Animation: History, Techniques and Production

What this unit covers

The resources follow animation from its earliest devices to modern digital work. The mind map HISTORY OF ANIMATION starts before film, with devices that showed moving images for entertainment. Early Animation - 20th Century runs from cave painting through the praxinoscope and the flipboard to the first film pioneers. Others pick up later periods: the golden age, the shift to 3D, performance capture and the end of traditional animation.

Where to start

Begin with the flashcard deck Animation History. It asks short questions about early inventions and who made them. Then open the mind map SILENT CINEMA, which names early pioneers such as J. Stuart Blackton, Emile Cohl and Winsor McCay, and notes how many drawings one early film needed.

1. Read a history map, such as Early 20th century.
2. Test yourself with the deck Early 20th Century.
3. Move on to The Rise of CG in film. 1980 - 1987 and the decks on 3D and performance capture.

Techniques and production

Several maps cover making animation: stop motion, stop frame animation, slow in slow out, animation sound features, and the process of creating an animation. The quiz Stop motion Animation asks what stop motion is and which materials you can spot in a video. Studio Ghibli 1 explains where the studio's name comes from. There is also a note, Anime Intro.

Using quizzes and maps together

Read a map first, then take a quiz without looking. The quizzes Animation mini test and studio game are short ways to check what stayed in your head. Where you miss something, go back to the map and read that branch again.

Where it fits

This unit sits in the Media Forms and Industries strand of Photography and film. Teachers can use the decks and maps as ready-made starters. Try one quiz, then make a map or deck of your own.