[Animation Practice] 09/10/12 - Introducing Rossie

Today was our first real Animation Practice lesson where we actually did something productive, what a grand achievement! The last 3 have been a "if you need help with the Royal Armories project then ask us", today we was finally introduced to the tutor replacing Tony Garth, Rossie. Rossie has been in the animation industry for a while, working across country on animations, shorts and idents for TV channels. She explained her career to date, to show what kind of experience she has had in animation so far.

To start the lesson off we were re-introduced to the history of animation, watching and talking about Gertie the Dinosaur, a Walt Disney short and two abstract animations. If you have read my blog previously you'll know I am well acquainted with the History of animation with a post entirely about it, that and I wrote an essay about it during college. We discussed why some people may or may not like older cartoons, an example of this is when we touched upon how it is before our time so repeated frames in animations such as Gertie the Dinosaur will annoy some of us with its blatant laziness in animation, though we may think that the budget for the animation wouldn't have been that much so they'd have had to work with what they have. For those unfamiliar with Gertie the Dinosaur, here is the clip we watched today:

As you can see, repeated frames are noticeable, but as stated above it will most likely be a budget problem. After Gertie we watched a short from Walk Disney and discussed how most if not all cartoons were originally intended for adults, after discussing that the Disney short will have been aired at a cinema with a bunch of other stuff, due to lack of TV's and such. We discussed what other animated cartoons were originally intended for Adults but turned into a kids show, such as Spongebob Squarepants, and the opposite a kids show turned unto an adults show, such as Ren and Stimpy. Below is the Walt Disney short we watched:

After discussing this, we then watched a few abstract animated shorts, though I didn't have much input to these videos. Though I really like how they are thought out and created, I honestly have a strong disliking to abstract animation. We discussed why people may not like it, one reason was that because it has no set plot or main character, everything is just everywhere and it is hard to follow. I prefer it when an animation doesn't give me a headache to understand, and doesn't have crazy music in the background to top it all off, it just isn't my cup of tea. Below are the animations:



That is pretty much everything we discussed in today's lesson, next week we were told to bring a film of our choice in to watch, or a few shorts, so next week shall be a fun day indeed!