Week01: Timeline&Understanding of the history of film, animation and VFX.

The history of film

Timeline for film:

  • 1891—Kinetoscope, invented by Thomas Edison and William Dickson
  • 1895——The first commercial film was performed
The Seven Ages of Film Pioneering Age 1896
  • 1895——Robert W. Paul and Bert Akers had invented the first British 35-millimeter camera
Birt Acres.jpg
  • 1895——On December 28th, the Lumiere brothers demonstrated their invention of motion pictures in Paris.
奥古斯特·卢米埃尔
  • 1900——George Smith showed close up for the first time in the film.
George Albert Smith the Brighton Film Pioneer You Never Knew Existed
  • 1900s——André Deed, the first comic star in cinema.
André Deed
  • 1901——James Williamson The Big Swallow developed multi-shot films and cutaways.
The Big Swallow : Facing the Mind – Film/Art/Mental Health
  • 1902——La gallina misteriosa (Pathé Frères, 1902) A chicken-and-egg comedy about what came first.
Pathé Frères (1905) - YouTube
  • 1902——A trip to the moon is one of the most famous films at the time. The first-ever worldwide success in fiction film.
Voyage Dans La Lune (A Trip to the Moon) (1902)
  • 1903——George Smith used close-ups to highlight the personalities of the characters and fades out to show the transition from the dream to reality.
  • 1918——Hollywood took over as the leader of world cinema at the end of the First World War. The language of cinema was already fully formed.
The Hollywood Escape Economy Is Just Around the Corner | Time
  • 1923——Pathé was able to take over Star Films and the Montreuil studio. George Méliès burned 500 negatives of all his films.
  • 1925——Max Linder committed suicide.
A Star Is Reborn | The New Yorker

My understanding of the history of film:

Talking about the history of film is actually talking about film itself as an art form. We discuss film history. In most cases, we discuss artists, works of art, and art genres, but this is only a perspective. Essentially, film history should be at least divided into art history, technology history, and business history; the latter two are often ignored intentionally or unintentionally.

I am not only a technicalist, but the importance of film technology is self-evident; many film aesthetics thoughts or aesthetic movements, in addition to social development factors, are the influence of technical factors. From silent to sound to stereo to surround sound, from black and white to color to high-definition to 3D to giant screen, every technological development will bring about great changes and great progress in film aesthetics.

Going back to the source is actually because the movie came from the era of the industrial revolution, and the essence of the movie is the breath and taste of industry. Therefore, the commercial nature of the film is rather an industrial nature: the creation process of a film is so similar to the industrial assembly line, the expectation of substantial economic returns is actually the inevitable idea of ​​the industrial product producer, and there is nothing unreasonable. So, when we talk about film history, we really cannot ignore some of its unique factors.

Seeing different people’s different life attitudes towards things. Be full of enthusiasm for the boring life again. When you encounter confusion in life, watch the movie and find the way forward.


I started to study the history of film. In the process of researching, I learned how the film was produced in the first place. The motion picture. As long as we take a series of actions and show them in front of people, it will become a film. How simple The principle. Understand the contribution of famous directors in the history of film to the development of film, whether it is scientific or artistic contribution. The film has developed from a kind of handicraft to the present thing with artistic value.

A good movie gives me a broader vision and allows me to think more with my brain instead of simply pursuing visual stimulation. The philosophy in the movie is more interesting than the book and clearer than life. Movies have prolonged the life span of human beings by nearly three times. It has made people understand many truths that cannot be understood in a lifetime. Look at life from a different perspective, accept your ultimate mundane reality, but never give up pursuing your ideals, be kind-hearted, love life, and enjoy the present. Perhaps, if you understand this, you will understand the true meaning of life.


Animation from beginning to present

Timeline for animation:

