How Animated Films Are Made
Recent developments in computer technology have allowed for an explosion of animated films. Technology has made it possible to create elaborate scenes with lots of characters, settings, and stories! These animations are not like still pictures or videos where you can add some slight movement here and there. They are fully interactive, which means you can do more than just play around with the timing of how long something is shown.
These movies seem much longer because they contain so many things happening at once. When these happen, you get to see what is called a cut-scene. A cut-scene is when one thing ends and another begins. For example, if someone gets hit by a car, then we might see their body being dragged along the street before the ambulance arrives.
There are several types of cuts that are done in animation. Some are full screen coversup styles (like the one I mentioned earlier), event cuts, voice over cuts, and quick flashes or reflections. All of these break up the movie into different parts and lead to new storylines or events.
This article will go through some examples of how animators use these cuts and how professional filmmakers manage to make their own look similar to professionals.
Director's vision
As mentioned earlier, directors create films by how they envision a story to play out. They add in or take away pieces from the script depending on what feels natural for their film-making style.
For example, during production of The Lion King, director Jon Favreau wanted to use a boat as the vehicle for Simba’s (Mufsin Kabiyo) escape into his new life. However, he was not allowed to due to time constraints.
Instead, the crew used a motorcycle as the vessel, and it worked just as well!
Directors often times are limited in what they can do because of money or time. General filming rules apply here: when your budget is low, you have to be creative about how to make your movie work.
By being aware of the things that influence animation, you will know what to look for to find an appropriate solution to fit your movie.
Art direction
When an artist creates a new work of art, they typically start with a theme or concept. For filmmakers, this thematic element is often incorporated into another area of filmmaking; for example, storytelling.
After deciding on their story topic, artists look to find appropriate styles and shapes to represent that content. In other words, their artistic style is determined by what genre of film they are making!
Artists also use certain materials and techniques to convey their message. For instance, using strong colors signifies strength and passion, while using shades of gray represents calmness.
When it comes time to put these pieces together, how you organize and structure your narrative sets up different emotional responses in your audience. This effect depends on how well you manage your stories!
General concepts such as action, adventure, or romance can all include animated films. What makes one movie special is its unique storyline and design. Take a close look at popular movies and see if you can identify the themes and designs.
Set design
When an artist or filmmaker wants to tell a story, they must establish setting and environment. This includes deciding where the scene takes place, what time period it is, and how many people are involved.
In animated films, this is even more important than normal movies because of how much going back and forth there is between characters. Characters will be coming in and out, new scenes being started, and old ones ending.
There are several ways to achieve this. You can use reference photos and apply them as textures, add props, create environments using 3D software like Photoshop or ZBrush, and so on.
These settings are not only used for characters but also for things such as the floor, windows, etc. There are different types of floors you could choose- wooden, ceramic, stone, and others. Windows and doors are also varied!
Overall, artists spend a lot of time designing the settings of a film. It does not just refer to character designs but also backgrounds and other features.
Visual effects
Another integral part of animated films is visual effect (VE) work. VE artists are responsible for creating environments, characters, or situations that cannot be traditionally filmed. These are usually very elaborate, so there’s a lot of room for creativity!
A great example of this would be an explosion scene. An artist will create a setting with all of the pieces needed to make it look realistic. For instance, flames, smoke, glass, dirt, and debris. The fire may even have burn patterns in them!
Then the animators can actually add those flames into the movie through computer graphics (CG). It is their job to make the flame seem real and natural.
Another area where artists do heavy workloads is designing new characters. A character designer creates concepts, models, textures, and other materials needed to bring the character to life.
These people are also called concept artists because they design ideas for characters.