Unit 33 - 2D Animation

What is 2D Animation?

2D Animation is a 2D image that has mobile properties, for example a flat image of a running man can in time be animated (using multiple frames) to create the illusion that the man is actually running. 

2D Animation is the movement/actions of an object on a 2D plane which utilises the X and Y axis.

L.O: To be able to examine the purposes and techniques of 2D Animation used in the media industry. G

Examples of 2D Animation in multiple forms of media:

Within the animation we can clearly see the setting is created in a dark and spooky manner. The entire thing is done in a grayscale palette, in a very minimalist fashion. It still bears striking attention to detail despite its simplicity and the lack of different colours in favour of different shades.

The animation creates meaning for the audience through its use of overlaying fog onto the image, adding an air of mystery to the entire thing. It's all kept rather simple. There is also the subtle change of light when the player is moving, with it brightening briefly. Partnered with the border around the screen, it resembles an old fashioned camera.

A strength of the animation is how smooth and simple it is, there are no jerky animations present. It's also accented by the simplicity of the textures, rather than a loud and colourful environment the player is left in a grayscale world, with even themselves being portrayed as nothing but a black silhouette with bright white eyes.

A weakness of the animation is how the player and the environment are the same colour, minus the player's eyes. This can make it difficult to see the player character, however I believe that this was intentional, making the colour of the player's eyes the brightest thing on the screen at all times, but even still it can make gameplay a little more difficult.

The animation reaches its target audience through use of simple but effective detail, and little usage of colour. A variety of grays and blacks were all that have been used, with the players eyes being two white spots, which are sometimes all that can be seen on the screen. The animations are very smooth, and I cannot spot any jumps or errors in any animation so far. The player, the enemies, the traps, everything runs extremely well, and is complemented by the simple and shadowy graphics. This catches the target audience's attention and intrigues them to solve the mystery as to where the character is, what the final goal is, and exactly why everything is happening.

2D Animation has a very long history, dating back to the late 1800s. French artist Émile Cohl, commonly known as "The Father of the Animated Cartoon", was the first to use traditional animation methods. He created what is considered to be the first fully animated film in 1908, titled Fantasmagorie, which largely consisted of a stick figure moving about and encountering all manner of morphing objects. The film was created by drawing each frame on paper and then shooting them on negative film, which would give the picture a blackboard look. There was also frames where the animator's hands would enter view.

Above is a short stop motion animation by James Stuart Blackton, titled "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces" which is generally regarded by historians as the first animated film filmed on standard film. It's relatively simple, moving chalk drawings not really telling much of a story, but rather just moving and changing as the animator sees fit. This is widely regarded as one of if not the first stop-motion animated film in history, and is the foundation for the many animations you can see today.

This is a recent stop-motion animation done with clay, which combines the stop-motion of the clay with the live action hand of the animator, and is extremely advanced in comparison to J. S. Blackton's original animation. Whereas the stop-motion in Blackton's was slightly jumpy, the animation here is very smooth and finely detailed, a large jump between the first animation and what is currently being done.

I created a very simple animation of a rat moving its tail, as shown below. It's not too complex, but there were a few steps that went into making it.

After finishing all of the frames, I duplicated them and ran them backwards, so the tail looked like it was moving back down from its upright position. The final number of frames was 12. I set the animation to play at different speeds until finally settling on a standard of 12 frames per second, and below you can see the final animation.