Animation: The History and Development of Stop Motion Animation

Pioneers and Technologies

What is meant by the 'persistence of vision'?
Persistence of vision means that the human perception can retain a visual image for a short-term of time (a fraction of a second), this means that we see a subtle blend of what was happening now and what happened a fraction ago (Media College, ND). Below, are the early devices which was used in the persistence of vision to create an illusion on motion.

Thaumatrope
This device was created in the 19th century (1825) by an English physician. This device consist of a disc with two different images on each sides. The device is attached to two strings at each side and when the thaumatrope is rapidly rotated these would seem that the two separate images from each side appear to be combined with one another.

Sleepy Hollow | Source

Phenakistoscope
This devices was invented by a Belgian physicist called Joseph Plateau and an Austrian professor of practical geometry Simon Stampfer (Wikipedia, ND). Phenakistoscope is in a form of a spinning disc vertically attached to a handle (in the centre). The disc is compiled with a series of drawings showing different sequence of the animation. This device can only be used by one person at a time (Juxtapoz, June 2014). To use the phenakistoscope you would spin the disc in a particular direction and the still images would seem to appear to be moving. Using slits would help see the animation clearer, as it would stop the animation from being blurred out.

Phenakistoscope | Source

Zoetrope
This device was created by William Horner in 1834. The device is in a form of a drum with slits on the around it. The device contains a sequence of still images, which when the zoetrope is turned a circular motion, it would create the illusion of movement. This device was based on Plateau's phenakistoscope. To use the zoetrope, one could look by the slits and inside the drum, series of still images are shown and when spun, it would create an animation.

Praxinoscope
This device was created by Charles-Emile Reynaud, it is the successor to the zoetrope, its invented in France in 187&. The device uses a strip of images placed in around a spinning cylinder (Wikipedia, ND). To use the praxinoscope, you would place a series of still images in sequence in a round paper and place into the cylinder. The cylinder has mirrors and the animation would appear by the reflection of the of imaged that was projected from the mirror.

Kinetoscope
This device was inveted by Thomas Edison and William Kennedy Dickson, in the United States in 1891. The kinetoscope is comprised and upright wooden cabinet, four foot high with a peephole in the top (Early Cinema, ND). In order to see the animation while using the kinestoscope, you have to peep through the hole. A film would be placed into the reel, and the animation wouldn't last more than ten minutes.

Developers

George Pal

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George Pal used puppets to create his animations. Instead of moving a single puppet to create a stop motion animation, they use different hand-carved wooden puppets frame by frame in which the puppet moves or changes its expressions (Wikipedia, ND).  He's well-known for his Puppetoons, which includes Jasper and the Beanstalk, John Henry and the Inky Poo, and Rhythm in the Ranks. He found his interest in animation through drawing posters while working at Hunnia Films. While working in there, he acquired an idea of using inanimate object move and make it as an animation by learning more about picture cartooning.

John Henry and the Inky Poo

Willis O'Brien

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Willis O'Brien is a stop motion animation and a motion picture special effects pioneer. What inspired him to do animation was the spark of interest towards dinosaurs and during his past time he would illustrate and do sculptures of dinosaurs. His most well-known work includes The Lost World (1925), King Kong (1933) and Mighty Joe Young (1949) (Wikipedia, ND).

King Kong (1933)

Ray Harryhausen

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Ray Harryhausen created a form of stop-motion model animation called 'Dynamation'. Dynamation is the process of that the screen will appear to be split while animation is being enacted in the middle layer (The Metzinger Sister, 2013). His interest towards animation was sparked when he saw the King Kong film, during his days science-fiction was getting more recognition and is well received by everyone during his time.His most well-known work includes Mighty Joe Young (1949) whom he worked with his mentor, Willis O'Brien; The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Jason and the Argonauts (1963). 

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

Phil Tippett

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Phil Tippett is a visual effect supervisor and producer. He specialises in creature design, stop-motion and computerised animation (Wikipedia, ND). He co-developed the technique called 'Go Motion' which is a variation of stop motion animation which involves motion blur into each frames, this is to produce a realistic blur to the animation. Go motion are images of the object being taken as it moves, in comparison to stop motion which each frames are taken between each small movements of the object (Zhang, 2011). His inspiration to work with animation was sparked by Ray Harryhausen's animation, which was The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad. His works includes The Empire Strikes Back (1980) with Jon Berg; AT-AT Imperial Walkers, and in 1981 he used go motion for Dragonslayer.

