Translucent Paper
Translucent paper is an invention that allows an image to be traced onto it. When this paper is placed onto a picture, the picture is easily viewable through the translucent paper. This means that it is easy to find edges in the picture and trace the image onto the paper.
Pure cellulose fiber is translucent, hence the name, and it is the air trapped between fibers, that makes paper opaque and looks white. If the fibers are refined and beaten until all the air is taken out, then the resulting sheet will be translucent.
Translucent papers are dense and contain up to 10% moisture at 50% humidity. This type of paper is roughly 25% lighter than regular paper.
Pure cellulose fiber is translucent, hence the name, and it is the air trapped between fibers, that makes paper opaque and looks white. If the fibers are refined and beaten until all the air is taken out, then the resulting sheet will be translucent.
Translucent papers are dense and contain up to 10% moisture at 50% humidity. This type of paper is roughly 25% lighter than regular paper.
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A Traceroll of yellow translucent paper.
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Sound within Animation |
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Steamboat Willie is a perfect example of using sound during animation. This film was made in 1928 and was Walt Disney’s first film in which sound was integrated into the planning and production process from the outset. The typical motifs of animated film right from the very start – surprising transitions, the shifts between a drawing and a living character, and between mechanics and life – were in this case transferred to the 'synchrony or asynchrony' of sound and image.
What was later called Mickey Mousing– which was described as when, for example, a character climbing stairs would be accompanied by an ascending tone sequence. This describes only one aspect of audiovisual wit for which Disney would later become famous, in particular with his Silly Symphonies. This is a play where the duplication of overlapping relationships between sound and image in terms of illustration, causality, and reaction, and between seeing and hearing take place. Synchresis– the perception of a unity of image and sound through their synchrony – and the disjunction or the counterpoint of image and sound are shown at the same place simultaneously: steam whistles, for example, that miss the order to whistle, and, because in Disney films they are living things, delay the immediate transmission of the signal that would normally be expected from mechanical equipment.
Because in principle, each image in a cartoon had to be produced individually, a highly differentiated division of work developed very early on. In this context, the multiplication of image-sound relationships described above can be viewed as complex logistics and a chain of graphic recording methods on paper and the strip of film: The Disney Studios are not only attributed with the introduction of the metronome as a timer for the draftsmen, but also with the introduction of bar sheets, a kind of sheet music for the parallel timing of animation and sound.
Steamboat Willie was drawn in California and later set to music in New York by means of the Cinephone optical sound method. In order to insure synchrony, a bouncing ball, which prescribed the beat for the musicians and sound-makers, was drawn at the place where the soundtrack was later copied onto the film. Unlike the audible ticking of the metronome in the recording studio, this visual clocking had the advantage that it was not inscribed into the soundtrack during recording. Later however, so-called click tracks were used, which the musicians and sound-effects technicians heard over headphones.
This all influenced animation into what it is today, as in films today this technique is still used.
Standardisation of Film |
Film Strip
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In the Early motion picture time, experiments were performed using a fragile paper roll film, however by using this it was difficult to view a single, continuously moving image without a complex apparatus. Then they introduced Film stock. Film stock is an analog medium that is used for recording motion pictures or animations. It is a strip or sheet of transparent plastic film base coated on one side with a gelatin emulsion containing microscopically small light-sensitive silver halide crystals. The sizes and other characteristics of the crystals determine the sensitivity, contrast and resolution of the film.
standardisation - the condition in which a standard has been successfully established
Before Standardisation:
standardisation - the condition in which a standard has been successfully established
Before Standardisation:
- The first transparent and flexible film base material was celluloid, which was discovered and refined for photographic use by John Carbutt, Hannibal Goodwin, and George Eastman.
- Eastman then made celluloid film available commercially in 1889.
- Thomas Henry Blair, in 1891, was its first competitor.
- By November 1891 William Dickson, using Thomas Edison's laboratory, was using Blair's stock for Kinetoscope experiments. Blair's company supplied film to Edison for five years.
