Family movie nights

WHILE watching a film on the big screen at the cinema is a great experience, we live in an age of home entertainment and there are many great movies we can watch with the family gathered around the television set.

It’s been over a century since moving drawings on a screen were first made and became a form of popular entertainment.

Today some of the best and most popular family movies are the 3-D animated films.

Types of animation

Animation is an optical illusion – a way of tricking our eyes into thinking that lots of static pictures are one moving image.

The techniques used by animators to bring characters and stories to life have certainly come a long way and improved immeasurably over the years.

There are different types of animation:

Traditional / 2D animation

involves an animator hand drawing each frame one by one.

With the help of digital technologies, 2D animation uses the exact same techniques as traditional animation, but limits the number of drawings needed.

3D animation, also referred to as CGI, is made by generating images using computers. It still conforms to the frame-by-frame approach of 2D animation, but it is more in-depth and controllable since it’s in a digital workspace.

Typography animation

is not character or story driven, but the art of creatively moving graphic elements or texts, usually for commercial or promotional purposes.

Think animated logos, videos, commercials, television promos or film opening titles.

Stop motion animation

is done by taking a photo of an object made from real-life materials, and then moving it and taking another photo. The photos are played back one after another to give the illusion of movement.

Forms of stop motion animation include Claymation where clay is moulded to create characters or Lego figures used in action.