The Empire Strikes Back 

Otmar Gutmann

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Otmar Gutmann is a stop-motion clay animator and his most well-known work is Pingu, which ran for 14 years with 6 seasons (157 episodes).
Gutmann was known to be working in a small studio with graphic artist Harald Mucke for a competition to produce television advertisements. Their first produced production was called Hugo.
Gutmann's main aim towards the production of Pingu is to make it educational for children. 

Pingu

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Tim Burton and Henry Selick

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Tim Burton in his early years developed a love for animation by watching 'Jason and the Argonauts', his works were heavily influence by the works of Dr Seuss and Roald Dahl. His first proper stop-motion animation was 'Vincent'.
Henry Selick started drawing at a young age from when he was three years and as he grew up he became enticed at the art of animation.

Vincent

Brothers Quay

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Stephen and Timothy Quay are identical twins born in Norristown, Pennsylvania on 17th June 1947. Before turning to be a stop-motion animator, the Quay brothers worked as professional illustrators. Their work was included in the first edition of Anthony Burgess' novel 'The Clockwork Testament' and 'Enderby's End'.
The majority of their animation films involved puppets made of doll parts and other organic and inorganic materials.
Their most well-known work was the 'Street of Crocodiles' which was based by the Polish author and artist Bruno Schulz.

Street of Crocodiles

Adam Shaheen (Cuppa Coffee)

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Adam Shaheen has worked in various types of animation including clay, Lego, computer based animation and other more. He is the founder and owner of Cuppa Coffee Studies which is where he develops and produces all his original programming. He shoes includes Celebrity Deathmatch, Jojo's Circus, Rick and Steve and other more.

Celebrity Deathmatch 

Nick Park (Aardman)

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Nick Park was born on the 6th December 1958, in Preston, Lancashire. He created his first stop-animation when he was 13 years old, after joining Aardman Animations. He loved drawing cartoons as a child and took after his father who was an amateur inventor.
He used plasticines when making animation and his most well-known work was 'Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit'.

Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit

Part 3

TV

Soupe Opera-1

The programme shows fruit and vegetables, which moves themselves and cut themselves to form animals and objects. This programmed was particularly aimed at adolescents (from 1990s) (Wikipedia, ND). However, in my point of view, if this programme was shown nowadays, this would be a very suitable programme for young children. The materials used in this animation was inanimate objects like vegetables, fruits and a basket.

Morel Orel S3 E1 Numb

Moral Orel is about Orel Puppington, a student at Alfred G. Diorama Elementary School. The series is a satire of the archetypes of Middle American suburban life. This programme has inappropriate content such as sexual innuendos. This is aimed at adults due the contents of the programme. The animation is made out of clay.


Feature Film

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

Jason and the Argonauts was produced by Charles H. Schneer in a collaboration with Ray Harryhausen, it involved iconic fight scene featuring multiple skeleton warriors. This film is most aimed at male adult viewer due to its plot and its content.

Chicken Run (2000)

Chicken Run's plot revolves around a band of chickens who sees smooth-talking Rhode Island Red named Rocky as their only hope to escape from certain death when their owners decided to move from selling eggs to chicken pot pies (Wikipedia, ND). The film was mostly aimed at children due to its content. Chicken Run is a clay animation.

Advertisement

Bacardi Bottle by PES

The advertisement advertises alcohol, the advertisement shows a recreation of a submarine being the bottle of spirit submerging out of a lemon. This advertisement is aimed at adult due to the content of alcohol, which is not suitable for young teens and children.

Kinder Surprise eggs

This advertisement shows famous children's show as a price inside the egg, therefore, this advertisement's audience is aimed at younger children. This made of

Music Video

The White Stripes - Fell in Love with a Girl

This music video features Lego animation, therefore, this is most likely aimed at young adults because of its content (lyrics). It wouldn't appeal to younger audience partially because of the genre of the music, although, it looked like it's aimed at younger audience due to the use of Lego pieces. This music video is a Lego animation.

Ident (channel ident)

E4 Ident - Hotel Room

This channel ident would is generally aimed at every age, E4, they inanimate objects to create interesting animation which attracts both children and adult.


Conclusion

In my opinion, I think that stop-animation is aimed at universal audience. Although, it's aimed at a universal audience, it is most likely to appeal to younger audience. Most stop-animation films or series that are aimed especially for children has some sort of learning outcome from the programme. There are probably more stop-motion animation aimed at children than adults, however, you can't rule out the possibility of adults not watching stop-motion animation. There are different types of stop-motion animation that could attract older audience.

I have a mixed view on how the future holds about stop-motion animation. This is because of the increase of more digital programmes being produced. A lot of children and adults now, are more interested in modern digital animation. However, I don't think it would disappear because there are probably still going to be an amount of audience who demands for stop-animation films and series. Although, it will be in low demand and not as popular as back in the days.