NOTES：
The Timeline of the Early Film
1877-Adweard Muybridge captured motion images of a horse galloping.
1891-the American inventor Thomas Edison had perfected the kinetoscope.
1892-Emile Reynaud projected the first animated film on his praxinoscope.
1895-In England, two pioneers Robert W Paul and Bert Akers had invented the first British 35-millimeter camera
1895-Dec 28th Lumiere Brothers demonstrated their first film in Paris
First Film in Paris
1896-Lumiere system was display in London. Lumiere cinematograph was a much more reliable system.
1897-George Melia builds the first film studio. This studio projected the film A Trip to the Moon in
1897-Alice Kee became one of the world`s first female directors and producers.
1901-Andre Deed became the first comic star.
1906-Max Linder became the most famous comedian after Andre Deed left Pathway.
1914-World War 1, Max Linder got terribly hurt.
1917-Carlie Chaplin became more and more famous. It also meant that the centre of filmmaking moved to Hollywood.
End World War 1, Hollywood took over as the leader of world cinema. the language of cinema was already fully formed. The film pioneer invented not only the moving the picture cameras. They also invented film techniques–editing, fades, screen wipes, double exposure, an early system for colour and camera movement.
The Timeline of the Animation
1609-The magic lantern
1800-The first actual animation. Thaumatrope (a sisc toy) and Zoetrope.
1914-The first characteristic animation, Gertie the Dinosaur.
1928-Steamboat Willie is Disney’s first shot and showed the Mickey to the world. It was the first animation to produce music as sound. Violence also shows up in this animation. It is the first time.
1929-Black Tuesday. People keep going to the theatre to watch cartoons as entertainment because of the great depression.
1933- Claymation was used to create realistic and bizarre creatures before has CGI technology.
1937-Snow White, the first full-length feature film. Multi-depth camera used in Snow white
Multi-depth camera
1970-Animation is used in advertisements.
1986-Pixar Studios was founded. CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) is used to make animation.
1988- Anime (like Aquila) was introduced to the west.
1995-Animation had made its way to being one of the most popular children’s entertainment in the world. Pixar releases a full feature CGI film called Toy Story, which is the first feature-length film made entirely by computer animation.
2009-Avatar, James Cameron’s 3D film Avatar because of the highest-grossing film.
2014-CGI is becoming important in animation. Animation and CGI managed to find a way to work together.
The Timeline of the VFX
1933- King Kong (stop motion)
1958- The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
1963- Jason and Argonauts (use skeleton battle)
1985- Yong Sherlock Holmes (ILM)
1989- The Abyss (ILM)
1991- Terminator 2 (liquid metal robot)
1993- Jurassic Park (ILM) (use computer created skeleton, textured skin and detailed muscles)
1995- Casper（ILM creatd the first computer animated character in the film)
1995- Toy Story (Pixar first feature-length film made entirely by computer animation)
1996- Dragonheart (Mouth animation)
1999-Star Wars
2001-Final Fantasy (first hyper-real CGI film)
2002-The lord of the Rings
2002- Star Wars 2
2003- The Matrix Reloaded
2005- King Kong
2006- Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man’s Chest
2007- Beowulf
2008- The curious case of Benjanmin Button
2009-Avatar (Face scan and Advanced motion capture)
Mini Essay: My understanding of the history of film, animation and VFX
After watching the history of film, animation and VFX, I feel a lot of harvest. I find that their histories overlap and that progress in one promotes progress in the other. In this essay I would like to share my understanding.
First of all, I found that the development of early films is closely related to the level of technology. Continuous innovation in technology encouraged early filmmakers to create richer film works. Of course, the lack of technology did not stop them from creating enthusiasm. Before using CGI technology, artists used claymation to create realistic creatures. Another example is that before the invention of colour roll film, artists could painting with a brush each frame. Even if the photography equipment is single, filmmakers will still use the method of cutting the lens to enrich the picture. With their efforts, movies eventually replaced traditional stage arts such as musicals and dramas as the most popular entertainment method.
In the development history of animation, it is also constantly influenced by the development of film. At first, people were just exploring images of motion. Later, as the film industry boomed, animators explored creating characteristic animation . With the establishment of Disney Studios, the content of animation became more abundant. The increasing demand for animation makes 2D animation mature gradually. Snow White, for example,excellent feature-length animation constantly produced. With the advent of the third scientific and technological revolution, computers were used in the field of animation. It not only replaces the traditional way of drawing, but also uses the concept of CGI in the animation industry. I think Toy Story marked the beginning of the age of 3D animation. As CGI continues to mature in the field of animation, it has also been used in movies. Avatar marks a huge success.
Artists are obsessed with using visual effects to surprise the audience before computer technology was widely used in film and animation. For example, they use stop-motion, miniatures, rear-projection and optical compositing using live actors and puppets to create a monster king Kong. As ILM continues to experiment, we see more and more strange creatures in Movies like Jurassic Park and Terminator 2. By the time Avatar came along, the most commonly used visual effects technologies, whether motion capture or facial recognition, had been perfected. In the future, I believe visual effects will give us more surprises.