Illustration: This animation moves at 10 frames per second.

Illustration: This animation moves at 2 frames per second. At this rate, the individual frames should be discernable.

Animation refers to the process in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result. When the frames are strung together and the resulting film is viewed at a speed of 16 or more frames per second, there is an illusion of continuous movement (due to the persistence of vision). Generating such a film is very labour intensive and tedious, though the development of computer animation has greatly sped up the process.

Limited animation is a way of increasing production and decreasing costs of animation by using "short cuts" in the animation process. This method was pioneered by UPA, then adapted by other studios cartoons moved from movies into television.

Because animation is very time-consuming and often very expensive to produce, the majority of animation for TV and movies comes from professional animation studios. However, the field of independent animation has existed at least since the 1950s, with animation being produced by independent studios (and sometimes by a single person). Several independent animation producers have gone on to enter the professional animation industry.


Illustration: The animations shown before consist of these 6 frames.

Table of contents
1 History of Animation
2 Famous Names in Animation
3 Animation Studios
4 Styles of Animation
5 Techniques
6 External links

History of Animation

The history of film animation begins with the earliest days of silent film and continues through the present day.

The firsts animated cartoon was from french Émile Reynaud, that created praxynoscope, animation system of 12 pictures, and films of about 500~600 pictures, projected on its own théatre optique, system near from modern film projector, at Musée Grévin in Paris, France, the october 28, 1892.

The first animated cartoon on modern picture film projector was Fantasmagorie by the French director Émile Courtet (also called Émile Cohl), projected for the first time August 17, 1908 at 'Théâtre du Gymnase', in Paris. Émile Courtet went to Fort Lee, New York near New York City in 1912, where he worked for French studio Éclair and spead its technique in the US.

The first animated feature-length film was El Apóstol (1917) from Argentine Quirino Cristiani, shown in Argentina.

Because the history of animation as an art form has undergone many changes in its hundred-year history, it is examined in detail in the History of Animation Wikipedia article.

Famous Names in Animation

Animation Studios

Styles of Animation

See also: Animated series, Anime (Japanese animation)

Techniques

External links