Action Analysis is one of the fundamental princples of animation that underpins all types of animation: 2d, 3d, computer animation, stop motion, etc. This is a fundamental skill that all animators need to create polished, believable animation. An example of Action Analysis would be Shrek's swagger in the film, Shrek. The animators clearly understood (through action analysis) the type of walk achieved by a large and heavy individual (the real) and then applied their observations to the animated character of an ogre (the fantastic). It is action analysis that enabled the animation team to visually translate a real life situation into an ogre's walk, achieving such fantastic results. Key animation skills are demonstrated with in-depth illustrations, photographs and live action footage filmed with high speed cameras. Detailed Case Studies, practical assignments and industry interviews ground action analysis methodology with real life examples. Action Analysis for Animators is a essential guide for students, amateurs and professionals. * A title that unites classic principles of Action Analysis with contemporary workflows. Apply the practices of action analysis to any animaton process. * Extensive illustrations of people and animals in motion that break down the action of animals and humans in a step-by-step manner. * Tips included throughout the book on how to capture motion and analyse action. * Detailed case studies illustrated with line drawings, diagrams, photographs and live action footage, integrate real world examples with practical knowledge. * DVD included as a resource for amateur and experience animators, featuring Short Animations and Live Action examples juxtaposed with stills of animals and humans in motion.

Animation has been a staple of the filmmaking process since the early days of cinema. Animated shorts had been produced for decades, but not until 1937 did a major studio venture into animated features when Walt Disney produced Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Of the hundreds of animated feature films made since, many have proven their importance over the years while also entertaining generations of audiences. There are also many recent animated movies that promise to become classics in the field. In 100 Greatest American British Animated Films, Thomas S, Hischak looks at the most innovative, influential, and entertaining features that have been produced since the late 1930s-from traditional hand-drawn works and stop-motion films to computer-generated wonders. These movies have been selected not simply because of their popularity or critical acceptance but for their importance. Entries in this volume contain *plot information *production history *critical reaction *commentary on the film's cinematic quality *a discussion of the film's influence *voice casts *production credits *songs *sequels, spin-offs, Broadway versions, and television adaptations *awards and nominations Each movie is also discussed in the context of its original release as well as the ways in which the film has lived on in the years since. Familiar favorites and lesser-known gems are included, making the book a fascinating journey for both the avid animation fan and the everyday moviegoer. With a sweeping look at more than eight decades of movies, 100 Greatest American and British Animated Films highlights some of the most treasured features of all time.

"Anime and Philosophy" focuses on some of the most-loved, most-intriguing anime films and series, as well as lesser-known works, to find what lies at their core. "Astro Boy, Dragon Ball Z, Ghost in the Shell, " and "Spirited Away" are just a few of the films analyzed in this book. In these stories about monsters, robots, children, and spirits who grapple with the important questions in life we find insight crucial to our times: lessons on morality, justice, and heroism, as well as meditations on identity, the soul, and the meaning -- or meaninglessness -- of life. Anime has become a worldwide phenomenon, reaching across genres, mediums, and cultures. For those wondering why so many people love anime or for die-hard fans who want to know more, "Anime and Philosophy" provides a deeper appreciation of the art and storytelling of this distinctive Japanese culture.

Animation in Context is an illustrated introduction to cultural theory, contextual research and critical analysis. By making academic language more accessible, it empowers animators with the confidence and enthusiasm to engage with theory as a fun, integral, and applied part of the creative process. Interviews with contemporary industry professionals and academics, student case studies and a range of practical research exercises, combine to encourage a more versatile approach to animation practice - from creating storyboards to set designs and soundtracks; as well as developing virals, 3D zoetropes and projection mapping visuals. Mark Collington focuses on a core selection of theoretical approaches that shape animation narrative, supported by a broader set of shared theoretical principles from the worlds of art, design, film and media studies. This discussion is underpinned by cross-disciplinary thinking on a range of topics including genre, humour, montage and propaganda. These are applied to the analysis of a range of animated films and projects from Disney and Anime, to independent artist-filmmakers such as Wendy Tilby, Amanda Forbis and Jerzy Kucia. These ideas are also applied to other uses of animation such as advertising, sitcom, gaming and animated documentary.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (David Hand, 1937) occupies a central place within the history of global animation. Based on the German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, the film was the first feature-length animated film produced by the Disney Studio and served to announce the animated cartoon as an industrial art form. Yet Disney's landmark version not only set in motion the Golden Age of the Hollywood cartoon, but has continued to stand as an international sensation, prompting multiple revisions and remakes within a variety of national filmmaking contexts. This book explores the enduring qualities that have marked Snow White's influence and legacy, providing a collection of original chapters that reflect upon its pioneering use of technology and contributions to animation's visual style, the film's reception within an American context, and its status as a global cultural phenomenon.

