KEYFRAME

THE BUSINESS, TECHNOLOGY & ART OF ANIMATIONS

PIXAR:

HOW THE ANIMATION
STUDIO HAS CHANGED

OVER TIME

Every Pixar
Movie Changed 3D
Animation in Some
Way

mOTION CAPTURE
FOR ANIMATION

sTOP MOTION ANIMATION:

bRIEF hISTORY

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CONTENTS

5

Editor’s Note

6

Pixar: How the Animation Studio
Has Changed Over Time

10

Every Pixar Movie changed 3D
animation in some way

14

Motion Capture for Animation:
The fascinating history behind the
movies we know today

16

Stop Motion: Brief History

4

Editor’s
NOTE

It’s been a year ever since the ongoing pandemic
has strucked us. Like most of the people
around the world, we were left directionless
for a while due to the pandemic restricting our
work. During that time, we able to adapt to our
new enviroment until we able to publish more of
our magazine.
Celebrating the undying spirit of the
magazine with refreshed vigor like never before,
we would like to present to you readers our next
edition of KeyFrame Magazine and also our
grand opening of our all-new KeyFrame website
which now you can take a look at www.keyframe.
net.
In the other news, to those anime’s lovers.
Theres a lot of promising upcoming anime for
this seasons that you shouldn’t not miss. As for
our animation enthusiast, you should expect the
upcoming Minions movie which has been hyped
by teens all around the worlds after 5 years of
hiatus.
Rounding up, we’ve worked hard to
release this magazine issue. So it would be
grateful if you continue your supports and also
don’t forget to come visit our website!
Cheers!

Paul Ashen
Yours truly.

5

HOW PIXAR HAS

CHANGED

“ Pixar has remained
at the top of the
proverbial totem
pole.

Pixar: How the Animation Studio
Has Changed Over Time

By Patrick Dougherty Being responsible for changing the medium as a
Published Apr 25, 2022 whole and establishing the use of CGI animation
for feature-length films, it’s only natural that
Through the ever-changing landscape of a studio willing to take such risks would also
animation, Pixar has remained at the top of be willing to grow and change. Though what
the proverbial totem pole. Establishing itself as a differentiates the modern era of Pixar films from
household name due to its unmatched collection the original releases way back in the ‘90s, and
of critically acclaimed hits, the entertainment how has the company itself grown with a vastly
giant has pioneered more than a few aspects different entertainment medium? Through
of the medium. There is a certain magnitude experimental beginnings and monumental
to having the “Pixar” name stamped on a film, accolades, let’s see how the company has stayed
and with it a reassurance that viewers will be in fresh after all these years.
capable hands.
7

Tin Toy to Toy Story

Starting life in the ‘70s as part The difference is night and day The first of Pixar’s theatrical
of George Lucas’ Lucasfilm between how Pixar’s earlier releases, and the progenitor
computer division, Pixar would work compares visually to what of fully computer animated
eventually detach itself and be the company and medium movies, Toy Story’s monstrous
purchased by none other than as a whole has been able to success would be responsible
Apple Computer co-founder produce in more recent years. for putting the studio on the
Steve Jobs. The new company The stunning photorealistic map, kickstarting a digital
would be laser-focused on the effects we see in modern medium that was otherwise
potential behind computer animation have these early test struggling during the era.
generated animation, and shorts to thank for providing the Followed up by more hits,
began creating new remarkable foundation. Shorts such as Tin such as an adventure focused
shorts utilizing their state-of- Toy would not only be a great on bugs or a world populated
the-art software. Looking back way for the newly founded by monsters, this would begin
on the first of Pixar’s animation, company to get their feet wet what many fans deem as the
it is easy to see the cracks in with computer animation, but “golden era” of Pixar’s legacy.
the seams; though it’s worth the idea of centering around
noting that up until that point, the life of toys (due in part
traditional cel animation was to not being able to animate
the norm for the industry, and humans without looking
to animate an entire project uncanny) would most definitely
with computers was still a pipe stick, leading to the conception
dream. of Toy Story in 1995.

