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Starring

Joseph
Plateau
Thomas
Edison
Willis
OBrien
Ray
Harryhausen
The Brothers
Quay

TIM
BURTON

One persons
craziness
is another
persons
reality

Pioneers of Animation

Who is Thomas Edison?

Thomas Alva Edison did a lot of
things in his time including an inventor, scientist and a businessman
his devices made massive impact on
life around the world.
What is Thomas Edison Famous for?
Edison invented the Phonograph, the
motion picture camera and the longlasting practical electric light bulb.
As we know what a light bulb is and
this isntr a show about bulbs well
skip that. He was also the inventor of
the Kinetoscope a device used in stop
motion animation.
The Kinetoscope is an early motion
picture device, but most definitely
not a movie projector. It was designed for films to be viewed

individually through the window of a

cabinet. This invention was the basic
introduction that would become the
standard for all cinematic projection
before video. Watching it creates the
illusion of movement by conveying
a strip of film bearing images over a
light source with a high speed shutter.
It wasnt very practical though as only
one person could view the invention at a time and the moving image
shown only lasted about 5-10 seconds
long. It was also a pain in the arse to
move about as it was a 4 foot long
box.

Joseph Plateau was a Belgium physicist . Born in Brussels, attended and

studied at the University of Lige,
he graduated as a doctor of physical
and mathematical sciences in 1829.
Then in 1827 he became a teacher
of mathematics at the Atheneum
school in Brussels. In 1835, he was
appointed Professor of experimental
physics in Ghent University.
In 1832 he invented a device called
the Phenakistocope, using this he
was the first person the demonstrate
the illusion of a moving image. The
way it worked was by using a set of
sequential images placed around the
edge of a disk, that was then span
when span, caused the images to
rapidly change giving the illusion
they were moving.

Developers

Willis OBrien born in Oakland,

California on 2 March 1886 had
a big impact on stop motion. He
first left home at the age of eleven
to work on cattle ranches, he also
left around the time he was thirteen and had a wide range of different jobs. It was during this time
he started to compete in rodeos he
also started to developed an interest in dinosaurs during his work as
a guide to palaeontologists.

-tion. The Dinosaur and the Missing Link: A Prehistoric Tragedy

(1915) was then entered into a exhibition that was met with great
feedback. So much so that Thomas Edison himself personal had
OBrien hired to work for the Edison Company making animations
on prehistoric themes.

most pioneering of
its time

OBrien went on to make some

amazing films the most noteworthy being King Kong in 1933. This
film is regarded as one of the most
pioneering of its time. Using animation in a whole new and unseen
way. It was the first time that human footager and stop motion aniHe went on to have many more
mation had been used in the same
jobs to do with topics such as the
filom . It was met so well that the
railroad and sculpting. He started
studio commissioned OBrien to
to make models of dinosaurs and
make a sequel called Son of Kong.
cavemen and with a bit of a help
OBrien however felt this was a bit
from a camera man started animat- cheese and decided to take no part
ing them. He was then commisand asked that his name be left out
sioned to create his first stop moof it.

The Quay Brothers having moved

to England in 1969 to study at the
Royal College of Art, London after
studying illustration at the Philadelphia College of Art. In England
they made their first short films,
which no longer exist after the only
print was damaged beyond repair. They spent some time in the
Netherlands in the 1970s and then
returned to England where they
teamed up with another Royal College student, Keith Griffiths, who
produced all of their films. In 1980
the trio formed Koninck Studios,
which is currently based in Southwark, south London.

Most of their animation films feature puppets made of doll parts

and other organic and inorganic
materials, often partially disassembled, in a dark, moody atmosphere.
Perhaps their best known work is
Street of Crocodiles, based on the
short novel of the same name by
the Polish author and artist Bruno
Schulz. They have made two feature-length live action films: Institute Benjamenta, or This Dream
People Call Human Life and The
Piano Tuner Of Earthquakes. They
also directed an animated sequence
in the film Frida.

Techniques of Animation.
Persistence of Vision

This is a theory where it is believed an After image is seen

for up to approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on
the viewers retina. This theory is believed to be the reason
for motion perception. However Persistence of vision on
real explains why we dont see the black shots that appear
in-between the frames in film. The theory was discredited
in 1912 by Wertheimer, although it is still noted in many
modern texts.

Frame Rates
Frame rates or frame frequency, controls the
smoothness of a film, the more frames used per
second, the better the picture will flow. For stop motion animation, each frame represents one picture.
On average 24 frames are used per second, but animation could use much more.

Stop-frame
Stop motion is a technique used in animation to
make an inanimate object seem to move on its own
without any assistance. The way it is created is by
moving the object small amounts and taking a single still frame off it. It is then moved again and another frame is taken. When all these frames are put
together it creates the illusion of the object moving.
Animators use stop motion a lot they, companies
like Aardman animations used clay models and
many more.

Movement of Models

The way that animators move the models is by using

armatures. An armature is basically like a Skelton
for the model and also the frame in witch it is built
around. Its commonly made with dark aluminium
wire because it is stiff and a good frame to start
with. The artist will start by adding wax and clay
and build up many layers. After its done the armature may be removed the sculpture hollowed out.