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Introduction
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most animations are made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation, while 2D computer animation (which may have the look of traditional animation) can be used for stylistic reasons, low bandwidth, or faster real-time renderings. Other common animation methods apply a stop motion technique to two- and three-dimensional objects like paper cutouts, puppets, or clay figures.
A cartoon is an animated film, usually a short film, featuring an exaggerated visual style. The style takes inspiration from comic strips, often featuring anthropomorphic animals, superheroes, or the adventures of human protagonists. Especially with animals that form a natural predator/prey relationship (e.g. cats and mice, coyotes and birds), the action often centers on violent pratfalls such as falls, collisions, and explosions that would be lethal in real life.
The illusion of animation—as in motion pictures in general—has traditionally been attributed to persistence of vision and later to the phi phenomenon and/or beta movement, but the exact neurological causes are still uncertain. The illusion of motion caused by a rapid succession of images that minimally differ from each other, with unnoticeable interruptions, is a stroboscopic effect. While animators traditionally used to draw each part of the movements and changes of figures on transparent cels that could be moved over a separate background, computer animation is usually based on programming paths between key frames to maneuver digitally created figures throughout a digitally created environment. (Full article...)
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Scooby-Doo is a long-running American animated television series produced for Saturday morning television in several different versions from 1969 to the present. The series was created by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears for Hanna-Barbera Productions, who produced numerous spin-offs and related works until being absorbed in 1997 into Warner Bros., which has handled production since then. Though the format of the show and the cast (and ages) of characters have varied significantly over the years, the most familiar versions of the show feature a talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo and four teenagers: Fred "Freddie" Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers. These five characters (officially referred to collectively as "Mystery, Inc.", but never referred to as such in the original series) drive around the world in a van called the "Mystery Machine," and solve mysteries typically involving tales of ghosts and other supernatural forces. At the end of each episode, the supernatural forces turn out to have a rational explanation (usually a criminal of some sort trying to scare people away so that they can commit crimes).
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that according to numerous Sanskrit, Chinese, and Southeast Asian texts, Mahākāśyapa left his body in suspended animation to see the future Buddha?
- ... that the Japanese-pop song "Snow Halation" by μ's has a music video animated by Sunrise?
- ... that Raoul Servais invented a new technique for combining animation and live action for his short film Harpya?
- ... that, for the animated film Us Again, director and writer Zach Parrish considered a video of an elderly couple dancing to be visceral and ideal inspiration?
- ... that at age 12, Shaylee Mansfield became the first deaf actor to be credited alongside the voice actors for a signed performance in an animated production?
- ... that the animated film The Exigency took thirteen years to make?
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Selected biography
Zenas Winsor McCay (c. 1867–71 – July 26, 1934) was an American cartoonist and animator. He is best known for the comic strip Little Nemo (1905–14; 1924–26) and the animated film Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). From a young age, McCay was a quick, prolific, and technically dextrous artist. He started his professional career making posters and performing for dime museums, and began illustrating newspapers and magazines in 1898. He joined the New York Herald in 1903, where he created popular comic strips such as Little Sammy Sneeze and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. Between 1911 and 1921 McCay self-financed and animated ten films, some of which survive only as fragments. McCay and his assistants worked for twenty-two months on his most ambitious film, The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918), a patriotic recreation of the German torpedoing in 1915 of the RMS Lusitania. In his drawing, McCay made bold, prodigious use of linear perspective, particularly in detailed architecture and cityscapes. He textured his editorial cartoons with fine hatching, and made color a central element in Little Nemo. His comic strip work has influenced generations of cartoonists and illustrators. He pioneered inbetweening, the use of registration marks, cycling, and other animation techniques that later became standard.
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There have been 61 episodes of Avatar: The Last Airbender, an Emmy Award-winning American animated television series written and created by Michael Dante DiMartino (pictured) and Bryan Konietzko. It first aired on February 21, 2005 with a one-hour series premiere and concluded its run with a two-hour TV movie on July 19, 2008. The Avatar franchise refers to each season as a "Book", in which each episode is referred to as a "chapter". Each "Book" takes its name from one of the elements that the protagonist must master: Water, Earth, and Fire. The show's first two seasons each consisted of 20 episodes, while the third season had 21. In addition to the three seasons, there were two recap episodes and three "shorts". The first recap summarized the first eighteen episodes while the second summarized season two. The first self-parody was released via an online flash game. The second and third were released with the Complete Second Season Box Set DVD. The entire series has been released on DVD in both Region One and Region Two.
More did you know...
- ...that the Phineas and Ferb season two premiere was the most watched cable telecast on Friday, March 13, 2009?
- ...that an IGN review of "The Rise of the Blue Beetle!" noted that some people would like "wormholes, single-cell organisms and evil intergalactic pirates ... mentioned in the same breath as Batman?"
- ... that the 2011 film Legend of a Rabbit was made over the course of three years, with a crew of 500 animators involved?
Anniversaries for September 25
- Films released
- 1931 – Fishin' Around (United States)
- 1936 – With Little Swee'Pea (United States)
- 1937 – I Wanna Be a Sailor (United States)
- 1942 – The Vanishing Private (United States)
- 1943 – A Corny Concerto (United States)
- 1948 – Hare Splitter (United States)
- 1993 – Big Wars (Japan)
- Television series and specials
- 1965 – The Beatles , a British/American/Australian animated series begins airing on ABC
- 1968 – Oraa Guzura Dado, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on Fuji TV
- 1971 – Tensai Bakabon, a Japanese anime series begins airing on Yomiuri TV
- 1973 – Demetan Croaker, The Boy Frog, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on Fuji TV
- 1981 – Taiyō no Shisha Tetsujin Nijūhachi-gō, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on NTV
- 1991 – Musashi, the Samurai Lord, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on NTV
- 1992 – Genji Tsūshin Agedama, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on TV Tokyo
- 1992 – Ranma ½, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on Fuji TV
- 1992 – Yokoyama Mitsuteru Sangokushi, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on TV Tokyo
- 1994 – Tama and Friends, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on MBS and TBS
- 1997 – Hyper Police, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on TV Tokyo
- 1997 – Kero Kero Chime, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on TV Tokyo
- 1997 – Speed Racer X, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on TV Tokyo
- 1998 – Lost Universe, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on TV Tokyo
- 1999 – Coji-Coji, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on TBS
- 1999 – Takoyaki Mantoman, a Japanese anime series finishes airing on TV Tokyo
- Births
- 1926 – Aldo Ray, American actor (d. 1991)
- 1951 – Mark Hamill, American actor
- 1963 – Tate Donovan, American actor
- 1965 – Saffron Henderson, Canadian voice actress and singer
- Deaths
- 2010 – Art Gilmore, American voice actor (b. 1912)
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