Tin Toy referenced in Toy
Story 4

8

“Toy Story’s monstrous
success would be

responsible for

putting the studio on

the map

9

Every Pixar Movie Changed 3D
Animation in Some Way

What’s it like working for a company revolutionizing
your medium every step of the way?

When the movie Toy Story
was released, all anyone
could talk about was how amazing
it looked and how huge a step
forward it was for animation.
Pixar could have stopped there,
but instead, they doubled down,
working to perfect the character
mapping and images to bring
us closer to something that feels
“real,” in only the way an animated
movie can be. Something that
looks spectacular and engrossing.
Pixar didn’t stop there. They’ve
worked on advances for each film,
creating something unique in their
medium and constantly pushing
the ball forward. Let’s take a quick
look at how they did it through this
two-part video essay series from
Insider. Check them out!

10

“Pixar didn’t stop In the first part, I had to laugh at how innovation
there. They’ve worked breeds problems. As Pixar set goals for their
on advances for movies, they had to tackle technical problems. Sure,
each film, creating they created the first fully computer-animated feature
something unique film with Toy Story, but they also wanted to improve
in their medium and what they could do with the visual medium and with
constantly pushing animated camera work.
the ball forward. That led them to study the classics and focusing
in on the visual language that they could only get
animating. Each Pixar movie pushed the studio to
expand animation technology.
Even before Toy Story, the gang at Pixar was learning
how to render someone walking for a short called
RenderMan. Once they got the walking down, they
could work out the bigger stories they wanted to tell.
After they had their first feature under their belt, they
wanted to get other details right. That meant things
like realistic skin, sweat, and hair.
As Pixar’s stories got more complicated, so did the
nuance with which they had to work. The great
anecdote in this video about Hanks’ tentacle animation
in Finding Dory is indicative of their problems.
Making things move realistically, look wondrous, and
writing software that does this automatically. Like how
for Elastigirl in The Incredibles, they had to make her
suit have a sheen, and it had to maintain this through
action scenes but also change with the light.
Once they got this done, they could take on more
intricate cloth and layering, like on the skeletons in
Coco.
Every movie was a building block of the one that came
after. Once they mastered cloth shading, they could
move onto hair simulation, volumetric clouds, and
advanced character rigging.

11

12

13

Motion Capture for Animation:

The fascinating history behind the movies we know today

One of the most memorable there. In fact, mocap has been
cinematic examples of motion around since the 19th century,
capture - or mocap for short predating cinema. According
- is Andy Serkis’s portrayal of to Goodbye Kansas’ podcast,
Sméagol ‘Gollum’ in the Lord of Yellow Brick Road, motion
the Rings. But the revolutionary capture may have even been
technique didn’t begin on the a catalyst to the creation of
great adventure to Mordor cinema.
and it certainly didn’t end

It all started with a man on a horse

A man by the name of Eadweard Muybridge
brought us what could be defined as one of the
earliest examples of motion capture. Muybridge,
a photographer, bridged the gap between still
photography and recorded movement when he
came up with a way to take photographs of a moving
subject - a horse on a race track - in rapid succession.
These images not only enabled viewers to analyze
the horse’s movements and position, but actually
created a video sequence of the horse’s motion,
giving the world the first moving image.

Muybridge’s work may have laid the foundations
not only for the motion capture we know today, but
also for the birth of cinema, inspiring and influencing
generations of others in the industry.

14

The first motion capture
suit is developed.

A lot was going down in the a monitor. Within two decades, animations.
world in the 1950s. While animators had improved the
America and the Soviet Union bodysuits, lining them with
were embroiled in the Cold active markers and using
War, both on a mission to get large cameras to track the
to the moon first, animator movements, which produced
Lee Harrison III was in the digital animations that were far
process of developing the more detailed and accurate.
world’s first mocap suit, which Sinbad: Beyond The Veil Of
could record and animate an Mists was amongst the earliest
actor’s movements in real- animated films made exclusively
time. Potentiometers attached with motion capture, using
to the bodysuit picked up any mocap suits that were able to
movements and translated translate movement into 3D
them into rough animation on

Revolutionary characters in
the history of motion capture.