  • 1609——The Magic Lantern, moving images was projected onto a screen.
Magic lantern - Wikipedia
  • 1825——Thaumatrope, the first actual animation.
THAUMATROPE 1
  • 1879——Zoopraxiscope, the first contraption to show a clip of animation, this is a cylinder, and as successive images are placed and rotated, images can be seen moving through the slits.
Phenakistiscope - Wikipedia
  • 1900-1910——Animation began to exist on the big screen, started with simple faces.
  • 1914——Gertie the Dinosaur, the first characteristic animation by Winsor McCay.
Gertie the Dinosaur (Winsor McCay, 1914) - YouTube
  • 1928——Steamboat Willie, showed Mickey Mouse to the world.
Steamboat Willie (1928) - The Internet Animation Database
  • 1929——Because of the great Depression, People keep going to the theater to watch cartoons as entertainment. Because of this demand, more cartoons was made.
  • 1937——Disney released the feature-length animated film ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’.
BBC Arts - BBC Arts - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: The full-length  feature that nearly sank Disney
  • 1969——Animator began trying to create real looking monsters.
Influences Before the Nightmare Began |
  • 1986——Pixar Animation Studios was founded.
A Brief History Of Pixar Studios | The Film Magazine
  • 1995——Pixar releases Toy Story, the first computer-generated animated film. This film had a huge impact on the world.
Toy Story's 20th and 25th Anniversary: A Look Back at 1995 | Pixar Post
  • 2009——Avatar is being released in North America in 2D, 3D and IMAX-3D.
James Cameron's Avatar in IMAX 3D: a mind-blowing glimpse into tomorrow's  cinema
  • 2014——CGI is becoming important in animation. Simpson and many other animations were placed.
in360news: Simpsons Return To CGI Animation In Treehouse of Horror XXXI  Images

My understanding of animation from beginning to present:

Animation has been inseparable from the movie since its inception. They all use images to show the storyline intuitively and vividly.
Deliver movie information. However, since animation and film are two different concepts, of course they have their own characteristics.

First of all, the production process of the two shows a big difference. The actors in cartoons are drawn by painters, which is much more difficult than in movies. Because the painter must know the actor’s role movement clearly, and at the same time express it with the pen in his hand according to the laws of real life, which requires the painter to be capable of acting as an actor and have the ability to express the actor on paper or on a computer. , Which greatly increases the difficulty of cartoon production. Furthermore, cartoons are not subject to the many limitations of real life, making their performance better than movies. They simply take the jumping and flying of animals (such as “The Lion King”) and the rapid growth of plants (such as “Fantasia 2000”). In other words, it is difficult to express in movies. Coupled with rich imagination, using exaggeration, humor, anthropomorphism, association and other expression techniques and unlimited creativity, cartoons can express far more content than movies. And cartoons are usually easy to understand, humorous, and suitable for all ages.

For another example, music is life and death, and it is not as good as painting. The requirements for mastering color knowledge and the use of perspective in sculpture are not as good as painting. Of course, modern art is very different from the art of the cultural renaissance. I just want to emphasize the artistry of animation derived from the art of painting. After all, animation has one more “movement” feature than painting, and this “movement” also enables animation to be combined with other kinds of art like a movie to become a comprehensive art form. Animation usually requires the performance of a certain storyline, shaping the characters, and condensing the theme; it must design suspense, consider the dialogue, and guide the emotion; it must be climax, rhythm, and interesting, which is closely related to literature.

In order to draw out the plot, promote the development of the plot, and conflict between contradictions, music is also an indispensable art in a cartoon. It is also necessary to incorporate other kinds of art into the content of cartoons, such as various buildings. It can be seen that animation is a unique and irreplaceable art that integrates various arts.


The history of VFX

Timeline for VFX:

  • 1933——KING KONG, Stunning visual effects.
  • 1958——The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad.
  • 1963——Jason And The Argonauts, the skeleton battle.
  • 1985——Young Sherlock Holmes, computer generated character from photo.
  • 1989——The Abyss,used an earlier version of Photoshop to complete the 75s liquid water animation.
  • 1991—— JUDGMENT DAY
  • 1993—— JURASSIC PARK,Animators bring dinosaurs to life with computer technology.
  • 1995——CASPER and Toy Tory,The first film entirely made with computer-generated animated film
  • 1996——Dragonheart.
  • 1999——Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, over 2000 visual effects.
  • 2001——Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.
  • 2002——The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
  • 2003——The Matrix reloaded
  • 2005——KING KONG, the remake version.
  • 2006——Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest
  • 2007——Beowulf
  • 2008——The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The actor’s face was captured to create an aging face.
  • 2009——Avatar.

My understanding of the history of VFX:

Movies are expressive art. The creator tells a moving story through audiovisual language, expresses the emotions of the characters, and infects the audience. VFX film and television special effects are one of the indispensable elements in the film industry. The higher-level meaning of VFX can be understood as the creation of computer special effects. When traditional special effects cannot meet the requirements of the film, VFX is needed to achieve it. VFX special effects can almost achieve all the picture effects that humans can imagine.

Citation:

  1. The history of film:

2.Animation from beginning to present:

3.The history of VFX:

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