Course detail

History of Animation

FaVU-DAFAcad. year: 2020/2021

Lectures follow the chronological development of animation from the late of 19th century until the advent of digital technologies. Individual topics are involved in animated films that were part of the programs of cinemas and independent experiments. Attention is paid to the impacts of modern art, reactions to the development of broadcasting and the advent of computer technology. Lectures are accompanied by projections of samples from crucial films.

Language of instruction

Czech

Number of ECTS credits

Mode of study

Not applicable.

Guarantor

MgA. Pavel Ryška, Ph.D.

Department

Department of Art History and Theory (KTDU)

Learning outcomes of the course unit

Students acquire basic knowledge about the development of animated film. They will understand the principles of classic animation. They will be able to distinguish conventional techniques and procedures. They learn to understand the experiments with moving images that transcend the boundaries of traditional genres. They will be able to recognize and critically analyze an array of important animated films.

Prerequisites

Students should have general knowledge of film history.

Co-requisites

Not applicable.

Planned learning activities and teaching methods

Lectures accompanied by projections of samples from crucial films.

Assesment methods and criteria linked to learning outcomes

Course assessment is based on an essay (minimum 1500 words).

Course curriculum

1. Animation before film
Optical instruments of the 19th century. Chronophotography, motion analysis. Pioneers of animation. Optical theater. Scenic a photographic tricks.

2. Origin of film animation
Lighting sketchers in front of camera. Comic strip as inspiration. The techniques of film animation. Presentation of animated films before the development of movie theaters.

3. Rationalization of the production
Technical innovations. Animated film as a mass-produced commodity and as a part of film show. Production companies in the United States. Rotoscoping. The beginning of synchronous sound in the animated film.

4. Avant-garde
Western European art, abstraction and animated films. Experiments with hand-drawn sound. The Soviet Union, a group of Dziga Vertov. Goskino.

5. Animation and special effects in film advertising, promotion and propaganda
Czech animation of thirties. Promotional, instructional and propaganda films.

6. Snow White and 700 Dwarfs
The Walt Disney Studios in the thirties and the forties. The Fleischer brothers. Animation department at MGM studios and Warner Bros. United Productions of America.

7. Animated films 1945-1960
The beginning of television and commercial broadcasting. Film and TV pictures in the Europe and the United States. Limited animation. Responses of inter-war modern art in an animated film.

8. Czechoslovakian animation
AFIT. Organization of nationalized cinematography. "Bratri v triku". Jiri Trnka, Bretislav Pojar, Zdenek Miler, Jiri Brdecka. Puppet films of Hermina Tyrlová. Special effects of Karel Zeman. Gene Deitch, an American director in Prague.

9. Experiments with moving images
Abstract animation in the postwar era. Artistic techniques, mixed media. Drawn-on-film animation, pixilation. Total animation.

10. New Technologies
Computer images. Technological innovations from analog computers and their usage in the film animation to the first experiments with 3D graphics.

11. Production company "Krátký film" in the seventies and eighties
Manufacturing practice of short films. Animation in popular scientific and educational films.

12. Asian animation
Animated film in China. Shanghai studio, 1949–1965. Animation in the service of the Cultural Revolution, 1966–1976. The influence of Walt Disney´s films. Animation in Japan, manga & anime.

13. Digital Convergence
Film and digital video. Computer programs, interpolated rotoscoping process. Internet as a platform for promotion and distribution of digital animation.

Work placements

Not applicable.

Aims

The aim of the series of lectures is to acquaint students with the history of film animation, which is conceived not only as part of the entertainment industry, but also as a tool of visual communication and versatile art form.

Specification of controlled education, way of implementation and compensation for absences

Lectures are optional.

Recommended optional programme components

Not applicable.

Prerequisites and corequisites

Not applicable.

Basic literature

Not applicable.

Type of course unit

Lecture

26 hod., optionally

Teacher / Lecturer

MgA. Pavel Ryška, Ph.D.