Portal:Animation
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Introduction
Animation is a method in which figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most animations are made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation, while 2D computer animation (which may have the look of traditional animation) can be used for stylistic reasons, low bandwidth, or faster real-time renderings. Other common animation methods apply a stop motion technique to two and three-dimensional objects like paper cutouts, puppets, or clay figures.
Commonly, the effect of the animation is achieved by a rapid succession of sequential images that minimally differ from each other. The illusion—as in motion pictures in general—is thought to rely on the phi phenomenon and beta movement, but the exact causes are still uncertain. Analog mechanical animation media that rely on the rapid display of sequential images include the phénakisticope, zoetrope, flip book, praxinoscope, and film. Television and video are popular electronic animation media that originally were analog and now operate digitally. For display on the computer, techniques like animated GIF and Flash animation were developed.
Animation is more pervasive than many people know. Apart from short films, feature films, television series, animated GIFs, and other media dedicated to the display of moving images, animation is also prevalent in video games, motion graphics, user interfaces, and visual effects. (Full article...)
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Blue's Clues is an American children's television show that premiered on September 8, 1996, on the cable television network Nickelodeon, and ran for a decade, until August 6, 2006. Producers Angela Santomero, Todd Kessler, and Traci Paige Johnson combined concepts from child development and early-childhood education with innovative animation and production techniques that helped their viewers learn. It was hosted originally by Steve Burns, who although a crucial factor in its success, left in 2002 to pursue a music career, and was replaced by Donovan Patton. The show follows an animated blue-spotted dog named Blue as she plays a game with the host and the viewers. They used research about child development and young children's viewing habits that had been conducted in the thirty years since the debut of Sesame Street in the U.S., and revolutionized the genre by inviting their viewers' involvement. Research was part of the creative and decision-making process in the production of the show, and was integrated into all aspects and stages of the creative process. By 2002, Blue's Clues had received several awards for excellence in children's programming, educational software, and licensing, and had been nominated for nine Emmy Awards. Versions of the show have been produced in other countries, and it has been syndicated in 120 countries and translated into 15 languages. It was one of the first preschool shows to incorporate American Sign Language into its content.
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Hayao Miyazaki (born 1941) is a Japanese film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, author, and manga artist. A co-founder of Studio Ghibli, a film and animation studio, he has attained international acclaim as a masterful storyteller and as a maker of anime feature films, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest animation directors. Born in Bunkyō, Tokyo, Miyazaki expressed interest in manga and animation from an early age, and he joined Toei Animation in 1963. During his early years at Toei Animation he worked as an in-between artist and later collaborated with director Isao Takahata. Notable films to which Miyazaki contributed at Toei include Doggie March and Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon. Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985. He directed several films with Ghibli, including Castle in the Sky in 1986, My Neighbor Totoro in 1988, Kiki's Delivery Service in 1989, and Porco Rosso in 1992. Miyazaki's works are characterized by the recurrence of themes such as humanity's relationship with nature and technology, the wholesomeness of natural and traditional patterns of living, the importance of art and craftsmanship, and the difficulty of maintaining a pacifist ethic in a violent world. The protagonists of his films are often strong girls or young women, and several of his films present morally ambiguous antagonists with redeeming qualities.
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The cast members of The Simpsons, an American animated sitcom that includes six main voice actors, and numerous regular cast and recurring guest stars. The principal cast consists of Dan Castellaneta (pictured), Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer. Tress MacNeille, Pamela Hayden, Maggie Roswell, Russi Taylor, Marcia Wallace, Marcia Mitzman Gaven and Karl Wiedergott have appeared as supporting cast. Repeat guest cast members include Albert Brooks, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, Joe Mantegna and Kelsey Grammer. With one exception, episode credits list only the voice actors, and not the characters they voice. Both Fox and the production crew wanted to keep their identities secret during the early seasons and closed most of the recording sessions while refusing to publish photos of the recording artists. The network eventually revealed which roles each actor performed in the episode "Old Money", because the producers said the voice actors should receive credit for their work. With the exception of Shearer, every main cast member has won an Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. However, Shearer was nominated for the award in 2009 for his performance in the episode "The Burns and the Bees". Castellaneta has won four and Azaria has won three, while Kavner, Cartwright, Smith, Wallace, Grammer and guest star Jackie Mason have each won one.
Did you know...
- ...that during the opening sequence of "The Squirt and the Whale", The Simpsons addressed the controversy surrounding censorship of the South Park episode "201"?
- ...that the cast members of The Simpsons provided their voices for The Simpsons Cartoon Studio, a computer program released in 1996 that lets users create their own Simpsons cartoons?
- ...that the setting for the children's show The Adventures of Abney & Teal was inspired by Victoria Park, London?
Anniversaries for September 17
- Films released
- 1932 – The Whoopee Party (United States)
- 1932 – Ride Him, Bosko! (United States)
- 1949 – Fast and Furry-ous (United States)
- 1955 – Speedy Gonzales (United States)
- 1966 – Swing Ding Amigo (United States)
- Television series and specials
- 1968 – Fantastic Voyage, an American animated television series begins airing on CBS
- 1979 – Star Blazers, an American animated television series adaptation of the Japanese anime series, Space Battleship Yamato begins airing in syndication
- 1984 – Transformers, an American animated television series begins airing in syndication with the mini-series called "More Than Meets The Eye".
- 1994 – ReBoot, the computer animated series begins airing on YTV
- 2005 – Johnny Test, an American/Canadian animated television series begins airing on The WB (2005-2006), later aired on The CW (2006-2007) and Cartoon Network (2008-present)
- 2005 – Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island, an American animated television series begins airing on The WB
- 2005 – Loonatics Unleashed, an American animated television series begins airing on The WB
- 2009 – Archer, an American animated sitcom television series begins airing on FX
