Animation and Gaming

About Animation

Animation began centuries ago and was developed for film in the early 1900s. Animation is used in film, TV, gaming, interactive media and advertising. There are many forms of animation, there is cartoon or cell animation which was traditionally used up until the 2000s when it was replaced with digitally drawn and animated cells. Most stopmotion animation is used in adverts and films, this is because most companies use computer animation as a cheap and time saving substitute in TV and advertising. Games use computer animation, whether it be on a basic level or a complicated 3D one. Movies (notably chuldren's movies) use a lot of computer animation, claymation is sometimes mixed with CG to create the beliefe that it is completely animated by hand when a considerable amount of background work has been computer generated.

Animation Now

These many forms of animation means many different companies to animate them, all specifying in particular media sectors, for instance; small companies would be employed to produce short films or adverts, possibly even small sequences for TV. Whereas larger companies like PIXAR would focus mainly on their own projects. Aardman Animations sits in the middle, the company produces commisions like adverts but also focuses on their own projects. Companies which specify in game animation need investors to fund the making and further marketing of the game, then to reap money from game sales. Animators for film often need to form a partnership with other companies; PIXAR (before merging) used to release films in partnership with Disney, Aardman had a partnership with Dreamworks with whom they produced four movies -a new partnership was formes with Sony when the previous one had expired.

Game

Games have existed since before recorded history- computer games however, have existed since the 60s and 70s then became mass recognised in the 80s. The 90s saw the development of 3D gaming, in which the characters within the game exist on a three dimensional platform (as opposed to left, right, up and down). The immersive experience was expanded in the late 80s and early 90s in games like the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, when the sunglasses which form an element in the plotline of the story were sold with the game. Hitchhiker was produced by Douglas Adams who later produced Starship Titanic (1998)- a 3D game, later produced into the novel of the same name (which has sprung multiple adaptations).