Author: Julia Khutsishvili

Iuliia Khutsishvili (Julia)

Research Question : How did the evolution of movie animation evolved throughout the years ?

    There have been many stages and many aspects of why and how the movie animation industry changed throughout the years.At first let me introduce the background of the industry and as an example in use would be one of the most popular and huge companies of the film industry,which is Walt Disney. The article posted on New York Film Academy website provides informative and deepened information about the history of animation and overall evolution of Disney with a specified timeline of years 1940’s to nowadays. The animation industry has become an absolute “giant” in the world of cinema. Despite the huge different varieties of companies/teams and of course years of efforts required to make modern animated films, author also mentions the crazy statistical percentage data. The animation industry dominates as the most profitable genre, posting an impressive 52% gross margin since 2004, leaving the second most profitable genre, which is action in the dust of at 48%. Adventure movies which are animated is the number 1 genre for earning the money. For example, despite of talking about Disney production, the movie “Avatar” still stands in the first place since 2009, with its 2.8 billion US dollars in box office, is the world’s highest-grossing film of all time. But let’s leave a statistic(s) a little behind for now and get deeper into the actual effect evolution. Of course, animation wasn’t always a multimillion dollar affair…  It’s hard to define what the first ever animation was, as it depends entirely on what is classified as an animation. Given that animation, at its heart is simply the act of creating the illusion of movement through still images, you could argue that the craft began hundreds of thousands of years ago. We are all familiar with the stereotypical cave painting imagery, which usually depicts hunting in motion, that what the first animation was like. Over the next decade, more experimental animation techniques, including rotoscoping technique were developed, producing some hit or miss results. However, the opening of small studio in LA changed the whole game / movie industry forever. With more innovations and notable works over the 20th century (and beyond) than we could ever hope to list here, Disney’s studio and tumultuous history set a precedent for the entire animation industry. Disney Studios also inspired the popular 12 principles of animation, which many animators use and swear by nowadays as well.  Link to the article : The History of Animation: Celebrating Disney’s 100 Years of Stories (nyfa.edu) .

 

     Even though my research question is about how animation evolved throughout the years. And animation is the main part of my project. Animation is important because it makes us be able to tell stories and communicate emotions and ideas in a unique, easy to perceive way that both small children and adults can understand. Animation has helped connect people throughout the world in a way that sometimes writing and live action films cannot. But I also wanted to add and talk about cultural aspect in movie industry, because we all know that cultural part plays a huge role even in the movie industry and its evolution As well as the animation one,because depending on the background of where the future animation effects or overall movie industry production will take place and their targeted audience,so it would shift around.Article “The Promotion of American Culture through Hollywood Movies to the World” stated a deeper information on the topic of how audience and cultural / American part played a big role in movie production and reversed. The American’s films are not only viewed in America, but they are and been viewed by the massive audience around the whole world.  Additionally, the American film firms dominate the majority of market share in the world film industry. The promotion of American culture through films is a phenomenon, where America subtly wants to dominate the world by spreading out its own culture and tradition through the movies. Cultural Imperialism is a domination of a more recognized culture over other cultures, in other word. Cultural imperialism can be due to economic and technological factors. For example, Hollywood is double sided sward, the Hollywood movie can influence the people around the world, and it gives several impacts both positively and as well as negatively. It effects every aspect such as politics, economics, army or even entertainment. Hollywood has always been considered fashion leader, where the actors and actresses in the movies portray fashionable hairstyle, cloth, make up, and etc. Otherwise, Hollywood movies always contain the rude words or aggressive behavior of Americans which resulted to the audience to imitate and adopt those things to their daily life. Hollywood is the succeed story of America which it works as an instrument to affect the ideology, and culture of the world populations. Also, in all of that story animation plays a big role as well, it’s been and will be watched by different age groups. The kids and adults idealize their favorite animated characters and their behavior, they basically cosplay/trying to copy to the “closest perfect” their looks, their language etc.Link to the article website : The Promotion of American Culture through Hollywood Movies to the World (ijert.org) .

 

  In conclusion I would like to add that any industry is based on both cultural and financial aspects. The film animation industry has changed a lot over the years, it all started with almost very small studios and half of the original effects were created completely unknown people who later showed their projects to companies or sold them. The cinematic animation industry has outgrown many and is considered one of the most in demand at the moment, representing great potential growth in the future with future technologies and AI.

Word Count : 956