This was the first lesson learning about the history of animation. This was an important session for me as I do not have a history of doing animation in my previous degree. This lesson was a good opportunity to have an insight into the terminology that is used in film. I have taken a note of all the terms used so that I can refer back to it when discussion film techniques.
- Visual Language
- Shot Length
- Angle
- Depth of field
- Rack Focus
- Movement
- Sequence Shot
- The Cut
- Dissolve
- Wipe
- Fade In / Out
- Continuity Editing
- Continuity Error
- Screen Direction
- Match on Action
- Eye line
- 180 Degree Rule
- Crossing the Axis
- Establishing Shot
- Master Shot
- Reverse Angle
- Insert Angle
- Cross Cutting
- Discontinuity Editing
- Freeze Frame
- Slow Motion
- Fast Motion
- Jump Cut
- Match Cut
- Split Screen
- Overlay
- Montage (Set Up)
Everything should relate to the story!
Mis En Scene – Placing the Scene
I have always been interested in scene and set design. So these different terms will come into use when I want to start building virtual spaces. Potentially for my final major project I would like to venture into this area of film.
- Decor
- Setting
- Set Dressing
- Props
- Costume
- Lighting
- Three Point Lighting – Key, Fill & Back
- High Key Lighting
- Low Key Lighting
- Hard Lighting
- Soft Lighting (Romantic)
- Ambient
- Un Motivating
- Motivated
- Screen Filters
- B/W
- Colour
- Sepia Tone
- Colour Grading
- Saturation
- Colour Palette
- Space
- Balance
- Deep Space
- Shallow Space
- Offscreen Space
- Blocking
The camera is still a character.
Early Cinema
Edward Milbridge – Horse
Lumiere Brothers
Cinematic Graph
History of Animation
- Magic Lantern
- Still images
- 1800’s elastic band & Circle
- Zoetrop
1900s – Humours of funny faces
1914 – Gertie the dinosaur (First real character as she had a gender)
– Little Nemo
1928 – Mickey Mouse (First animation accompanied by music)
1929 – Skeleton Dance (Wall street crash lead to 10 year depression)
1937 – Snow White. First Disney film, sound effect, depth of field. 8 mill dollars.
FPS – Frames per second
24 FPS has no lag
50 FPS – Hobbit
1986 – CGI computer generated images clay motion.
The History of VFX
1933 – King Kong
1963 – Skeleton Battle (took 4 months to make)
1985 – Young Sherlock Homes (glass character)
1989 – The Abyss (water tenticle)
1991 – Terminator 2 (water teffect)
1993 – Jurassic Park
1995 – Casper
– Toy Story (1st full 3D animated film)
1996 – Dragon Heart
1999 – Star Wars
2001 – Final Fantasy (1st hyper real animation)
2002 – Lord of the Rings (Best visual effect character – Gollam)
2003 – Matrix 2 (Universal Capture Effect)
2005 – King Kong (Oscar for best visual effect)
2008 – Benjamin Button
I found the history of animation very fascinating. It is so easy to forget how much we are exposed to ground breaking animation even in our life time. This is a relatively new medium of VFX which generates this excitement of what will be created in the following years as it is a growing industry.
During the pandemic there isn’t much production happing due to safety reasons. However, it is possible to work on animations remotely which just shows it can be a short term substitute to keep people connected through film in the current climate.