Week 1 : Diary of work

The first week of the course focuses on theoretical foundations and some small practical exercises. From the 12 principles of animation to bouncing ball animation exercises. I watched the 12 principles video carefully and then took some notes, which helped me to remember them.
All in all, the practice counted as a good way to go. During the practice, some of my shortcomings were infinitely magnified and made me pay attention to them. I am working on fixing the problems I have purely in and will continue to revise and upload them at a later stage.

Week 0: Timeline & Understanding of the history of film, animation and VFX.

The history of film

Timeline for film:

  • 1895, The first film was cast on the big screen.
  • 1877, Eadweard Muybridge set up a camera system to take a series of pictures of horses in motion for his bet. It’s the basis of film.
  • 1891, Thomas Edison had perfected the Kinetoscope.
  • 1892, Emile Reynaud projected the first animated film on his Kinetoscope.
  • 1890s, Serpentine dance becoming early film because there was no cinema.(But not safe and healthy.)
  • 1895, Robert W. Paul and Bert Akers had invented the first British 35 millimeter camera
  • December 28th 1895, Lumiere brothers demonstrated their invention of motion pictures in Paris. It includes scenes of people coming out and a train coming. (People were scared at the time.)
  • February 21th 1896, Robert W. Paul demonstrated his projector the theatre graph. Also Lumiere system was displayed in London.
  • June 1896, The Derby, one of the earliest examples of newsreel by Robert W. Paul’s Kinetoscopes.
  • George Méliès – One of the first filmmakers to use special effects.
  • 1893, Thomas Edison constructed the world’s first film production studio, the Black Maria.
  • 1896 or 1897, Alice Guy-Blaché began making films for Gaumont
  • 1897, George Méliès built the world’s first film studio in Montreuil made entirely of glass walls and ceilings.
  • 1900, George Smith showed close up for the first time in film.
  • 1901, James Williamson The Big Swallow using extreme close-up. He developed multi shot films and cutaways.
  • 1902, La gallina misteriosa (Pathé Frères, 1902) A chicken-and-egg comedy about what came first.
  • 1903, George Smith used close-ups to highlight the personalities of the characters and fades out to show the transition from dream to reality.
  • 1905, People are wooden and curious when they reaction to the camera for the first time recorded by Alice Guy-Blaché.(First fully-equipped cinema opens in the US.)
  • 1900s, André Deed, the first comic star in cinema. He had strong personality.
  • 1909, 35mm film became the international standard for films.
  • 1911, Max Linder, the most popular comedian in the world. His comic creation of the coat was remembered by other comedians.
  • 1917, the First World War caused Max Linder depression because he narrowly escaped death.(With the support of the government, the UFA production plant was established in Germany.)
  • 1918, Hollywood took over as the leader of world cinema the end of the First World War. The language of cinema was already fully formed.
  • 1923, Pathé was able to take over Star Films and the Montreuil studio. George Méliès burned 500 negatives of all his films.Chaplin completes ‘A Woman of Paris.’
  • 1925, The theory of Conflict Montage is applied and Max Linder committed suicide.

My understanding of the history of film:

After watching this video, I have to say it is really shocking that such a new industry can grow so quickly. From the 11th century when scientists realised that passing a beam of light through a small hole could make an external image appear on the inside to 1891 when Edison invented the moving picture projector. The road to cinema developed extremely quickly.

When I saw how scared people were the first time they saw a film, people were afraid that the train coming through the curtain would hit them. And the new industry of cinema must have taken a long time to experiment with if it was to be accepted by the public. And how can the very first silent films be accepted and found interesting by the public? So in the early days there was the snake dance.

It’s amazing that there are always people exploring and thinking. And a big part of that is the actors. In the black-and-white period, the comedies that interested me the most were those made by Chaplin. In 1914, he made 35 comedies a year. That was a staggering number in those days. Whereas before, people were mute and dazed in front of the camera, not knowing what to do on camera, nowadays actors are lively and flexible in front of the camera, and it is also worth mentioning that in 1895 the first 35mm camera was invented in Britain. And in 1909, 35mm film became the international standard for film. None of this shows the great strides the film industry has made.

