SMALL FILMS / OLIVER POSTAGE

Smallfilms was a British company that made animated television programmes for children, from 1959 to the 1980s. It was a partnership between Oliver Postgate (writer, animator and narrator) and Peter Firmin (modelmaker and illustrator). Several very popular series of short films were made using stop-motion animation, including The Clangers, Noggin the Nog, and Ivor the Engine. Another Smallfilms production, Bagpuss, came top of a BBC poll to find the favourite children's programme

These are some of the main cartoons which were made, (BAGPUSS)

Stop Motion is a technique which is used. Stop-motion animation (or stop-action) is the painstaking process of photographing a model, moving it a miniscule amount, then photographing it again. Finally, you string the photographs together and the tiny movements appear to be action. This form of animation is the simplest to use and is great for beginners.

You can watch bagpuss on www.youtube.com, and www.watchtvseries.ch/serie/Bagpuss

Oliver Postgate

He was the creator and writer of some of Britain's most p . opular children's television programmes. Pingwings, Pogles' Wood, Noggin the Nog, Ivor the Engine, Clangers and Bagpuss, were all made by Smallfilms, the company he set up with Peter Firmin, and were shown on the BBC between the 1950s and the 1980s, and on ITV from 1959 to the present day. In a 1999 BBC poll Bagpuss was voted the most popular children's television programme of all time

SHADOWS/LIGHT

Caroline Leaf’s films are convincing proof that great film effects can be created with incredibly simple methods. Colour or even just sand are the basic materials for her pictures, which are painted on a sheet of glass. Lit from below, light and shadow produce expressive, even magical effects. Caroline Leaf changes the hand-drawn figures picture for picture, directly under the camera. Moving figures change their position in the picture. They must therefore be continually painted over, and the background suitably adjusted. Caroline Leaf works step by step to advance the movement and plot. Each picture must be destroyed to make the next. Nothing can be repeated. Caroline Leaf has mastered this creative technique. She gives proof of her extensive talent with her mind for stories. Lyric poetry and humanity are her concern. The depth and inner warmth of her figures coarsely drawn on the sheet of glass, achieve a unique degree of identification. The stories are neither comic nor tragic. They move through humour and emotion at the same time. Here is an example of Caroline Leaf's work ---> The Street

PUPPETS

A puppet is an inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer, who is called a puppeteer. It is used in puppetry, which is a very ancient form of theatre. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made of a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They can be extremely complex or very simple in their construction.

 EXAMPLE OF PUPPETRY

DIGITAL ANIMATION

Digital animation is when there are a series of graphics which are the same only placed in different areas in each frame so that it can create the illusion of movement when in reality they are still pictures A simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures, or frames. Cartoons on television is one example of animation. Animation on computers is one of the chief ingredients of multimedia presentations. There are many software applications that enable you to create animations that you can display on a computer monitor.



EXAMPLE OF DIGITAL ANIMATION: 

ROTOSCOPING

Rotoscoping is used to capture realistic human movement by drawing over film footage of live actors. Perhaps this sounds like cheating, but adding an artist's vision to the movements of a human actor can create a unique storytelling medium that is just as stylistic as any other form of animation.

PIXILATION

EXAMPLE OF PIXILATION

Pixilation is a stop motion technique where live actors are used as a frame-by-frame subject in an animated film, by repeatedly posing while one or more frame is taken and changing pose slightly before the next frame or frames. The actor becomes a kind of living stop motion puppet. 

CLAYMATION - Clay animation

In clay animation, each object is sculpted in clay or a similarly pliable material such as Plasticine, usually around a wire skeleton called an armature. As in other forms of object animation, the object is arranged on the set (background), a film frame is exposed, and the object or character is then moved slightly by hand. Another frame is taken, and the object is moved slightly again. This cycle is repeated until the animator has achieved the desired amount of film. The human mind processes the series of slightly changing, rapidly playing images as motion, hence making it appear that the object is moving by itself. To achieve the best results, a consistent shooting environment is needed to maintain the illusion of continuity. This means paying special attention to maintaining consistent lighting and object placement and working in a calm environment.

STOP MOTION (stop frame)

Stop-motion animation (or stop-action) is the painstaking process of photographing a model, moving it a miniscule amount, then photographing it again. Finally, you string the photographs together and the tiny movements appear to be action. This form of animation is the simplest to use and is great for beginners.

DRAW ON FILM - Techniques

Draw on animation (also known as 'direct animation' or 'animation without camera') is an animation technique where footage is produced where the images are created directly on film stock. as opposed to any other form of animation where the images or objects are photographed frame by frame with an animation camera.