What's in the cartoon

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Animation is to decompose the expressions, movements and changes of characters into many frames of action moments, and then shoot them into a series of pictures with a camera, which will cause continuous changes to the vision. Its basic principle, like film and television, is the principle of visual persistence. Medicine has proved that human beings have the characteristic of "visual persistence". After seeing a painting or an object, people's eyes will not disappear within 0.34 seconds. Using this principle, playing before the next painting disappears will give people a smooth visual change effect. [4]

3 animation classification

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According to the process technology

Plane hand-drawn animation

Stereo shooting animation

Virtual animation

Real-life combined animation

Through the media

Movie animation

Television animation

Advertising animation

Science and education animation

According to the animation nature

Commercial animation

Experimental animation

[5]

4 animation master

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USA: Walter Disney, tim burton, joseph barbera, john lasseter, mark osborne, tom mcgrath, etc.

Japan: Osamu Tezuka, Miyazaki Hayao, Dayoukebo, Mamoru Oshii, Gao Tianxun, Tite Kubo, Eiichiro Oda, Jin Min, Makoto Shinkai, etc.

China: Wan Brothers, Te Wei, Qian Jiajun, Jin, Jia Fei, etc.

Other countries: sylvain chomet (French), Lin Yalun (Korean), nick park (UK), etc.

5 national characteristics

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China animation

China Animation has been committed to creating a road with its own characteristics.

Domestic animation (10)

Adhering to the tradition of Chinese painting has not given up this purpose in the world animation tide since the reform and opening up. Cartoons are filled with lively and fresh breath, giving people beautiful enlightenment. At the same time, we attach great importance to the significance of education, and adhere to the principle of "entertaining through education" in comic creation, so that comics will not become superficial and purely entertaining. The representative of China animation of film type is ink animation.

Japanese animation

Japanese animation works have a strong preference for surrealism,

Japanese Animation (15)

It is often closely related to Japanese comics. With the development of science and technology, Japan still adheres to the traditional hand-drawing method and devotes itself to the study of animation narrative language. In order to improve work efficiency, the "mouth movement drawing method" is adopted, which only changes the speaker's mouth shape; Make a series of continuous action pictures by means of "saving for later use". The frame rate is usually represented by eight pictures ("three-grid shooting"), which can reduce the number of pictures. The content of the works mostly shows the complex relationship among characters, stories and movie themes. [6-7]

American animation

American animation occupies an important position in the history of world animation.

American Animation (9 parts)

Lead the world animation trend and development direction, and always pay attention to the application of high technology and the pursuit of high quality. Drama-oriented, happy ending. Tragedy films are rare, and they pay special attention to the depiction of details, which is suitable for the aesthetic taste of the vast majority of viewers. The standard of character modeling design is not much different from the prototype in life. Most animal images have been greatly exaggerated, with big heads, big eyes, big hands and big feet, which have become cartoon patterns widely used all over the world. The combination of digital technology and film technology is widely used, which makes the picture more realistic and achieves perfect picture effect. At the same time, the relatively perfect animation industry is good at launching animation stars.

European animation

European animation rarely produces animation series,

European Animation (5 parts)

Instead, I like to experiment and explore on animated films, and I usually call European animated works "animated art short films". European cartoons mainly tell stories, trying to express rich feelings and infinite philosophy in a limited time. Express the theme and content with refined techniques, and outline the emotional fluctuation with unique composition and color. The innovation of European animation is obvious, and many creators bring artistic trends such as philosophy and aesthetics into animation creation. Innovation is mainly embodied in theme innovation and skill innovation. Technically, the picture pursues simplicity and nostalgia, and the content pursues fullness. At the same time, it pays special attention to the innovation of animation production techniques. For example, the French animation master Alexander Aleksev's needle screen animation. [7]

6 production steps

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Animation is a very tedious work, and the division of labor is extremely detailed. Usually divided into pre-production, mid-production and post-production. Pre-production includes planning, work setting and fund raising. Mid-term production includes split mirror, original painting, intermediate painting, animation, coloring, background painting, photography, dubbing and recording. Post-production includes editing, special effects, subtitles, synthesis, screening and so on.

Preparatory work

Script:

Animation production process

The script of cartoons is very different from that of TV and movies. In the comic script, try to avoid complicated dialogue, and mainly tell stories with picture movements. The best animation is to win through funny actions. The fewer lines, the more you can stimulate the imagination of the audience.

Storyboard: The director draws a cartoon-like sketch according to the script and shows the actions described in the script. While drawing the shot, the storyboard should have corresponding actions, lines, time, photography instructions, picture connection and other instructions. Generally, a 30-minute animation script needs to draw about 800 picture storyboards.