She Animates examines the work of twelve female animation directors in the Soviet Union and Russia, who have long been overlooked by film scholars and historians. Our approach examines these directors within history, culture, and industrial practice in animation. In addition to making a case for including these women and their work in the annals of film and animation history, this volume also makes an argument for why their work should be considered part of the tradition of women's cinema. We offer textual analysis that focuses on the changing attitudes towards both the woman question and feminism by examining the films in light of the emergence and evolution of a Soviet female subjectivity that still informs women's cinema in Russia today.

Discover everything you've ever wondered about your favourite LEGO® Disney Princess™ in this super-cute starter guide

What is Belle's favourite pastime? Who does she meet inside the castle? How does Belle break the enchanted spell? Find out the answers to all of your questions as you get to know this brave and kind princess.

Featuring a simple Q&A format, fun facts, and showcasing beautiful LEGO sets, mini-dolls, and accessories, DK's LEGO Disney Princess Meet Belle is a charming introduction to LEGO Princess Belle. With a bright and playful design and cheerful, inviting text, DK's guide encourages young readers to explore the Princess' amazing world from her incredible adventures underwater and on land. A perfect entry level guide for young fans, which can be built into a cherished collection.

This book examines the role of memory in animation, as well as the ways in which the medium of animation can function as a technology of remembering and forgetting. By doing so, it establishes a platform for the cross-fertilization between the burgeoning fields of animation studies and memory studies. By analyzing a wide range of different animation types, from stop motion to computer animation, and from cell animated cartoons to painted animation, this book explores the ways in which animation can function as a representational medium. The five parts of the book discuss the interrelation of animation and memory through the lens of materiality, corporeality, animation techniques, the city, and animated documentaries. These discussions raise a number of questions: how do animation films bring forth personal and collective pasts? What is the role of found footage, objects, and sound in the material and affective dimensions of animation? How does animation serve political ends? The essays in this volume offer answers to these questions through a wide variety of case studies and contexts. The book will appeal to both a broad academic and a more general readership with an interest in animation studies, memory studies, cultural studies, comparative visual arts, and media studies. Chapter "Introduction" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

She Animates examines the work of twelve female animation directors in the Soviet Union and Russia, who have long been overlooked by film scholars and historians. Our approach examines these directors within history, culture, and industrial practice in animation. In addition to making a case for including these women and their work in the annals of film and animation history, this volume also makes an argument for why their work should be considered part of the tradition of women's cinema. We offer textual analysis that focuses on the changing attitudes towards both the woman question and feminism by examining the films in light of the emergence and evolution of a Soviet female subjectivity that still informs women's cinema in Russia today.

DreamWorks is one of the biggest names in modern computer-animation: a studio whose commercial success and impact on the medium rivals that of Pixar, and yet has received far less critical attention.The book will historicise DreamWorks' contribution to feature animation, while presenting a critical history of the form in the new millennium. It will look beyond the films' visual aesthetics to assess DreamWorks' influence on the narrative and tonal qualities which have come to define contemporary animated features, including their use of comedy, genre, music, stars, and intertextuality. It makes original interventions in the fields of film and animation studies by discussing each of these techniques in a uniquely animated context, with case studies from Shrek, Antz, Kung Fu Panda, Madagascar, Shark Tale, Bee Movie, Trolls and many others. It also looks at the unusual online afterlife of these films, and the ways in which they have been reappropriated and remixed by subversive online communities.

