The Manifestation of Animation and the Reform of Animation Teaching in Digital Media Era

Cartoons and animated characters have fascinated us for years. Long gone are the days when animated cartoon used to be viewed as childish and immature. Animated films have gained enormous popularity in the past two decades and it is only to grow in the coming days.. The demand for people with the knowledge of animation has been on the rise as animation is now being used in multiple industries apart from films. This article deals with manifestation of animation and the reform animation has undergone in the course of time to adapt itself. It is essential for interested candidates to know the best animation courses in Kolkata and the institutions offering 3D courses.

Animation is a method of photographing successive drawings, models, or even puppets, to create an illusion of movement in a sequence. Animation works by using an optical illusion whereby a sequence of still images is presented in such a quick succession, that the viewer interprets them as a continuous moving image. The principle that enables live action film making and projection to work is used in animation too. The slot acts as a shutter momentarily freezing the image. There are five types of animation – Traditional Animation, 2D Animation, 3D Animation, Motion Graphics, and Stop Motion

James Stuart Blackton is popularly regarded as the father of animation and is credited with having created the first animated sequence with his silent film. Emile Cohl, the French caricaturist is renowned for having been the first person to create moving film pictures that were projected on the wall. Cohl produced the cartoon film Fantasmagorie which involved no live action whatsoever. Gertie the Dinosaur, Windsor McCay’s animated film it gained instant popularity and it was the first film to incorporate features such as key framing, registration marks, inbetweening, and animation loops. Soon these techniques became a part of the standard industry practice for the traditional animation production in the years to come. John Bray patented a complete streamlined process for the purpose of creating animated films but this attempt did not prove successful.

The character Felix the Cat created by Otto Mesmer was extremely successful and it became the first ‘star’ of the animated industry’s silent film era. After this ushered the age of Walt Disney whose first few attempts at animation proved unsuccessful until he finally found success with Steamboat Willie which had Mickey Mouse as one of its characters. Looney Tunes, a part of Disney’s Silly Symphonies was the first animated film to have been awarded an Academy Award. This hugely popular series of short film was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Throughout the 1930s, many characters like Popeye the Sailor, Betty Boop, and Daffy Duck had been created which are now considered as iconic. Around this time, Walt Disney developed the use of 3-strip Technicolor animation. In 1935, Len Lye created a method of painting directly on film strips which he used it in his animated film Color Box. In 1933, the most advanced and the most convincing stop motion animated character, King Kong was created and it earned an everlasting popularity. Ed Catmul developed the computer generated imagery in films in 1972 thanks to further developments in technology.

Finally in 1993, there was a transition from traditional 2D animation to 3D animation. The multinational technology company, Apple produced a method for creating three dimensional (3D) films, and in 1995 Toy Story was released as the first full-length 3D film. With this innovation, the animation industry was revolutionized and it altered forever. Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings: Twin Towers incorporated the character Gollum which was a blend of a real character, motion capture and CGI. Following this, 2009’s Avatar used far advanced CGI and motion capture techniques as compared to its predecessor. In 2012, ParaNorman was created by studio LAIKA and it employed the most modern animation techniques such as advanced stop-motion and modeling methods.

The world of animation is teeming with opportunities as in this digital era various industries including that of education is using animation to make their content interesting and absorbing. Moople is an institution of animation and design which provides both short term and long term courses in animation. Their state of the art infrastructure and various 3D animation courses are among the best animation courses on offer in Kolkata. The courses they offer range from B.Sc. in Multimedia, Animation and Graphic Design to Visual Effects for Film and others. With the advent of the pandemic, the mode of teaching animation courses has shifted to online modes which are now being available in a Work From Home (WFH) format.