Technology and Animation

Post #1

As technology forms and grows so does forms of entertainment. Animation has made its way into the hearts of many. All the way back to thaumatropes, zoetropes, and flip books animation has been a deceiver of the eye. As it continued into the 20th century Disney became a power force in the animation world. Warner Brothers gave us the wonderful Silly Symphony and between the two they took the market on children's entertainment. The more technology improves the more it has an effect on everything. In many ways animation has become more about the technological advances then the magical mysticisms that it once was.

One of the most beloved things about animation is the magic of it. It takes inanimate objects and animates them. Chairs and brooms can dance, mice and dogs can talk and wear clothes as well as any human on earth. Early animation were crude and unrealistic but the magic was not in reality but in the unreality of what you see. As technology has improved and our knowledge of the world animations have become more refined. The motions are more believable, the faces share as many expressions in one scene as any human would. With animations becoming so advanced you have to start wondering if the original magic of animation is being lost.

Todays video games are almost scarily realistic. It seems that in some areas of animations it so much more about what technology can do then art and magic of old hand drawn, beautifully painted animations of Disney princesses and others. If animations can become as realistic as live action then where does that leave either industry.