History of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"

Got a spare hour this Sunday afternoon for a little animation history? We're recommending this documentary on the making of the 1988 live action/animated film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit".  The documentary is based on a range of source material, including Ross Anderson's well-researched book Pulling a Rabbit Out of a Hat.   It's a thorough documentary that shows just how many twists and turns Who Framed Roger Rabbit took before finally making it (and even then only just) to the big screen. 

Harry Potter at the British Library

Harry Potter fans (and isn't that all of us?) will rejoice that the British Library is currently hosting a "History of Magic" exhibition, running until February 2018. One of the great advantages of studying animation and visual effects at Escape Studios in London is the access our students have to the extraordinary range of cultural resources in our city. The British Library is a short walk from our Holborn campus, and we encourage all our students to attend events like this one.

The History of Pixar

Above is an excellent short film about the history of the Pixar studio. It's a promotional piece, but also a great introduction to the history of the modern medium, the second "Golden Age" of animation. Among the impressive insights into the story-telling process at Pixar are John Lasseter suggesting that "every Pixar film at one point in time was the worst motion picture ever made". Why? Because "it's a process". In other words, it's not the doing of the thing, it is the re-doing of it that really counts.

Why Study The Work of Edward Muybridge?

Edward Muybridge

Sooner or later all students of animation come across the work of Edward Muybridge.  Muybridge was a pioneering English photographer who spent much of his life in California, photographing studies of human and animal locomotion.

Muybridge's work, now in the public domain (i.e. the copyright has expired) is still of great importance to animators, despite having been done more than 100 years ago.

For almost any kind of animal locomotion, Muybridge is still very useful for life-action analysis, even in the era of YouTube. 

Muybridge was the first person to figure out the precise details of horse locomotion, proving that in a full gallop there was a period in the horse's stride where all four feet left the ground - something that was impossible to detect with the human eye.

Walt - The Man Behind The Myth

Walt - The Man Behind The Myth is a 90 minute documentary about the life of the legendary animator who is, more than any single individual, responsible for the medium that we work in today.  Why watch the documentary? Because it's important to know the history of our medium; we all stand on the shoulders of giants and no-one in our industry was bigger than Disney.  Watching documentaries like this one helps all of us to improve our own work, by taking inspiration from the pioneers of animation, such as Walt Disney and the incredibly talented team that he put together.

PBS Documentary on the Life of Walt Disney

Walt Disney at PBS

PBS has just broadcast a major new documentary on the life of one of the greatest Americans - Walt Disney.  If you missed the original broadcast you can now catch up at the PBS website here.

Why should animators learn about Walt Disney?  Because he was the founder of our industry, and the man who above all others defined the medium we work in today.  His methods have never been surpassed and even today animated films are still made essentially the same way he made them - though with better technology.  The PBS download is absolutely free.