The early twenty-first century has seen an explosion of animation. Cartoon characters are everywhere-in cinema, television, and video games and as brand logos. There are new technological objects that seem to have lives of their own-from Facebook algorithms that suggest products for us to buy to robots that respond to human facial expressions. The ubiquity of animation is not a trivial side-effect of the development of digital technologies and the globalization of media markets. Rather, it points to a paradigm shift. In the last century, performance became a key term in academic and popular discourse: The idea that we construct identities through our gestures and speech proved extremely useful for thinking about many aspects of social life. The present volume proposes an anthropological concept of animation as a contrast and complement to performance: The idea that we construct social others by projecting parts of ourselves out into the world might prove useful for thinking about such topics as climate crisis, corporate branding, and social media. Like performance, animation can serve as a platform for comparisons of different cultures and historical eras. Teri Silvio presents an anthropology of animation through a detailed ethnographic account of how characters, objects, and abstract concepts are invested with lives, personalities, and powers-and how people interact with them-in contemporary Taiwan. The practices analyzed include the worship of wooden statues of Buddhist and Daoist deities and the recent craze for cute vinyl versions of these deities, as well as a wildly popular video fantasy series performed by puppets. She reveals that animation is, like performance, a concept that works differently in different contexts, and that animation practices are deeply informed by local traditions of thinking about the relationships between body and soul, spiritual power and the material world. The case of Taiwan, where Chinese traditions merge with Japanese and American popular culture, uncovers alternatives to seeing animation as either an expression of animism or as "playing God." Looking at the contemporary world through the lens of animation will help us rethink relationships between global and local, identity and otherness, human and non-human.

This book provides the most comprehensive history and analysis of Australian animation published to date. Spanning from the 1910s to the present day, it explores a wide-range both of independent animation, and of large-scale commercial productions. Presented within a uniquely international context, it details the frequent links between Australian animation and overseas productions. New perspectives and original information are offered on a variety of international subjects such as: Felix the Cat, the Australian Hanna-Barbera studios, and the Australian Walt Disney studios. Drawing on both extensive archival research and original interviews this book illuminates, for the first time, the breadth and richness of Australia's animation history.

This book discusses developments and continuities in experimental animation that, since Robert Russet and Cecile Starr's Experimental Animation: Origins of a New Art (1976), has proliferated in the context of expanded cinema, performance and live 'making' and is today exhibited in galleries, public sites and online. With reference to historical, critical, phenomenological and inter-disciplinary approaches, international researchers offer new and diverse methodologies for thinking through these myriad animation practices. This volume addresses fundamental questions of form, such as drawing and the line, but also broadens out to encompass topics such as the inter-medial, post-humanism, the real, fakeness and fabrication, causation, new forms of synthetic space, ecology, critical re-workings of cartoons, and process as narrative. This book will appeal to cross and inter-disciplinary researchers, animation practitioners, scholars, teachers and students from Fine Art, Film and Media Studies, Philosophy and Aesthetics.

Winner of the 2017 McLaren-Lambart Award for Best Book on the Subject of Animation Studying landscape in cinema isn't quite new; it'd be hard to imagine Woody Allen without New York, or the French New Wave without Paris. But the focus on live-action cinema leaves a significant gap in studying animated films. With the almost total pervasiveness of animation today, this collection provides the reader with a greater sense of how the animated landscapes of the present relate to those of the past. Including essays from international perspectives, Animated Landscapes introduces an idea that has seemed, literally, to be in the background of animation studies. The collection provides a timely counterpoint to the dominance of character (be that either animated characters such as Mickey Mouse or real world personalities such as Walt Disney) that exists within animation scholarship (and film studies more generally). Chapters address a wide range of topics including history, case studies in national contexts (including Australia, Japan, China and Latvia), the traversal of animated landscape, the animation of fantastical landscapes, and the animation of interactive landscapes. Animated Landscapes promises to be an invaluable addition to the existing literature, for the most overlooked aspect of animation.

