Portal:Animation
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Introduction
Animation is a method in which pictures 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 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 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 realise. Apart from short films, feature films, animated gifs and other media dedicated to the display of moving images, animation is also heavily used for video games, motion graphics and special effects. Animation is also prevalent in information technology interfaces.
Selected article
The Itchy & Scratchy Show is a show within a show in the animated television series The Simpsons. It usually appears as a part of The Krusty the Clown Show, watched regularly by Bart and Lisa Simpson. Itself an animated cartoon, The Itchy & Scratchy Show depicts an anthropomorphic blue mouse, Itchy (voiced by Dan Castellaneta), who repeatedly kills an anthropomorphic black cat, Scratchy (voiced by Harry Shearer). The cartoon first appeared in the Tracey Ullman Show short "The Bart Simpson Show", which originally aired November 20, 1988. The cartoon's first appearance in The Simpsons was in the 1990 episode "There's No Disgrace Like Home". Typically presented as 15-60 second-long cartoons, the show is filled with over-the-top violence. Itchy and Scratchy are based on the cartoons Tom and Jerry and Herman and Katnip, and their names were inspired by "Pixie and Dixie", who were mice on the cartoon show Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks. The cartoons have since become popular among the show's writers and animators and are often added when an episode needs expanding. As the shorts became popular with fans, the writers decided to have full episodes that centered around the production of The Itchy & Scratchy Show and featured multiple shorts.
Selected image
Storyboards are graphic organizers such as a series of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence, including website interactivity.
Selected biography
Josh Weinstein (born May 5, 1966) is an American television writer and producer, known for his work on the animated comedy series The Simpsons. Weinstein and Bill Oakley became best friends and writing partners at St. Albans High School; Weinstein then attended Stanford University and was editor-in-chief of the Stanford Chaparral. He worked on several short-term media projects, including writing for the variety show Sunday Best, but was then unemployed for a long period. Weinstein and Oakley eventually penned a spec script for Seinfeld, after which they wrote "Marge Gets a Job", an episode of The Simpsons. Subsequently, the two were hired to write for the show on a permanent basis in 1992. After they left The Simpsons, Oakley and Weinstein created Mission Hill. The show was plagued by promotional issues and was swiftly canceled. The two wrote several unsuccessful TV pilots, and were due to serve as showrunners on Sit Down, Shut Up in 2009. Oakley left the project over a contract dispute, but Weinstein remained until it was canceled.
Selected list
The episodes of Family Guy, an American animated television sitcom created by Seth MacFarlane (pictured) for the Fox Broadcasting Company. Since its debut on January 31, 1999, the show has broadcast 201 episodes. The series centers on the dysfunctional Griffin family, which consists of father Peter, mother Lois, son Chris, baby Stewie and Brian, the family dog. He created two shorts entitled The Life of Larry and Larry & Steve, both of which played a key role in Fox executives' decision to pick up the series in 1998. After two seasons, Fox decided to cancel the show. Despite the cancellation, a third season was produced, after which the series was officially canceled at the end of 2003. Reruns on Cartoon Network's block Adult Swim drove up interest, and a letter-writing campaign, along with impressive DVD sales, encouraged Fox to bring the show back permanently. Family Guy returned to production in 2005, and is contracted to continue producing episodes until at least 2013.
Did you know...
- ...that John Powell's score for the animated film How to Train Your Dragon was nominated for an Academy Award and a BAFTA award, and won an Annie Award and an IFMCA award in 2011?
- ...that the Young Justice episode "Independence Day" introduces a younger version of the DC Universe?
- ...that according to John J. Puccio of Movie Metropolis, the shorts included on Pixar Short Films Collection, Volume 1 are "among the finest cartoons ever made"?
Anniversaries for August 22
- Films released
- 1920 - Nifty Nurse (United States)
- 1926 - Two-Lip Time (United States)
- 1927 - Alice in the Big League (United States)
- 1929 - The Skeleton Dance (United States)
- 1936 - Toby Tortoise Returns (United States)
- 1936 - Porky's Poultry Plant (United States)
- 1941 - Orphans' Benefit (United States)
- 1942 - Eatin' on the Cuff (United States)
- 1942 - Fresh Hare (United States)
- 1945 - How Disease Travels (United States)
- 1947 - Bootle Beetle (United States)
- 1953 - Plop Goes the Weasel (United States)
- Television series and specials
- 1997 - Spicy City, an American animated television series finishes airing on HBO
