Ms Collins: Blackton Vs Cohl. Who held greater importance?

Decide on who you believe has played the most important role in animation
J.Stuart Blackton was a film producer and director; he is seen as one of the pioneers of the animation industry. In 1906 Blackton made the first animated film called "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces." Blackton drew faces on a blackboard and then photographed them on film, these films were then run sequentially to the faces of the characters he illustrated. James Stuart Blackton was originally a journalist for the New York world, during this point, he was asked to interview Mr. Thomas Edison. While conversing, Blackton had made some sketches that ultimately impressed Edison which started his career in motion picture camera.


It could be argued that Blackton's creation in that time was not animated cartoons in the truest but rather based on stop motion techniques. Blackton's success ended in vain, due to a lack of motivation and Blackton not publishing his work.

Emile Cohl found his idea of taking part in animation from the success of  "The Haunted Hotel" which was directed by J. Stuart Blackton, Cohl had studied this film frame by frame picking up every detail to, therefore, discover the techniques of animation.  In 19098 Cohl produced the animated film "Fantasmagorie" as a result of what he had learned from Blackton's success. This movie was credited as the first fully animated film ever made. The film consisted of 700 hand drawn drawings. Many of Cohl's work had received a significant amount of reviews which were both negative and positive.

From this, it could be argued that both Blackton and Cohl are as important as each other as Blackton's lack of hard work led to Cohl seeing something Blackton didn't see in his own work. However, the fact that Blackton had created such work meant that if he didn't the idea would not have come to Cohls attention.

On the other hand, it could be argued that other people contributed to playing a significant part in revolutionizing the animation industry. For example, Windsor McCay who was an American animator and was famous for the creation of  "Gertie the Dinosaur" which was an interactive sequence whereby McCay had been giving orders to an educated dinosaur

In conclusion, it could be argued that there was not only one pioneer that pushed the animation industry but rather many animators that collectively played their part in aiding the growth of the animation industry helping it become so evolved and significant in this present time.

Development of Animation (Ms Collins)

Development of animation 

In the 16th century, the idea of flip books came to reality, and these were distributed through Europe. The use of flip books at that time was not for child use or animations but sexual pleasure, exposing the female/male parts. However, after this during the 1800's there were two new types of animations.The Phenakistiscope and the praxinoscope were invented, it was said that the praxinoscope was the most advanced method of animation for its time. The praxinoscope had worked much like the zoetrope but used an inner circle of mirrors rather than having the slits. Whereby the Phenakistiscope was introduced by a Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau and his sons.
Charles Emile Reynaud who had invented the Praxinoscope had significantly developed a way of projecting animation on the screen. This showed to be a significant development that would change the future of animations. Cinematography aided this development. George Melies who was a filmmaker had been credited with being the inventor of special effects; his fame also came from an accidental invention of stop frame animation.

During the 1800's another design was brought to the animation industry, this was the Thaumatrope which was invented by Dr. John Ayrton in 1825. The meaning behind the Thaumatrope is the 'magic turn.' The way in which this worked was to pieces of paper stuck back to back with a piece of string through it. The aim of this form of animation was to amuse children like all other types of animation.
 Following this event, in 1826 the first photograph was taken with the camera obscura by a company called Nicephone Niepie. Eight hours was the length of time that was taken to capture a photo.

Ultimately, the development of the printing industry held a great significance, by 1983 two New York publications were printing in color, these were the Times and the New York Journal. This revolution of printing led to the comic strip emerging; this was an important and intrinsic part of the animation industry.

   

MS Collins: Stop motion animation

Stop motion animation
What is the meaning of animation? An animation is the creation of an optical illusion giving life to inanimate objects or drawings. Examples include clocks, a mat or even a picture of a bear.
Within animation, there are different types that need to be taken into consideration, one of which is the use of computers and using softwares such as flash. Also stop motion and time lapse are other ways in which animations can be created.

To understand animation, having knowledge about the origins of this is vital. Animation originated from the Latin word 'anime' means to give life. 2.5 million years ago, the animation was seen in its rudimentary form through Paleolithic cave paintings, and as early as 70 BC there was evidence of a mechanism capable of projecting hand-drawn images into the screen.

History of animation
In 1887, a man called H.W. Goodwin came up with the idea of a celluloid film which was able to hold images, this was made up of gum cotton and gum camphor. Following from this invention, in 1893 Edison had produced a moving film picture on the walls, the way in which this had worked was by the movie moving over a series of wheels too, therefore, produce the image. 1900 was where James Stuart Blackton was able to use and manipulate animation techniques to produce a short film. Using the drawing process of characters and not showing the artist, this created the effect of the pictures just appearing out of nowhere. The first actual animation film was produced in 1908 by Emile Cohl, this movie was called 'Fantasmagorie' and was said to be a great hit.

Looney Tunes was intended to be a spin-off on the Silly Symphonies produced by Disney. However, being successful in doing that mean that it had become much more popular than it had seemed. This lead to the start-up of Warner Bros.  Snow White and the seven dwarfs was said to be the first ever full-length film which added to the rise of Walt Disney's success (1937). Finally, in 1993, Apple produced a way of creating 3-D films which fueled the creating of Toy story in 1995 changing and bettering the animation industry.