- Blair's new company supplied European filmmaking pioneers, including Birt Acres, Robert Paul, George Albert Smith, Charles Urban, and the Lumiere Brothers. By 1896 the new movie projector required a fully transparent film base that Blair's American operation could not supply. Eastman shortly thereafter bought the company out and became the leading supplier of film stock. Louis Lumiere worked with Victor Planchon to adapt the Lumiere "Blue Label" (Etiquette Bleue) photographic plate emulsion for use on celluloid roll film, which began in early 1896.
- Eastman's first motion picture film stock was offered in 1889. At first the film was the same as photographic film. By 1916, separate "Cine Type" films were offered.
- From 1895, Eastman supplied their motion picture roll film in rolls of 65 feet, while Blair's rolls were 75 feet. If longer lengths were needed, the unexposed negative rolls could be cemented in a darkroom, but this was largely undesirable by most narrative filmmakers. The makers of Actuality films were much more eager to undertake this method, however, in order to depict longer actions, and created cemented rolls as long as 1000 feet. American Mutoscope and Biograph was the first known company to use this for the Jeffries-Sharkey fight on November 3, 1899.
24fps-
In video technology, 24p refers to a video format that operates at 24 frames per second frame rate with progressive scanning. Originally, 24p was used in the non-linear editing of film-originated material. Today, 24p formats are being increasingly used for aesthetic reasons in image acquisition, delivering film-like motion characteristics.
In video technology, 24p refers to a video format that operates at 24 frames per second frame rate with progressive scanning. Originally, 24p was used in the non-linear editing of film-originated material. Today, 24p formats are being increasingly used for aesthetic reasons in image acquisition, delivering film-like motion characteristics.
CGI
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Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is the application of computer graphics to create images in media such as art, printed media, video games, films, television programs, commercials, videos, and simulators. The visual scenes created using CGI may be dynamic or static, and may be two-dimensional (2D), or 3 Dimensional (3D). It is also used for computer graphics, used for creating scenes or special effects in films and television. They can also be used by a home user and edited together on programmes such as Windows Movie Maker or iMovie.
The term computer animation refers to dynamic CGI rendered as a movie. The term virtual world refers to agent-based, interactive environments. Computer graphics software is used to make computer-generated imagery for films, etc. Availability of CGI software and increased computer speeds have allowed individual artists and small companies to produce professional-grade films, games, and fine art from their home computers. The evolution of CGI led to the emergence of virtual cinematography in the 1990s where runs of the simulated camera are not constrained by the laws of physics.
The term computer animation refers to dynamic CGI rendered as a movie. The term virtual world refers to agent-based, interactive environments. Computer graphics software is used to make computer-generated imagery for films, etc. Availability of CGI software and increased computer speeds have allowed individual artists and small companies to produce professional-grade films, games, and fine art from their home computers. The evolution of CGI led to the emergence of virtual cinematography in the 1990s where runs of the simulated camera are not constrained by the laws of physics.
Performance motion capture |
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Motion capture acting, is a type of acting where an actor wears markers or sensors that are placed either on a skintight bodysuit or directly on the skin. Several cameras from different angles record the actor's movements at the same time, recording the 3D position of the sensors, however it does not record the rest of the actor's body. Sampling is done many times each second, aided by advances in computer technology. The resulting database of 3-D points permits a filmmaker to create a digital character, and place this character in an entirely new setting, such as on top of a fictional volcano or flying through the air. This type of acting is especially seen in movies such as the Polar Express.
However, Motion-capture acting can be difficult, for example, one actor was "placed in a tiny booth, had dots placed all over his face that captured his movements, and had to sit perfectly still." One report suggested that actors wishing to break into this line of work should go to acting class, and become expert in skills such as gunplay, sword fighting, dance, general body movement, running and jumping, gymnastics, and hand-to-hand fighting. It is a new type of acting work, and has greatly influenced the world of animation today.
However, Motion-capture acting can be difficult, for example, one actor was "placed in a tiny booth, had dots placed all over his face that captured his movements, and had to sit perfectly still." One report suggested that actors wishing to break into this line of work should go to acting class, and become expert in skills such as gunplay, sword fighting, dance, general body movement, running and jumping, gymnastics, and hand-to-hand fighting. It is a new type of acting work, and has greatly influenced the world of animation today.
