Portal:Animation

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Introduction

The bouncing ball animation above consists of these six frames repeated indefinitely.

Animation is a filmmaking technique by which still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets (cels) to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animation has been recognized as an artistic medium, specifically within the entertainment industry. Many animations are computer animations made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Stop motion animation, in particular claymation, has continued to exist alongside these other forms.

Animation is contrasted with live-action film, although the two do not exist in isolation. Many moviemakers have produced films that are a hybrid of the two. As CGI increasingly approximates photographic imagery, filmmakers can easily composite 3D animations into their film rather than using practical effects for showy visual effects (VFX). (Full article...)

Outline of animation

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Scooby-Doo is a long-running American animated television series produced for Saturday morning television in several different versions from 1969 to the present. The series was created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears for Hanna-Barbera Productions, who produced numerous spin-offs and related works until being absorbed in 1997 into Warner Bros., which has handled production since then. Though the format of the show and the cast (and ages) of characters have varied significantly over the years, the most familiar versions of the show feature a talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo and four teenagers: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers. These five characters (officially referred to collectively as "Mystery, Inc.", but never referred to as such in the original series) drive around the world in a van called the "Mystery Machine," and solve mysteries typically involving tales of ghosts and other supernatural forces. At the end of each episode, the supernatural forces turn out to have a rational explanation (usually a criminal of some sort trying to scare people away so that they can commit crimes).

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Elephants Dream

Credit: Ton Roosendaal

Elephants Dream (code-named Orange) is a short computer-generated short film that was produced almost completely using the free software 3D suite Blender (except for the modular sound studio Reaktor and the cluster that rendered the final production, which ran Mac OS X). It premiered on 24 March 2006, after about 8 months of work.

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... that the animated film The Exigency took thirteen years to make?
... that "Arnold's Christmas", now considered one of the most memorable episodes from the animated series Hey Arnold!, was almost rejected by network executives because it depicted the Vietnam War?
... that the 1937 Fleischer Studios strike in New York City was the first major labor strike in the animation industry?
... that Paul Dini was a writer for both the animated television series Batman: The Animated Series and the video game series Batman: Arkham?
... that the French animated film The Summit of the Gods is based on a Japanese manga series?
... that Bruce Timm created most of the character designs for Batman: The Animated Series?

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Animation in itself is an art form, and that's the point I think always needs clarification. True animation exists without any background, or any color, or any sound, or anything else; it exists in your hand. And you can take it and flip it. [...] What makes animation is the fact that you have a series of drawings that move. You don't even have to have a camera, you see; animation exists without it. If you want to broaden your audience, or make it more colorful or add music, then you put it under a camera one frame at a time, and then you run it at the same speed as you flip it, and then you have animation. If it depends basically upon soundtrack, or basically upon music, or color, graphic design, or anything else to sustain itself, then it is not unique to animation.

— Chuck Jones

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Zenas Winsor McCay (c. 1867–71 – July 26, 1934) was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip Little Nemo (1905–14; 1924–26) and the animated film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). From a young age, McCay was a quick, prolific, and technically dextrous artist. He started his professional career making posters and performing for dime museums, and began illustrating newspapers and magazines in 1898. He joined the New York Herald in 1903, where he created popular comic strips such as Little Sammy Sneeze and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. Between 1911 and 1921 McCay self-financed and animated ten films, some of which survive only as fragments. McCay and his assistants worked for twenty-two months on his most ambitious film, The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), a patriotic recreation of the German torpedoing in 1915 of the RMS Lusitania. In his drawing, McCay made bold, prodigious use of linear perspective, particularly in detailed architecture and cityscapes. He textured his editorial cartoons with fine hatching, and made color a central element in Little Nemo. His comic strip work has influenced generations of cartoonists and illustrators. He pioneered inbetweening, the use of registration marks, cycling, and other animation techniques that later became standard.

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The cast members of The Simpsons, an American animated sitcom that includes six main voice actors, and numerous regular cast and recurring guest stars. The principal cast consists of Dan Castellaneta (pictured), Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria and Harry Shearer. Tress MacNeille, Pamela Hayden, Maggie Roswell, Russi Taylor, Marcia Wallace, Marcia Mitzman Gaven and Karl Wiedergott have appeared as supporting cast. Repeat guest cast members include Albert Brooks, Phil Hartman, Jon Lovitz, Joe Mantegna and Kelsey Grammer. With one exception, episode credits list only the voice actors, and not the characters they voice. Both Fox and the production crew wanted to keep their identities secret during the early seasons and closed most of the recording sessions while refusing to publish photos of the recording artists. The network eventually revealed which roles each actor performed in the episode "Old Money", because the producers said the voice actors should receive credit for their work. With the exception of Shearer, every main cast member has won an Emmy for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance. However, Shearer was nominated for the award in 2009 for his performance in the episode "The Burns and the Bees". Castellaneta has won four and Azaria has won three, while Kavner, Cartwright, Smith, Wallace, Grammer and guest star Jackie Mason have each won one.

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More did you know...

...that Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan, a 2012 Indian animated film, was a surprise success at the box office?
...that the directors of Chipotle Mexican Grill's short film The Scarecrow took inspiration from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Metropolis?
...that "Weird Al" Yankovic (pictured) offered to guest star in an episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic after a co-executive producer found him showcasing fan works with his music on Twitter?

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Anniversaries for April 23

Films released

1927 – Don Go On (United States)
1938 – The Penguin Parade (United States)
1943 – Fall Out Fall In (United States)
1943 – Jolly Good Furlough (United States)
1949 – Mouse Wreckers (United States)
1960 – Who Scent You? (United States)
2016 – Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions (Japan)

Television series and specials

2010 – Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, an American animated television series begins airing on Cartoon Network
2010 – Generator Rex, an American animated television series begins airing on Cartoon Network
2013 – Teen Titans Go!, an American animated television series based on the DC Comics fictional superhero team Teen Titans begins airing on Cartoon Network