From age eighteen on, I had a partner, a kindred spirit. I had a friend. Someone bound and determined to keep me from the worst in myself. At a private East Coast college, two young women meet in art class. Sharon, ambitious but lacking confidence, arrives from rural Kentucky. Mel, brash and wildly gifted, brings her own brand of hellfire from the backwaters of Florida. Both outsiders, Sharon and Mel become fervent friends, bonding over their love of classic cartoons, their dysfunctional working-class families, and - above all - their craft: drawing. Mel, to understand her tumultuous past, and Sharon, to lose herself altogether. A decade later, Sharon and Mel are an award-winning animation duo, living and working in Brooklyn, and poised on the edge of even greater success after the release of their first full-length feature. But with this success comes self-doubt, and cracks in their relationship start to form. When unexpected tragedy strikes, long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming. Funny and heartbreaking by turn, The Animators is a dazzling story of female friendship, the cost of a creative life, and the secrets that can undo us.

This book examines the popular and critically acclaimed films of Pixar Animation Studios in their cultural and historical context. Whether interventionist sheriff dolls liberating oppressed toys (Toy Story) or exceptionally talented rodents hoping to fulfill their dreams (Ratatouille), these cinematic texts draw on popular myths and symbols of American culture. As Pixar films refashion traditional American figures, motifs and narratives for contemporary audiences, this book looks at their politics - from the frontier myth in light of traditional gender roles (WALL-E) to the notion of voluntary associations and neoliberalism (The Incredibles). Through close readings, this volume considers the aesthetics of digital animation, including voice-acting and the simulation of camera work, as further mediations of the traditional themes and motifs of American culture in novel form. Dietmar Meinel explores the ways in which Pixar films come to reanimate and remediate prominent myths and symbols of American culture in all their cinematic, ideological and narrative complexity.

In the American imagination, the Soviet Union was a drab cultural wasteland, a place where playful creative work and individualism was heavily regulated and censored. Yet despite state control, some cultural industries flourished in the Soviet era, including animation. Drawing the Iron Curtain tells the story of the golden age of Soviet animation and the Jewish artists who enabled it to thrive. Art historian Maya Balakirsky Katz reveals how the state-run animation studio Soyuzmultfilm brought together Jewish creative personnel from every corner of the Soviet Union and served as an unlikely haven for dissidents who were banned from working in other industries. Surveying a wide range of Soviet animation produced between 1919 and 1989, from cutting-edge art films like Tale of Tales to cartoons featuring """"Soviet Mickey Mouse"""" Cheburashka, she finds that these works played a key role in articulating a cosmopolitan sensibility and a multicultural vision for the Soviet Union. Furthermore, she considers how Jewish filmmakers used animation to depict distinctive elements of their heritage and ethnic identity, whether producing films about the Holocaust or using fellow Jews as models for character drawings. Providing a copiously illustrated introduction to many of Soyuzmultfilm's key artistic achievements, while revealing the tumultuous social and political conditions in which these films were produced, Drawing the Iron Curtain has something to offer animation fans and students of Cold War history alike.

Celebrated as Pixar's "Chief Creative Officer," John Lasseter is a revolutionary figure in animation history and one of today's most important filmmakers. Lasseter films from Luxo Jr. to Toy Story and Cars 2 highlighted his gift for creating emotionally engaging characters. At the same time, they helped launch computer animation as a viable commercial medium and serve as blueprints for the genre's still-expanding commercial and artistic development. Richard Neupert explores Lasseter's signature aesthetic and storytelling strategies and details how he became the architect of Pixar's studio style. Neupert contends that Lasseter's accomplishments emerged from a unique blend of technical skill and artistic vision, as well as a passion for working with collaborators. In addition, Neupert traces the director's career arc from the time Lasseter joined Pixar in 1984. As Neupert shows, Lasseter's ability to keep a foot in both animation and CGI allowed him to thrive in an unconventional corporate culture that valued creative interaction between colleagues. The ideas that emerged built an animation studio that updated and refined classical Hollywood storytelling practices--and changed commercial animation forever.

