Cartoons - Stage 5 Comprehension - Technology - Comprehension Pack PDF

STAGE 5 Unit focus: Cartoons Text focus: Information Text Technology All film is created by projecting a series of images onto a screen. In each image, the subjects move slightly from one “frame” to the next. Your eyes and brain can process about 12 images a second and still recognise them as differ...

STAGE 5 Unit focus: Cartoons Text focus: Information Text Technology All film is created by projecting a series of images onto a screen. In each image, the subjects move slightly from one “frame” to the next. Your eyes and brain can process about 12 images a second and still recognise them as different images. The first films projected between 16 and 24 frames per second, which meant that the audience’s brains couldn’t pick them out individually. This gives the impression of movement. In modern television sets and cinemas, the standard rate is around 50 frames per second, except for in Canada, the US, Japan and South Korea, where it is closer to 60. Confusingly, animated films are usually still shown at 24 frames per second because there is less movement than you capture on film. All of this has a very important point when it comes to animation; somebody has to draw all of those frames! At least, that is how it was done for a very long time. The first ever animated cartoon was a short clip called Fantasmagorie. This was filmed in 1908 and drawn entirely by hand. To do this, the animator drew a frame onto a clear slide. He placed this onto a piece of glass with a light underneath it, called a “lightbox”. He then placed another slide on top and traced his first image, making a slight adjustment to move the characters. These frames, called “cels”, were all drawn laboriously by hand. When coloured cartoons were invented, they had to be coloured individually, as well. This was a very expensive process because it took animators a long time. To help with this, they began to cut down on the frame rate. If you are showing a cartoon at 24 frames per second, you really need 24 different images for the smoothest animation. Instead, studios began to animate cartoons using a system called “on twos” or “on threes”. This meant that each frame was shown two or three times in a row. It made the animation less smooth but meant that they needed fewer cels, so it was a lot cheaper. “On twos” meant that only 12 frames were needed per second and “on threes” only 8. Early Saturday morning cartoons, such as The Flintstones, were even shot “on fours”, which only needed 6 drawings per second! Another problem with this traditional cel animation was that it needed a lot of animators. In the 1980s, animators began using computers to help them create their drawings, all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com but it was still time-consuming. Nevertheless, this method of producing cartoons was dominant until 1995, when a film came out that changed everything. Toy Story was the first computer-generated feature film. It was also the first film of a new branch of Disney called Pixar. Not only did Toy Story change how cartoons could be created, it altered the look and feel of them as well. It was now much easier to create animations that ran at 60 frames per second, which made them smoother and more lifelike. It was also the first film to use the new 3D look and feel. Suddenly, the characters and settings looked almost real, rather than like traditional cartoons. Not all digital animations were created with the new 3D look and feel, though. Disney and other companies continued to produce animations using computers that had the look and feel of traditional cel animation. These include films such as The Princess and the Frog (Disney) and many from Studio Ghibli, plus series such as The Simpsons and Bluey! RETRIEVAL FOCUS 1. How many frames are shown per second in modern animations? 2. When was Fantasmagorie first shown? 3. Which countries use a different amount of frames to most others? 4. When was Toy Story released? 5. Which studio produced it? S S E V I VIPERS QUESTIONS Describe what the phrase “frame rate” means in this context. Why is it cheaper if you need fewer “cels” than if you need lots? Why has the author included the first paragraph? What does the word “traditional” tell you about cel animation? Why might animators have been unhappy when companies started to use computers? all resources ©2023 Literacy Shed http://www.literacyshedplus.com