Production schedule: the production schedule of the whole film compiled by the director to guide the unified coordination of all parties in the animation creation team. [5]

Intermediate production

design phase

1. Design. Design work includes character design, scene design, prop design, lens screen design, etc. The design should be carried out according to strict standards, which is convenient for the staff in the next production process.

2. sound. The action of animation must match the music, so the recording and animation are made at the same time. After the recording is completed, the sound accurately corresponds to the position of each picture for the reference of animators. [5]

Two-dimensional animation

1. Producer: The producer's job is mainly to plan the production progress, arrange the daily production schedule, find production companies and investment companies, and must work with the executive producer * * * to ensure that all components of the plan can be assembled correctly on time.

2. Supervision: Supervision is a Japanese name and English is Director, that is, director. The director of Japanese animation production is the key to determine the atmosphere style of the whole work, and is in charge of the rhythm, atmosphere and turning point of the story. Even the same role setting, the same painting style and the same production team will have completely different styles because of different directors.

Step 3: Script

Two-dimensional animation process (7 sheets)

English scene, the story is written in the form of pure words, including scenes, places, background sound effects, dialogue between characters, actions, etc.

4. Painting supervision: modify the finished products of the original painting and animation, and check whether the finished products conform to the character setting and whether the movements are smooth. You can repaint if necessary, so you must be a senior original painter and animator.

5. Color assignment: The assignment of color is called color setting, also called color setting. English is called color setting, color modeling, color designer, color coordinator, color key, etc. In addition to specifying the intrinsic color, it is more important to specify the shadow color and gradient color required for coloring.

6. Original painting: The original painting is also called Key-Animator. The creation of the original painting is to draw some key pictures of the action by the animator. Drawing the starting picture and ending picture of the characters in the picture on paper in the form of line drawings is a number of key dynamic moments that can reflect the characteristics of a complete action process. It can effectively control the range of motion and accurately and concretely describe the motion characteristics.

7. Intermediate painting: In-Between frame refers to a picture that depicts the changing process between the original paintings according to the necessary motion rules. The function is to fill in the process movements between the original paintings, so that they are close to natural movements.

8. Sound supervision: responsible for the arrangement of insertion soundtrack, preparation of sound effects, dubbing recording, supervision of mixing projects, etc.

9. Role setting: called role setting, responsible for designing the role modeling and clothing style of the debut role. Its job is not only to let the subsequent painters know the appearance of the characters, but also to indicate the facial features, eyes and expressions of the characters, and at the same time to design several characters from different angles.

10. Prop setting: responsible for the design of tools, machinery, vehicles, weapons, etc. In addition to drawing the mechanical shape, you must also mark the detailed structure and motion mode.

1 1. Image splitting: it is the first step to convert words into pictures. Drawing a list needs to be transformed into a picture in your mind and then drawn on paper according to the instructions of the script. The purpose of drawing the split-lens table is to decompose the complete animation into a table with the lens as the unit, and the time, the number of lenses, the lens movement, dialogue, special effects and so on should be marked next to the split-lens.

12. Layout: For example, in a dramatic work, multi-level backgrounds are designed to make each background move at different speeds, which can show a realistic sense of distance. The painter of layout must be aware of the existence of the camera in his mind. Mainly to make up for the director's drawing of the mirror table, carefully present a messy and simple picture, as the basis for the original painting, animation, background and other production. In Mamoru Oshii's works, such as the Movable Police Theater Edition and Ghost in the Shell, a lot of layouts are used. The feature is that 2D paintings can also show 3D visual effects "[5][8-9]

three-dimensional animation

1. Scene: Improve the 3D scene model. Many models (such as buildings, plants, etc. ) needs to be established in this step.

2. Layout: Layout the three-dimensional scene according to the story version. It more accurately reflects the location relationship between the scene layout and the characters. The director can see the accurate information such as the position, length, switching and basic posture of the role to achieve the goal.

3. Key frames

Three-dimensional animation process (7 sheets)

This step requires the animator to make it according to the lens designed in the scenery and layout, that is, to set the key posture of the action, which has been able to reflect the body movements, expressions and other information of the characters in detail.

4. Action making: After the previous step, the animator can further make animation details according to the key actions. Add extrusion and stretching, following, overlapping, secondary action, etc. (for example, the mouth shape when speaking). At this point, the action of the animator has been completed. This is also the core of the film.

5. Simulation: Making things related to dynamics, such as hair and cloth.

6. Material mapping: make the model characters and background have color and texture, and the model looks more detailed, real and natural.

7. Special effects: This step of special effects is to make fire, smoke, water flow and other effects.

8. Lighting: By placing a virtual light source to simulate the light in nature, the scene will be close to the natural scenery after lighting.

