Free Essay. Critical Analysis of Animation Theories, Aesthetics, and Cultures

The word animation is a term used to refer to the process of creating motion illusions using motion pictures. It encompasses the use of either a 2D, 3D or stop-motion animations. Animation involves the simulation to develop motion pictures with the purpose of entertaining, evoke specific viewers' emotions and fast-forwarding future events in an imaginative approach. The use of magic lantern were the earliest forms of animation. They included the use of hand-painted or photographic images that were moved in series to create motion illusions. Thus, the earliest forms of animation were on comic strips and blackboards before moving to the present day screen animations. The paintings and photographs were placed in wooden frames from where they were projected onto a wall using a beam of light. The use of chromatrope and choreutoscope to animate and simulate paintings marked the early revolutions in the animation aesthetics. Contemporary animation aesthetics relies heavily on advanced technology to create desired motion pictures and animation effects. The paper examines and analyzes various animation theories and aesthetics application by some animators.

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The animation films of Walt Disney portrays various aesthetics and animation theories. Disney's creation, such as Beauty and the Beast and Alladin, carries numerous aesthetical features. He uses the real photos in the animations to create live actions of the scenes. The two films serve as a comprehensive exploration of the animation theories and aesthetical features. These animation films are a means of entertainment though they are used to convey specific messages to the viewers (Bashara, 2019, p 77). Initially, all these animations were hand-painted to achieve a frame by frame animation and motion pictures. A hand-painted animation is a traditional form of animation aesthetic. The creations of Disney shift from a conventional style of aesthetic production through the use of digitally-colored motion pictures. Computer graphic designs are an essential aesthetic component of the motion pictures animations explored by Disney.

Disney's productions remarkably apply the use of Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) in their productions. The CAPS entails the usage of digital inks in the creation of animation films (Wu, 2017, p 108). In the Beauty and the Beast, they have used Computer graphic in the animations to create aesthetic features making the animations more appealing to the viewers. The CAPS has effectively enhanced animations in the Illusion of Life by Disney Studios. It helps in the creation of various appeal futures which influences the emotions and the mental capacity of the viewers. Computer graphics animations help to depict a more realistic world in the animation world. The aesthetic features from the CAPS increase the animator's imagination. As a result, the animators have been able to create a world full of ghosts and zombies which do not exist in reality. CAPS enhances the possibilities of exploring the world beyond the scientific explanation.

The Alladin animations of Walt Disney best explains the use of CAPS in animation theory and as an aesthetic feature. The animation is rich in the use of computer-created human actors playing various roles that portray the world today. The Alladin characters possess supernatural abilities, and they live in a setting that is beyond the typical environment. The same approach is useful in the creation of the Mickey animations. The animator uses computer-generated characters such as a mouse talking, thinking and expressing itself like a human being (Wu, 2017, p 110). These aesthetical features enhance the effectiveness and the ability of the animations to convey powerful messages about society as well as an entertainment tool. Such computer-generated animals with supernatural capabilities are a vital element of portraying the human character. The animation goes beyond the typical social surrounding and explores the space and terrestrial beings. Dawn's animations are known for their ability to go beyond the standard aesthetic features and explore a fictitious space environment.

Photorealism is an aesthetic feature in the Beauty and the Beast animations. It is the use of Photorealistic rendering in the creation of the animation characters to enhance their ability to reflect the real world (Bashara, 2019, p 305). The setting of the Beauty and the Beast animations is in an improvised imaginary world where everything seems perfect. Disney uses this aesthetical feature to intertwine the theme of love and romance. The animation employs the use of musical elements to create a more realistic experience in the animation world. Disney in this creation seems to subvert scientific laws to create emotional substance on the viewers. Photorealism enhances the ability of the animator to create a realistic world using the animations. However, the animations use a lot of imaginations that create loopholes in the mind of the viewers. Therefore, the viewers are left at the liberty to fill these holes with their ingenuity and conclusions. It is the beauty and aesthetics of the animations.

Non-living characters play a significant role in the realization of the animator's goals. The animation can involve the use of a non-living character who role-play human personality. For instance, the Toy Story Films is one of the animation creations that best utilize these aspects. The toys in this animation possess the ability to act like human characters and only act irresponsive when the human characters are around (Wells, 2013, p 29). The animation effectively utilizes the animation theories of the traditional hand-drawn animations. The Toy Story reflects on the historical, cultural and aesthetical values of an animation. It is one of the all-times animations in history. The Ice Age animations created by Blue Sky have a close correspondence to the Toy Story animations. They both explore the use of nonliving characters in an imaginary setting.

