The history of Film, Animation and VFX

2021/10/8

Just sort of collating the history, helping to understand the relationship between them. Not a lot of deep understanding. 

Animation is another form of expression of film, not independent of film and television. Traditional film and animation share the same basic rules.

In the process of studying animation, the narrative techniques and lens language and other knowledge of traditional movies are particularly important parts. First, look at how “FILM” began.

History of Film

This documentary introduces us to the history of film. ( It’s long but impressive 😛

The 19th century began the period of technical preparation before cinema came into being. Different inventors made great contributions to movies. Their development of film machines and devices laid the foundation for the birth of art nouveau. Like many of his new inventions, early cinema was still a curiosity with great limitations.

From around the beginning of the twentieth century, film gradually began to become an art form. Lumiere created the first newsreel, travel film, documentary, comedy and other film styles, and another French film pioneer Georges Melies made many creative contributions to the development of the film from the documentary.

Later, silent films began to develop gradually. The camera started moving. People greatly enriched the language of film, and made groundbreaking use of techniques that made montage an important tool of cinematic art.

With these as the foundation, the development of film gradually mature. Thus, today’s world film from the breakthrough of innovation to the diversification of development situation.

History of Animation

Animation was just a moving drawing，just like film is a moving photo. As with the invention of the early movies, animation began with simple contraptions. They are sometimes more like toys. But the principle is still in use today.

Animation truly could start to exist on the big screen in the 19th. Like other art forms, animation is endowed with different kernels in different social contexts. For example when the great Depression, more and more cartoons were being made, and people’s love for animation grew stronger.

The invention of technology drove the development of animation. For example, The movie Snow White used a bunch of different and new techniques, like rotoscoping, a technique used to get real human movement. Different techniques have been explored, so that the development of animation gradually mature.

Nowadays, animation has developed rapidly and become a new medium to carry local culture, gradually developing into a diversified industry.

VFX

At the beginning of the birth of the film, there has been the VFX. It seems to have a symbiotic relationship with film.

From the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, film special effects also ushered in the first development climax after its birth. All kinds of amazing wonders and images of monsters frequently appear on the big screen.

Nowadays, the development of VFX has reached the point that it can be distinguished from the real thing. At the same time, he also acts as a bridge between the two fields of film and animation.

Timeline

Film:

• 1877, Eadweard Muybridge set up a camera system to take a series of pictures of horses in motion for his bet.
• 1890s, Serpentine dance becoming early film because there was no cinema.
• 1891, Thomas Edison had perfected the Kinetoscope.
• 1892, Emile Reynaud projected the first animated film on his Kinetoscope.
• 1893, Thomas Edison constructed the world’s first film production studio, the Black Maria.
• 1895, The first film was cast on the big screen.
• 1895, Robert W. Paul and Bert Akers had invented the first British 35 millimeter camera
• 1895, Lumiere brothers demonstrated their invention of motion pictures in Paris.
• 1896, Robert W. Paul demonstrated his projector the theatre graph. Lumiere system was displayed in London.
• 1896, The Derby, one of the earliest examples of newsreel by Robert W. Paul’s Kinetoscopes.
• 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.
• 1902, La gallina misteriosa  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.
• 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.
• 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.

Animation:

• 1609, The Magic Lantern, moving images was projected onto a screen.
• 1825, Thaumatrope, the first actual animation.
• 1879, Zoopraxiscope, the first contraption to show a clip of animation.
• 1900-1910, Animation began to exist on the big screen.
• 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.
• 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.

VFX:

• 1933, King Kong.
• 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.