9. Rendering: It is the last step of 3D animation, rendering and outputting the complex data in the computer. The effects of the previous steps need to be rendered before they can be expressed in the form of images. [5][ 10- 1 1]

Stop-motion animation

1. Hardware: including set platform, professional lighting system, smart cameras, fixed professional shooting track, general professional photography platform, etc.

2. Software

Stop-motion animation (7 photos)

Stop Motion Studio stop-motion animation software provides all the functions of shooting stop-motion animation, with unique functions such as counterpoint animation, onion skin, real-time keying, etc., which can monitor the shooting effect in real time and effectively avoid rework in the middle and late production during the early shooting process.

3. Toolbox: Provide all tools and accessories needed for stop-motion animation, such as precise metal character skeleton, eyeball, clay modeling tools, acrylic foam landscaping tools, etc.

4.DV: The resolution of a single frame picture is not as high as that of DC, but it looks more intuitive and easier to operate. Moreover, because firewire is directly connected to the computer and the picture is captured at any time through software, it can fully meet the requirements of TV broadcast quality.

5.DC: the imaging quality is quite good, which can completely exceed the quality of TV broadcast. But it is relatively troublesome to operate, because you have to shoot the material and then import it into the computer to see the shooting results clearly.

6. Other tools: clay, rubber, silica gel, soft clay, gypsum, resin clay, etc. It can be used as the main material for making characters. Tools such as aluminum wire, propylene, model paint and sculpture knife are also commonly used materials in the process of making characters. [ 12]

post production

Editing: Cartoons need editing just like movies, but editing is relatively simple. We should combine the shots one by one in order, delete the useless parts appropriately, and edit the combination method at the joint of each shot.

Synthesis: Align the picture with the sound and output the movie.

Printing and distribution [5]

7 making tools

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Animation table: also known as "transparent table" and "copy table". It is different from the general writing desk in that it uses frosted glass as the desktop, and lamps are installed below it, so that the desktop can transmit light, and multiple superimposed drawings can be clearly seen for drawing and copying animated line drawings. The desktop always tends to avoid direct light to the eyes, which is convenient for work.

Animation tools (5 pieces)

Copying desk: also known as "writing desk", it is a tool for copying manuscripts. There is a platform composed of fluorescent lamp, white acrylic board, glass and box.

Positioning ruler: a tool used by animators to fix animation paper when drawing design drafts and original animation drawings. In traditional animation photography, the positioning ruler is also used to ensure the accurate positioning of the background draft and celluloid. The positioning ruler can fix dozens of drawings with standard holes at a time, and can also be used to browse drawings.

Animation paper: According to different uses, animation paper can be generally divided into three types: original drawing, modified paper and intermediate drawing. General animation paper can choose 70~ 100g/m2 white paper. When making movie and television animation, the paper size is mainly divided into two types, and its size is 24cm*27cm(9F) or 27cm*33cm( 12F), which is set according to the different needs of picture framing and screen size. Animation paper should have good transparency, paper should be uniform, white and smooth, and paper edges should be hard, thin and tough. The original drawings do not require high paper quality. Most of the setting paper is light yellow tissue paper.

Punching machine: the function of punching machine corresponds to the positioning ruler. The main function is to punch holes with the same size and the same distance as the three fixing columns of the positioning ruler for the papers that need to be fixed on the positioning ruler, such as original drawings, modified papers and animation papers, so that these papers can be accurately sleeved on the positioning ruler.

Animation pen: Animation pen generally refers to all kinds of pens used in the pre-production and post-production of cartoons. Mainly pencils, mechanical pencil, colored lead, signature pens, Gou Xianbi, brushes, watercolor pens, etc.

Celluloid sheet: also known as "transparent sheet", it is a transparent film made of polyester material, with smooth surface and full transparency like tissue paper. This material can not only make different action figure paintings be shot on different films in multiple layers, but also overlap with the background, and the pictures do not affect each other, which can enhance the layering and three-dimensional sense of the picture.

Photography platform: a platform for shooting animation, which can be set with multiple shooting layers and columns for placing cameras.

Frame-by-frame camera: It is a frame-by-frame camera that can shoot animated drawings one by one. It is vertically placed on the column of the photography platform specially used for shooting cartoons, and can move up and down through the crank as needed.

Photographic table: Photographic table is a table used to record the time, speed, dialogue and background photography requirements of animated characters, and it is the main basis for drawing and shooting each animated shot. The form is marked with the title of the film, the number of shots, specifications, seconds, content, mouth shape, photography requirements and other items. It is a bridge between director, original painting, animation, line drawing, coloring, proofreading and shooting. [9]

Making software

MAYA:Autodesk Maya is the world's top three-dimensional animation software produced by Autodesk Company in the United States, and its application objects are professional film and television advertisements, character animation, movie stunts and so on. Maya has perfect functions, flexible work, easy to learn and use, high production efficiency and strong realistic rendering. It is a high-end production software of movie level. [ 10]

3D Studio Max:

Animation software (4 pieces)

3ds Max, or Max for short, was developed by Discreet Company (later merged by Autodesk Company) and has the same properties as MAYA software. From the perspective of application, it is widely used in advertising, film and television, industrial design, architectural design, three-dimensional animation, multimedia production, games, auxiliary teaching, engineering visualization and other fields. [ 10]

Flash: It is a webpage animation design software launched by American MACROMEDIA Company in June 1999. It is an interactive animation design tool, which can integrate music, sound effects, animation and innovative interfaces to produce high-quality dynamic effects of web pages. Various scripting languages can meet the diversity of web design.

Photoshop:Adobe Photoshop, referred to as "PS", is an image processing software developed and distributed by Adobe Systems. Photoshop mainly deals with digital images composed of pixels. With its numerous editing and drawing tools, you can edit pictures more effectively. Ps is powerful, involving all fields of image production.

8 animation major

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Dominant occupation

In the leadership profession, animation talents are widely used. Leading professional organizations include professional classrooms of universities, state-owned animation production companies, professional animation responsibility companies and animation departments of scientific education institutions. These professional organizations have a clear division of labor and a scientific and orderly division of technology.

Management mechanism: producer, planner, general director, assistant director, etc.

Creative team: artistic director, screenwriter, director, modeling design, animation design, etc.

Production team: background picture, middle picture, model making, animator, line drawing colorist, photographer, sculptor, landscape maker, scanner, compositor, etc. [ 13]

Related occupations

Animation-related occupations include film and television special effects, advertising production, teaching courseware production, product promotion, knowledge dissemination and so on. These occupations are characterized by unlimited knowledge background and more comprehensive personal qualities. The characteristic of this profession is auxiliary, and animation is used to achieve other purposes.

freelance journalist

Freelance jobs include self-employed, small team studios or multi-functional laboratories, and the main body of this profession is usually a madman with distinctive personality in animation art creation. They have a good knowledge background, many ideas, strong ability and rich network resources. Freelancers advocate the treatment of resources by technology, and their dream is to win the grand prize and make a lot of money. At present, domestic animation freelancers are usually excellent graduates majoring in animation. Japanese and Korean animation freelancers are very developed, and their careers involve many cultural communication fields related to animation. [ 13]

9 animation festival

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France Anxi International Animation Festival (1960 was founded in France)

Ottawa International Animation Festival (1976 was established in Ottawa, Canada)

Stuttgart International Animation Festival (198 1 established in Stuttgart, Germany).

Zagreb International Animation Film Festival (1969 was established in Zagreb)

Hiroshima International Animation Festival (1984 was established in Hiroshima, Japan) [14]

China International Cartoon & Animation Festival (founded in Hangzhou, China in 2005)

10 related nouns

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Version aspect

Theater version: A movie version of an animation, made for playing in a cinema. The production cost, investment and manpower of such works are higher than those of OVA and TV animation. Usually a theatrical animation is 90 minutes.

Tv version: animation played mainly on TV.

OVA: (original video animation) refers to the original video animation, which is not played by TV stations or cinemas, but mainly by video or CD-ROM, as opposed to the TV version.

Loading: (original animated DVD) is similar to OVA, and the media includes DVD and Blu-ray disc.

Network animation: an animation created on the premise that the Internet is the media. The playing form is an animation watched or downloaded online.

Experimental animation: also known as "artistic animation", refers to animation works created for non-commercial purposes.

Musically

OST: (original soundtrack) Original music album, which contains music related to animation.

(background music) background music

OP: title song or theme song

Ed: Ending song

Other terms

Original: Original refers to the author of the original cartoon or novel. Japanese TV animation is usually adapted from cartoons, novels or games. The producers of cartoons and animations are not the same person, so they are distinguished by "original works".

Production: refers to the company responsible for making cartoons. Making an animation in Japan is usually done by many departments and companies with a clear division of labor.

Actor: voice actor, voice actor

Staff: all the members involved in animation.

Otaku: The original meaning is "otaku", that is, "otaku/girl". People who are easily immersed in the comic book world and lack normal social life experience.

CP: (Character pairing) means pairing, which is mainly used in gay works.

Amateur/Younger Teeth: People who have many years of experience in watching animated films and know something about animation, but have no professional knowledge about animation.