The narrative of these animation films and their representations use various aesthetical features to influence viewers' imaginations and emotions. The animation reconstructs a perfect world using illusions of perfect colors of the world. The animations use integral realism in conjunction with cinematic photorealism to enhance animation aesthetics (Macdonald, 2015, p 402). For example, the creators of the Lion King animations seem to take a more integral realism in the creation of the animation. The animation of the Pinocchio boy also a perfect example of the use of cinematic photorealism. The animation takes various angles as the animator strives to transform the Pinocchio boy from a wooden puppet to a real boy. However, the animation loses its meaning when the Pinocchio boy is capable of performing activities of a real boy. Thus, this means that there is a specific threshold limit for the animation aesthetics beyond which the whole animation loses significance.

Time traveling is an essential part of animation aesthetics. The animator uses animation scenes that force the mind of the viewer into an imaginary future world (Macdonald, 2015, p 329). The fictitious animations of the Phantoms is a great example that explicitly uses the forthcoming invasion. Although much of the themes in these animations are around entertainment, they at times serve as essential calls to action on various environmental and technological effects on the future of humanity. For example, the alien phantoms animations are a useful tool to pass particular messages about the earth we live in and human nature. The animations help in creating awareness on the effect of technology and science in the future of humanity.

The plasmatic aspects of animations carry aesthetics through the use of metamorphosis. Plasmatic in the animations goes hand in hand with the use of cinematic features like the animation colors, the interaction and links of objects, and the pattern used in transition and motions. The Blue Sky's animations, such as the Ice Age, is the perfect example of the use of plasmatic in the animations. The animators use plasmatic and live screens to add to the aesthetic values of the nonhuman characters and objects in the animation actions. The Snow White animations also apply these principles in collaboration with the exaggerated scenes to create an emotional connection with the viewers. These animations observe the norms of convection while deliberately defies scientific rules and physics laws. It is the quality that makes the animations appealing to the viewers.

Animation is a type of film that borrows a lot from other kinds of cinema and movies. For instance, animations explore the creativity of cinematic icons and emblematic. The use of cinematic iconicity and symbolic figures in animations enhances the aesthetic values of the animations. Arcane and Spring are some of the animations that use these features. In the Arcane animations, the creator uses cinematic iconicity to enhance viewers' visions on the animations. It helps in creating live screen effects for the viewers. Cinematic iconicity can be used together with video effects and computer graphics to improve on the quality and content delivery in the animations. For example, Spring animation has a wide range of cinematic iconicity and video effects. It also uses emblematic as a representation of the real-world settings through the animation world.

Indexicality is an essential phenomenon in animations. It is a useful tool for the animator when conveying specific messages through the animation. Indexicality works well when installed alongside semiotics. The animations strive to achieve an indexical and photorealistic of human characters and pose these human characters to a symbolic and emblematic world. Disney employs various indexical aspects in the animations of Beauty and the Beast and the Alladin. Disney uses computer simulation and animations to achieve indexicality which he builds using antimonic tensions in the Alladin animation.

An animator creates an animation that mimics the real world. By so doing, he uses perpetual realism to create a world around the animation that resembles the real world. However, the characters in the animations have unique capabilities that a normal human being, non-living characters or animals in the real world are incapable of achieving. The "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" animation best reveals the concept of perpetual realism. The animation is a creation of Walt Disney that reflects the real-world setting. The animation uses an anthropomorphic rabbit as the main character to depict events in the real-life setting. It also uses live-action scenes to enhance the aesthetic and animation theories. Nevertheless, there are elements of superimposed realities and hyper-realism in the animation.

Some aspects of semiotics and ontologies are prevalent in various Walt Disney animations (Thomas, Johnston, and Thomas, 1995, p 89 - 106). They are essential in the personification of the non-living characters in the animations. For example, the Mickey Mouse animations use these concepts in the animation to create characters that convey messages with a philosophical interpretation. Thus, the animation is used not only for entertainment but also to inform and educate viewers on numerous life issues. Computer-generated characters in the animation are taking a complete representation of human figures with the use of the images and voiceovers that creates a sense of reality in the imaginary world.