This research task was to investigate how animation has maintained its connection with the idea of illusion since Athanasius Kircher first experimented with magic lanterns in the 17th century. Animation, in and of itself, an illusion. It relies on the human persistance of vision, and the limitations of how many images the human eye and brain can process at any one time [6]. It is, perhaps the most prolific example we have created of the 'optical illusion'.
During the Illustration Sketchbooks module, I first explored the way human brains use neurological shortcuts to quickly understand the world. Animation takes advantage of another of these shortcuts, but there is also a range of variation within the medium that allows animators to explore styles and presentations that stray far from a realistic experience [3], and yet create experiences that are somehow believeable. This has allowed animation over the centuries to stand on the shoulders of the first storytellers. To tell tales that would otherwise be impossible to tell. It also relies on the suspension of disbelief, allowing one's brain to fill in the gaps intentionally; animation wants us to concentrate on the key moments, not the spaces inbetween, and this allows animators to break the rules to exaggerate and emphasise those key points.
In more recent times, animation has cross-pollenated with other media. In doing so it keeps the idea of illusion alive. With the resurgance of vinyl records has come the opportunity to elevate the physical objects themselves, in a way that you simply cannot do with digital audio. The records, and sometimes the turntables themselves have become colourful animated phenakistoscopes, which operate in a similar way to a zoetrope, but on a flat surface rather than within a cylinder.
In film and now computer games [4], motion capture allows creators to create realistic, believable experiences which can also exist in worlds that would otherwise be unbelieveable. Animation stands on its own right as an artistic form. One that exploits the very nature of how our bodies work, but now it is able to spread some of that illusory magic into other art forms, and that creates new avenues for storytelling and expression, which is a good thing.
References
Brown, M. (2024) Traceloops, Tumblr. Available at: https://traceloops.tumblr.com/ (Accessed: 24 March 2024).
Fernandes, A. (2023) Animation is the illusion of life...., Better Experience Design. Available at: https://www.yellowslice.in/bed/animation-is-the-illusion-of-life/ (Accessed: 24 March 2024).
Hjalmarsson, H. (2018) The illusion of animation, YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KyEcMEqeKpo (Accessed: 24 March 2024).
How motion capture works in video games (2021) YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGoBziTBDY (Accessed: 24 March 2024).
Jobson, C. (2015) Fantastic embroidered zoetrope animations on turntables by Elliot Schultz, Colossal. Available at: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2015/07/fantastic-embroidered-zoetrope-animations-on-turntables-by-elliot-schultz/ (Accessed: 24 March 2024).
Muse: Will Of The People (2022). Blood Records. 26 July. Available at: https://www.facebook.com/bloodrecs/videos/570175514770003/ (Accessed: 24 March 2024).
Ng, T.K. (no date) ‘All I Need’ Jacob Collier, Tee Ken Ng. Available at: https://www.teekenng.com/ (Accessed: 24 March 2024).
NTFS (ed.) (2022) Persistence of vision: How does animation work?, FutureLearn. Available at: https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/explore-animation/0/steps/12222 (Accessed: 24 March 2024).
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