Chinese Zoetropes 
Chinese Zoetropes is the oldest form of animation and was invented by Ying Huan in 180 AD. This creation consisted of individual images showing a little progression of movement. The images are placed at an equal distance around a band of a card. Although Mr. Huan invented this, this creating was accredited to W.G. Horner in 1834. 

MS Allen: The structure of Serial and Series

Power Season 3: Episode 7 (Serial)

A serial TV programme is a number of sequenced television programmes that are usually related and are shown in seasons. Power is an American serial based around violence, drugs, sex and emotion. This show is broadcasted across the world and is proving to be a big success among different races and ethnic backgrounds. Power is a 45-60 minute serial programme that runs on about 8 or so episodes for each season.

The show usually beings with a recap of what has happened in the previous episode, highlighting the most important and dramatic sections. For example, in season 3 episode 7 we see the main character Ghost (James St Patrick) shoot his fellow college whilst his ex-wife with whom he has 2 children with, converses with a police officer about case to do with Ghost. We then see the recap end dramatically with Angela Valdez (an officer sleeping with Ghost unaware of his identity) cry with a passion after Ghost leaves her.

Following the dramatic recap, the credits begin to appear and the theme song begins. The objects shown during the theme song represents what the series is about, therefore the guns, knives, cocaine etc. represents the violence within the show. Also the dark colours resemble how the world is cold however, the contrast in light shows that in the end everything pans out to be fine.

Subsequently, the beginning of the episode is from a first person perspective, showing ghost and official Valdez lying in bed together as he reminisces over his time with her and whether the decision he made was the correct one. This first person perspective is one of the key elements that reels in the audience into feeling the similar emotions Ghost is feeling at that point. Furthermore, as well as there being a first person shot, there is also a shot from over the shoulder which also gives the audience a sense of presence within the scene.

The frequency of the show is once every week, therefore the scenes that end each episode are usually cliff hangers which has a massive effect on the audience as they are eager to know what is going to happen in the next episode.

This serial programme starts with Ghost sleeping in his bed alone, re-thinking his time with Angela Valdez. Already two of the main characters have been introduced in most dramatic way. Within power we can sense betrayal, romance, lust and violence from the dark scenery Ghost finds himself in. Moreover, this episode ends with ghost in his room again alone showing how the scene is revisited. 

Analysing the structure of EastEnders (Series)

EastEnders is an English series that is shown Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. The programme is usually shown on BBC one however, on the odd occasion it runs on BBC two depending on the circumstance. i.e.: a child awareness programme being shown at the same time. EastEnders is an ongoing series that consists of different story-lines that can drag on for as long as 4 months, these story-lines usually fade in out of each scheduled programme.

The programme starts with the traditional theme song and the map of the staged Walford. Unlike Power, EastEnders does not begin with a recap of what has happened from the day before but rather continues from the previous events. Within this ‘soap’ the camera shots are not shown to be first person shots but rather making sure that the main characters of that particular scene are included. Also, the majority of shots portrayed within the soap are full body shots. This is beneficial to the audience as it allows the facial expressions and body language to be presented, elaborating on the true emotions of that character.

Within one episode in EastEnders there can sometimes be two different story-lines occurring. In one episode there was the story line of Ben being kidnapped by his ex-partners killers and then Grant being unaware of Mark Fowler being his son. This shows that more time soap operas are more diverse than serial programmes.

Moreover, EastEnders is known for its ongoing cliff-hangers, therefore the ’douf douf douf’ at the end emphasises the cliffhanger leaving the audience in suspense for the next episode. When Ben had offered his Farther Philip Mitchell his liver, the show ended on that cliffhanger.

Within this soap, lighting is mostly generated through the various buildings in the square, however, light is also projected naturally from the sun. As a single camera production it is difficult to have lighting outdoors as it requires electricity. Therefore, the majority of scenes shot outside outside are done in daylight where as evening scenes are kept to a minimal. 

Semiotics and Minimalist Film Poster

Semiotics
Semiotics is the study and interpretation of signs, and a sign is used to describe anything that holds meaning, for example, a WC sign is mostly associated with toilets; therefore that sign holds meaning to most people.
Within in the media industry, there are encoders and decoders. Encoders are usually the directors or producers whereas decoders are the audience. At some points, the same system is of codes is used by both the producers and the audience; however, the spectators could potentially interpret the text using a whole different system. This could, therefore, result in the viewers getting the wrong end of the stick.

Two factors make up signs one of which is the signifier which is the physical sign itself, for example, a sign that says 'open.' Another factor is the signified which is the meaning behind the sign. The sign 'open' means that the shop is open for business.
When referring to signs, there are three different classes one of which is the symbol (where the signifier does not resemble the signified). The Icon (where the signifier resembles the signified or imitates the signified). The index ( where the signifier directly connects to the signified).

It is important to study semiotics because we are currently leaving in a world where signs are constantly around us and without these signs, humans may take reality for granted rather than not letting us take reality for awarded for having an objective existence. Semiotics can also help in anything involving communication.


Minimalist film poster