From the beginning, when picture images stuttered, to the later, when video played smoothly, from black and white to colour, from silent to sound, from the simple (like the snake dance) to the living (the mysterious hen) to the unrealistic (a trip to the moon), the film industry proved to the world that it was on the right track and heading in an incalculable direction.

Animation from beginning to present

Timeline for animation:

  • 1609, The Magic Lantern, moving images was projected onto a screen, but it’s assisted by human hands.
  • 1825, Thaumatrope, the first actual animation, This is a disc toy with pictures on both sides. When the rope is twirled, the pictures will merge into one because of the theory of “persistence of vision”.
  • 1879, Zoopraxiscope, the first contraption to show a clip of animation, this is a cylinder, and as successive images are placed and rotated, images can be seen moving through the slits.
  • 1900-1910, Animation began to exist on the big screen, started with simple faces.
  • 1914, Gertie the Dinosaur, the first characteristic animation by Winsor McCay.
  • 1928, Steamboat Willie, showed Mickey Mouse to the world. Music and violence appears in it.
  • 1929, Because of the great Depression, People keep going to the theater to watch cartoons as entertainment. Because of this demand, more cartoons was made.
  • 1937, Disney released the feature-length animated film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’, which arguably defined the highest standard of animation in the world at the time.
  • 1969, Animator began trying to create real looking monsters.
  • 1970, Created discovered children’s love of animation and created a bear with sunglasses to promote drinks.
  • 1986, Pixar Animation Studios was founded.
  • 1995, Pixar releases Toy Story, the first computer-generated animated film. This film had a huge impact on the world.
  • 2009, Avatar is being released in North America in 2D, 3D and IMAX-3D.
  • 2014, CGI is becoming important in animation. Simpson and many other animations were placed.

My understanding of the history of Animation:

It is only a little over a hundred years since the first animated short film in human history was created, and nowadays it is possible to use digital film technology proficiently. Such a rapid development has made me very interested in the development process of animation.

Take Gertie the Dinosaur, a veritable live-action animated film that organises its story, characters and live action into an interactive plot that feels amazing. This is why the film has been so well received by audiences. I think it’s probably because of its uniqueness and innovation.

And the one that impressed me the most was Snow White, the first colourful feature-length animated film produced by Disney. The plot is fascinating, with twists and turns, strong characters, vivid action and beautiful music.

Animation has evolved so rapidly that I had to take a keen interest in it and delve into 3D computer animation.The development of CGI in later years in particular made my interest in animation even more intense. I can’t wait to start my animation journey.

The history of VFX

Timeline for the history of VFX:

  • 1933, KING KONG, Stunning visual effects.
  • 1958, The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad.
  • 1963, Jason And The Argonauts, the skeleton battle.
  • 1985, Young Sherlock Holmes, computer generated character from photo.
  • 1989,The Abyss,used an earlier version of Photoshop to complete the 75s liquid water animation.
  • 1991, JUDGMENT DAY
  • 1993, JURASSIC PARK,Animators bring dinosaurs to life with computer technology.
  • 1995,CASPER and Toy Tory,The first film entirely made with computer-generated animated film
  • 1996, Dragonheart.
  • 1999, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, over 2000 visual effects.
  • 2001,  Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
  • 2002,  The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
  • 2003, The Matrix reloaded
  • 2005, KING KONG, the remake version.
  • 2006,  Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
  • 2007, Beowulf
  • 2008, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The actor’s face was captured to create an aging face.
  • 2009,Avatar.

My understanding of the history of VFX:

After watching this video, probably the most outstanding achievement within the VXF is 1993’s Jurassic Park, where for the first time in cinema history, digitally created, breathing characters with real skin, muscles and movement textures appeared.

For the first time in my memory, Star Wars showed high technology in a realistic way, with long-standing buildings in a state of disrepair, used spaceships with pockmarked surfaces, and bars filled with all kinds of creatures wearing all kinds of old weapons. It makes the viewer feel at home and is immersive. Perhaps because the success of the visual effects in Star Wars was not only in the technical production, but also in the conceptual breakthroughs that contributed so much to the work of the film.

Citation:

  1. The history of film:

2.Animation from beginning to present:

3. The history of VFX: