Disney's Frozen

Disney's latest release- Frozen- really shows how far 3D animation has come in recent years. The technology now allows the characters to move so realistically and it makes it possible to create detailed and realistic textures that almost make you feel like it's real instead of animated, although it clearly is..

I really loved this movie when I saw it over Christmas, the attention to detail and the realism were beautiful and the ability of technology in animation today amazes me. The "let it go" song sequence was stunning with the ice magic, this sort of animation would not have been possible many years ago and it really shows how far technology has come. Overall I think it was an amazing feature film.

Disney Pixar's Toy Story 1995

Toy Story was the first ever full length feature film made entirely with CG. It was made by a team of 27 animators at Pixar on a very small budget. Considering the small team, small budget and the fact that half the animators on this project hadn't even used computers to animate before, the leap from traditional hand drawn animation to CG made by Pixar with this movie is amazing. The expressions and movements achieved were incredible and the movie is still as good now as it was then, even with the improvements in CG and the new skills the Pixar team has now. Toy Story is nearly as old as I am and I grew up with it, so it's interesting to see how  much or little has changed between the original Toy Story, and Toy Story 3. Interestingly, not too much has changed in styles between these two movies, however the textures available in Toy Story 3 are much improved on the first.

Early examples of 3D animation

This is one of the first examples of 3D animation. It's just a hand and a face in 3D but it shows pioneering technology that now is seen frequently. This hand was made in 1972 by Pixar founder Ed Catmull. At this point in his life he was a computer scientist at the University of Utah.

This video shows how he created the 3D computer model and how he animated it.

Mickey Mouse "Get a Horse" Short 2013

The newest Disney Short to appear before the movies in the cinema is Mickey Mouse in "Get a Horse" which appears before Frozen. The short starts off seeming like it's going to be a classic black and white Mickey Mouse story, which is beautiful in its own way. However it has a twist, as it uses very modern techniques and ideas compared to the original black and white image that it appeared to be at the beginning and it allows the 2D black and white characters to appear to climb out of the screen and into the 3D world. This short shows within itself how far technology and animation has come in a relatively short space of time. 

Below is a (admittedly really bad recording) clip that I found on youtube that shows some of the 3D part of the short that isn't seen in the official trailers.

Gertie the Dinosaur 1914

"Gertie the Dinosaur" by Winsor McCay is often regarded as the first character based cartoon, and an early example of character animation. It successfully establishes an attachment to the character Gertie in the animation, and it combines animated footage with live action. It was the first animation to do this. It was the first animation to use key frames to create the animation, enabling Winsor McCay to incorporate the live action.

Ladislaw Starewicz- The Cameraman's Revenge. 1912

Ladislaw Starewicz was a pioneer in puppet animation. In "The Cameraman's Revenge", the characters were real dead bugs with  wire limbs. This made them easier to move around in stop motion animation. I really like this animation because, even though it's horrible with the bugs, it's really well done, the bugs have human mannerisms and I think it's just hilarious watching bugs driving cars or riding bikes. I think that, even though it was done in 1912, it is done in a way that would still be interesting and unique today and I think that's a really good quality in animation and art.

Matches an Appeal 1899

"Matches an Appeal" is believed to be the oldest existing animated film. It was done during the war to convince people to donate matches to soldiers. The video was done using stop motion and was revolutionary for its time.

The Enchanted Drawing 1900

The Enchanted Drawing in 1900 was the first short film to try to incorporate live action with animation. Although the idea was there, it isn't what we would nowadays refer to as animation as such. However it uses a very pioneering idea of pulling drawings out of the paper and into real life. It also shows the live action person interacting with the drawing. This was a very new idea in 1900.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs 1937

Walt Disney's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" is widely regarded as the first animated feature film. In fact it wasn't, however it was Disney's first animated feature length film and the first feature animation to use technicolour, making it a pioneering film. It was also the first animated feature to become successful across the english speaking world. It is a really well done 2D animation and the Disney style for princesses was established from this film. The Disney Style is easily recognised in all of their work because of the success of this film.

Silly Symphonies- The Skeleton Dance 1929

The Skeleton Dance was one of Disney's first animated shorts with synchronised sound. The first was Steamboat Willie, however I prefer the Skeleton Dance as I like how the music fits so well with the characters. The movements are really fluid and the disney style is evident in this short. 
Although this is in black and white because colour wasn't really available for animation at the time, I think the black and white thing works really well with this animation because of it's graveyard scene.