With an output of 250,000 minutes annually, and with 8,000 producers and production units around, the Chinese are leading the field of animated films. It is almost impossible to completely cover ninety years of filmmaking, this guide provides a comprehensible introduction to the industry's infancy, its Golden Age (Shanghai Animation Film Studio) and today's Chinese animation (in feature films, television series, and students films). There are classics such as Princess Iron Fan (made at the time of the Japanese occupation) and the colour Havoc in Heaven, both starring the Monkey King Sun Wukong, as well as the TV stars (Blue Cat, Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf) and many almost unknown works by young filmmakers who are not focusing on a target audience of children (like so much of the industry output).

After winning an Oscar for Spirited Away, the Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki's animated films were dubbed into many languages. Some of the films are saturated with religious themes distinctive to Japanese culture. How were these themes, or what Miyazaki describes as ""animism,"" received abroad, especially considering that they are challenging to translate? This book examines how American and German audiences, grounded on Judeo-Christian traditions, responded to the animism in Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind (1984), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1998), Spirited Away (2001), and Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008). By a close reading of adaptations and film reviews, and a study of transitions in their verbal and visual approaches to animism, this book demonstrates that the American and German receptions transcended the conventional view of an antagonistic relationship between animism and Christianity. With the ability to change their shapes into forms easily accessible to other cultural arenas, the anime films make a significant contribution to inter-religious dialogue in the age of secularisation.

Kyoto Animation is a studio that, having risen from very humble beginnings, has gained recognition the world over as a uniquely inspired and inventive enterprise. This book examines Kyoto Animation's philosophy and creative vision with close reference to its anime. It focuses on the studio's choice of genres, themes and imagery while exploring its maintenance of high production values. The analysis highlights the studio's commitment to the pursuit of both artistic excellence and technical experimentation--and its reliance on the imagination and expertise of in-house staff.

You've researched your character extensively, tailored her to your audience, sketched hundreds of versions, and now you lean back content as you gaze at your final character model sheet. But now what? Whether you want to use her in an animated film, television show, video game, web comic, or children's book, you're going to have to make her move. Sure, there are mechanics involved in that movement, but what's most important is the emotion and drama you convey through her motions. How a character looks and is costumed starts to tell her story, but her body language reveals even more. Character Motion Mentor shows you how to pose your character, create emotion through facial expressions, and stage your character to create drama. Author Tom Bancroft addresses each topic with clear, concise prose, and then shows you what he really means through commenting on and redrawing artwork from a variety of "animation apprentices." His assignments allow you to join in and bring your drawing to the next level with concrete techniques, as well as more theoretical analysis. Character Motion Mentor is an apprenticeship in a book. Professional artists from a variety of media offer their experience through additional commentary. These include Marcus Hamilton (Dennis the Menace), Terry Dodson (X-Men), Bobby Rubio (Pixar), Buck Lewis (Disney/Dreamworks), and more. With a foreword by comicbook artist Adam Hughes, who has produced work for DC, Marvel Comics, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros. Pictures, and othe companies.

Although some credit the environmental movement of the 1970s, with its profound impact on children's television programs and movies, for paving the way for later eco-films, the history of environmental expression in animated film reaches much further back in American history, as "That's All Folks?" makes clear.
Countering the view that the contemporary environmental movement--and the cartoons it influenced--came to life in the 1960s, Robin L. Murray and Joseph K. Heumann reveal how environmentalism was already a growing concern in animated films of the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s. From Felix the Cat cartoons to Disney's beloved "Bambi" to Pixar's "Wall-E" and James Cameron's "Avatar," this volume shows how animated features with environmental themes are moneymakers on multiple levels--particularly as broad-based family entertainment and conveyors of consumer products. Only Ralph Bakshi's X-rated "Fritz the Cat" and R-rated "Heavy Traffic" and "Coonskin," with their violent, dystopic representation of urban environments, avoid this total immersion in an anti-environmental consumer market.
Showing us enviro-toons in their cultural and historical contexts, this book offers fresh insights into the changing perceptions of the relationship between humans and the environment and a new understanding of environmental and animated cinema.