The development and evolution of motion strides into new mocap territory too, specifically
capture for animation brought with it with his appearance in the second Lord of The
groundbreaking characters, such as the fully Rings Movie, “The Two Towers”.
computer-generated Jar Jar Binks, played by A technique that surpassed rotoscoping was
Ahmed Best, in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, used to bring this character to life, and that
and, of course, the Lord of the Rings’ Gollum. technique is the motion capture - or performance
Whilst Jar Jar Binks was one of the first main capture - we know today. For this evolved
actor-driven, CG characters in a feature film, version of mocap to work, Andy Serkis had to be
a few years later, Serkis’s Gollum made great kitted out in a mocap suit, while special cameras

recorded not only his crawling,
hopping, and twitching movements,
but also his wide-eyed and scowling
facial expressions.

The motion capture of Gollum in the
second movie was so revolutionary
because it was the first time they were
able to shoot the mocap on location.
Serkis was able to interact and respond
to other actors in the scene instead of
being filmed separately in a studio
post the live-action filming.
15

Stop Motion Animation:

A Brief History

Phill Tippett working on AT-AT Walker Did you also know that stop motion
animation, or the art of animating
objects by moving them in small
increments between individual
photographic frames, is actually
the oldest style of animation on
film? It has a long history, featuring
many different types of objects and
figurines. Before you start on your
own stop motion film, read about
the history of the art form and the
milestones in the development of
this style of animation. You may find
it useful to create a Kanopy account
through the library’s website, as
many of the films mentioned in this
article are available only there.

The Early Days of Stop Motion

The history of stop motion of dough. One influential 1898’s The Humpty Dumpty Circus
animation is almost as early stop motion artist
long as that of film itself. was Wladyslaw Starewicz,
The very first stop motion whose early stop motion
film produced was 1898’s works, such as Battle of
The Humpty Dumpty the Stag Beetles and The
Circus, a short film made Ant and the Grasshopper,
using dolls with jointed featured dead insects
limbs to simulate the with wireframe skeletons
movements of circus acting out dramatic plots.
acrobats. Sadly, this is a Although stop motion
lost film, and no verified shorts such as these
stills or parts of the film were popular throughout
have been recovered. the 1910s, it would take
One of the earliest until the early 1920s
surviving films to use for what would today
stop motion is 1902’s Fun be considered feature-
in a Bakery Shop, which length stop motion
uses a “lightning sketch” pictures to be produced.
version of claymation to
animate a face made out

16

Stop Motion and Live Action Film

The first feature-length film to follow, but its wonderful creating aliens, prehistoric
to make extensive use of stop motion Kong was the creatures, and mythic beasts
stop motion animation was thing that stayed in the public in numerous films. He finally
1925’s The Lost World. An imagination, inspiring many retired after completing work
adaptation of the Arthur Conan young talents to go into the on 1981’s Clash of the Titans.
Doyle adventure story about field of stop motion animation. Harryhausen’s creatures were
explorers finding a dinosaur- One of these new animators noted for their incredible
filled plateau in South America, was Ray Harryhausen, a stop articulation, called Dynamation,
The Lost World was notable for motion animator who had that allowed them to blend
the fact that it made extensive a decades-long career and well with live action footage
use of stop animated models worked on some of the most and quirky behaviors that
to create the most lifelike notable stop motion science made them seem more like real
dinosaurs seen on film at the fiction films. Kanopy offers a beings than disposable special
time. The dinosaurs made such documentary that summarizes effects.
an impression on audiences his career. Starting with
that their creator, Willis O’Brien, Mighty Joe Young in 1949, 1925’s The Lost World’s Poster
survived the transition to sound Harryhausen worked on many
films and worked on another popular science fiction films,
landmark movie, 1933’s King
Kong. This film set the template
of every giant monster movie

17

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