Animation

An animated bounce ball.

Derived from the Latin word for "soul", animation is a way of making a movie from many still images. The images are put together one after another, and then played at a fast speed to give the illusion of movement.

Animation is a relatively new art form, and though the idea of moving images has been a theme throughout ancient civilizations, it was not until late into the 19th century that experimental animation truly began. Today, the industry of animation is booming, making up a huge commercial enterprise.

A person who makes animations is called an animator.

There are three ways to animate:

Draw each frame
Use stop-motion: make a model scene and change it to create a new image (frame)
Make computer graphics

This is a computer animation of circular waves made by an underwater explosion.

Overview

Joy & Heron - Animated CGI Spot by Passion Pictures

Because it is expensive to make, most animation comes from professional companies. However, independent animators have existed since the 1950s in America, with many of those people entering the professional industry. In Europe, the independent movement has existed since the 1910s, with animators like pre-revolutionary Russia's Ladislas Starevich and Germany's Lotte Reiniger.

Many people use a computer animation program called Adobe Flash to create animations. Flash uses a combination of drawing and computer graphics to make animations. Many animations on the internet are made in Flash. Most animators on the internet do not work for professional companies.

Many television shows, especially those made for children, use limited animation. Companies such as UPA and Hanna-Barbera Productions do this. Simple, limited movement makes the images easier to draw, which allows faster and cheaper production of animation.

Famous names in the business

Famous animation studios

United States

Canada

Europe

Asia

Japan

China

Philippines

Toon City

Australia

Animation Media

Prof. Stampfers Stroboscopische Scheibe No. X (1833)
A projecting praxinoscope, from 1882, here shown superimposing an animated figure on a separately projected background scene
Fantasmagorie (1908) by Émile Cohl
Feline Follies with Felix the Cat, silent, 1919
An example of traditional animation, a horse animated by rotoscoping from Eadweard Muybridge's 19th-century photos.
A clay animation scene from a Finnish television commercial
A 2D animation of two circles joined by a chain
Caminandes is a Creative Commons movie made by Pablo Vazquez, Beorn Leonard, and Francesco Siddi. Music and Sound by Jan Morgenstern