The Spirit of Christmas

While we were discussing animation/video in our groups, Jon mentioned this pilot episode of South Park which I thought would be a good reference point to the development of technology, as well as where animation can start.

The creators of South Park, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, animated this short film purely with construction paper, glue and an old 8mm film camera. (info from Wikipedia)

Jon was saying how this animation was only at 10 frames/second... I'm struggling to find info on any other specifics of the film ... but I do love how it's so raw, basic and yet effective. There's the ground work for capturing movement going on, kind of a brief storyboard feel, before the big show comes out.

Watching this has made me realise I really want to master that 'illusion of movement', find out how to go about creating a professional finish to your animation. I'm not saying I necessarily want to stick to this - I do love the edgy effect provided by the slower frame rate, it's just a little more exploring and practicing and playing around. It's just, I know I can produce that simpler approach - I want to push it further, even if it's a 10 second clip that takes me 3 weeks to master, at least I've taken the road I know that will be a challenge.

I wonder if I can get something as smooth as this ...