It was one of the VFX powerhouse in Hollywood for more than 30 years, winning numerous awards against giants like ILM Advantages of Computer Animation Much more realistic rendering (than traditional animation) Works with other digital production techniques Better scalability (with computing power growth) Less labor-intensive Shorter learning curve Infinite potential of production (with A.I.) CG Effects in Star Wars Targeting diagram screens on the X-wing and TIE fighters Computer motion controls on the miniatures Rebel Alliance briefing schematic of how Luke Skywalker’s bomb needed to get into the intake duct of the Death Star Industrial Light and Magic Cash-flow issues forced George Lucas to sell off his computer graphics department, he continued to expand ILM’s development of CG to create increasingly lifelike effects for motion pictures In 1989 Cameron directed The Abyss, featured an amazingly realistic 3D alien character made of water - the Pseudopod Another breakthrough with digital mattes on films in Forrest Gump (1994) The ILM Graphics Group Lucas created an independent computer lab adjunct to his ILM effects operation, the Lucas Graphics Group In 1979 he hired NYIT director Ed Catmull and finest talents including Alvy Ray Smith, Loren Carpenter, David DiFrancesco, Ralph Guggenheim, Bill Reeves, and Jim Clark Story of John Lasseter Lasseter had been part of the CalArts Disney trainee program and had learned traditional animation skills from the retiring master animators of Disney’s golden age After seeing his friends working on Tron, he was intrigued by the potential of computer graphics Lasseter decided to commit his lot to making CG, which resulted in his expulsion from Disney  Formation of Pixar Jobs bought Lucas Graphics Group under advice of Alan Kay. The company was renamed Pixar Pixar started as a hardware company trying to sell Pixar Image Computer to mass market Ed Catmull and John Lasseter believed that Pixar could make animated films that made a significant profit The Story of Toy Story Tin Toy (1988) won Pixar its first Academy Award, for Best Short Film It lured Disney to sign a 3 feature film contract with Pixar, started with Toy Story  Success of Pixar Lasseter get inspiration from Walt Disney for Pixar’s long-term success by adopting many of the Walt Disney Studios’ growth strategies Lasseter built one of the strongest storyboard teams ever seen in Hollywood A senior creative group at Pixar nicknamed the “Brain Trust” was formed by John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Pete Docter, and Andrew Stanton.