Contemporary use of Animation

Contemporary use of animation

Film

Animation is used widely in the film industry with many companies producing animated films, the most famous being Disney, Animation in the film industry can come in many forms, hand drawn frame by frame, the second frame slightly different from the previous to give the illusion of movement most companies work at 24 frames per second. This is called stop motion as it is filmed one frame at a time. Animation in film originated using this technique most famously with Disney’s Steam Boat Willie and later Snow White. Both these films are catered for the younger audience though anyone could watch if they have a childish mind, I would expect the Target audience age to be around 4-12, Snow White being a fairy tale had been written with children in mind with cute animals and using simple words making it easy to follow. Snow white was a first in two aspects firstly it was the first animation to be projected in colour using a process called Technicolor a prisms was located inform of the lens refracting the colours on screen, the second first was that Walt Disney used a process called roto-scoping to model Snow White, this is where an actress acts out the scene which will be animated. Her movement are recorded then traced to be animated this will achieve a more realistic movement in the film compared to free drawing the characters. Also the film used a muliplane camera, this is the process of using multiple layers of glass which sections of the animations is drawn, this process allows the animation to have depth and a 3D effect.  Currently Animated films use CGI computer generated imagery, this process eliminates hand draw animation instead the process is done on a computer, Warner Brother Pictures released Polar Express an animated adventure film where they travel to the north pole, the target audience is aged around 6-12 as most children still believe in santa but is suitable for all ages with its friendly looking animations and easy to follow story makes it suitable for this age group, to create the realistic movement Warner Brothers used a similar technique to Roto-scoping the actor wears a motion capture suit which has hundreds of sensors which are captured using 10 cameras, this information if processed to create a stick man on a computer which records the movement, after skins can be applied to make the character in  the animation. Scenes and other objects can be animated in a similar way or created from scratch this process can take as long as the conventional technique.   

Music video

The Killers- Miss Atomic Bomb blends stop motion animation with live action to create a unique music video, the hand drawn vector animation is very simple and effective using the block colours in the animation, the target audience will be fans of the killers as well as stop motion animators as the two mediums blend really well,  a younger audience would primarily watch this as it’s a current band aged around 15-25, the animation would have been created frame by frame with each frame slightly different to give the illusion of movement.

Home and Dry- Ghosts are dancing used Houdini 3D animation programme to create a unique music video with the animation comprising of scribbled lines to form a face, this was achieved by motion capture recording the lead singers face from two angles, the effects was then created in 2D but using 3D vector lighting was able to bring the animation to life, I would expect the target audience to be teenagers to young adults with an interest in art-rock or animation using Houdini.   Due to the type of song/band and the skill it takes to create the animation.

Television

The majority of animations on TV is usually aimed at children, such as Mickey Mouse club house and Scooby doo these animations are aimed at very young children aged around 3-8  with the aim of learning and fun in one programme, take the Mickey Mouse Club House the animation uses simple language to gain the largest and youngest audience so everyone can understand, It also used very bold colours to gain and grasp the attention of their target audience, the animated program are very short in length as small children have a little attention span. The aim of the program is to help children learn basic language as well as communication skills before they attend playgroups or nursery. Mickey Mouse Club House uses CGI to animate the program as its easy to replicate characters in different positions and quick to animate a full episode, Scooby Doo originally was hand drawn but has turned to computed as well.

There is also Adult cartoons on TV, American Dad, Simpsons, The Cleveland show and family guy these animations have an older target audience which is reflected in the stories of the animated programs, usually they are comedy based with adult humour and swearing in it, I would expect the target audience to be teenager to young adults usually.

Advertising

Change for life is an animation promoting healthy eating in the for of Claymation, the advertisement follows a family in changing their diet for good teaching us the benefits of healthy eating, the animation is aimed at a family audience of all ages but I believe they are targeting a younger audience as well, teenagers with the aim of teaching healthy life skills and foods at a young age. The animation is created by stop motion the process films one frame at a time, to achieve this the clay figures will have been moved slightly from the previous frame, IstopMotion is a program they could have us to record this animation as it keeps an overlay of the previous frame making it have realistic movement. 

Metro- Dumbs ways to Die is a stop motion animation in the style of hand drawn showing the audience small sketches of ways to die, resulting in hazards using train lines, the aim of the advert it to inform the public of hazards on the railway, the target audience would be children to teenagers as the animation uses bold block colours with cute monsters to appeal to the younger age, the length of the animation being short prevents children loosing attention. 

Digital and mobile

Assassins Creed is an animated game series for console and computer, they use predominantly CGI with small cut scenes being live action. As the title suggests the game is aimed at an older audience and has a rating on 18+ on the box. The original games created the characters from scratch animating every movement ect.  But from Assassins Creed Brotherhood they used a new technique similar to Roto-scoping in hand drawn animation. The actor wears a motion capture suit which has hundreds of sensors which are captured using 10 cameras, this information if processed to create a stick man on a computer which records the movement, after skins can be applied to make the character in the animation. This way makes the animation as realistic as possible.