[PERSONAL] Bradford Media Museum

The Bradford Media Museum is a fantastic place to learn about the history of British animation, from Aardman to Ray Harryhausen there are hundreds of facts about these pioneers. They also feature a little section on the history of animation altogether, starting way back at the Thaumatrope. 

The main reason why I wanted to go here for my Practice and Research was because I wanted to get a good look at some of the animation cels they had on display, the main focus of the Exhibition is hand-drawn animation and stop-motion animation. I wanted to see how the professionals created their pre-production and production and see if I could gain some inspiration for my practice.

The one thing I forgot they focused on was their description on each animation technique, from CGI to silhouette animation they explained the process and gave examples of the practice. One of the things I discovered was that; 

"Tron was the first feature film to use computer animation. Disney assembled a team of software designers and animators for this. Though it inspired a rising generation of animators, Tron failed commercially, causing Hollywood to ignore computer animation for most of the 1980s."

This supports the reason why when John Lasseter pitched the idea of using computer animation for a future project, it was firmly dismissed and later resulted him being fired from the Walt Disney Animation Studio.

"I threw myself into suggesting projects that would show how the computer could be used to take Disney Animation to the next level; I even did a test. It seemed like a natural extension for this studio that had always been so innovative. I kept getting the answer, "NO, that's not how it's done." But I kept trying, I wouldn't let go of the idea that computer animation was something Disney should be doing, because I knew it would make the studio and films better. Then one day, the manager of the Animation Dept., Mr. "No" himself, called me into his office-and fired me."

If the experience at Bradford has taught me anything, it's that hand-drawn animation still has lots of hidden potential even now. The animations that were there had aged well, I strongly believe that if some of the animations there had been released now they would still be well received, however I feel like hand-drawn animation needs something new, that can compete with all the special effects and photo-realism that CGI has, maybe through my studies I can figure out what that something is.