Portal:Animation
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Introduction
Animation is a filmmaking technique by which still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets (cels) to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animation has been recognized as an artistic medium, specifically within the entertainment industry. Many animations are computer animations made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Stop motion animation, in particular claymation, has continued to exist alongside these other forms.
Animation is contrasted with live-action film, although the two do not exist in isolation. Many moviemakers have produced films that are a hybrid of the two. As CGI increasingly approximates photographic imagery, filmmakers can easily composite 3D animations into their film rather than using practical effects for showy visual effects (VFX). (Full article...)
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SpongeBob SquarePants is the titular character and protagonist of the American animated television series of the same name. He is voiced by actor and comedian Tom Kenny (pictured in 2008), and first appeared on television in the series' pilot episode "Help Wanted" on May 1, 1999. SpongeBob SquarePants was created and designed by cartoonist and marine biologist Stephen Hillenburg shortly after the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life in 1996. Hillenburg intended to create a series about an over-optimistic sponge that annoys other characters. Hillenburg compared the concept to Laurel and Hardy and Pee-wee Herman. As he drew the character, he decided that a "squeaky-clean square" (like a kitchen sponge) fits the concept. His name is derived from "Bob the Sponge", the host of Hillenburg's comic strip The Intertidal Zone that he originally drew in the 1980s while teaching marine biology to visitors of the Ocean Institute. SpongeBob is a naïve and goofy sea sponge who works as a fry cook in the fictional underwater town of Bikini Bottom. The character has received positive critical response from media critics and achieved popularity with both children and adults, though he has been involved in public controversy. SpongeBob appeared in a We Are Family Foundation video promoting tolerance, which was criticized by James Dobson of Focus on the Family because of the foundation's link to homosexuality.
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Did you know (auto-generated) -
- ... that the stylized animation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem was inspired by rough sketches in school notebooks?
- ... that the live-action comedy series Community had a stop motion animated Christmas special?
- ... that the 1937 Fleischer Studios strike in New York City was the first major labor strike in the animation industry?
- ... that the Pakistani film Shehr e Tabassum was the first animated cyberpunk film to be made by an Urdu development team?
- ... that "Arnold's Christmas", now considered one of the most memorable episodes from the animated series Hey Arnold!, was almost rejected by network executives because it depicted the Vietnam War?
- ... that at age 12, Shaylee Mansfield became the first deaf actor to be credited alongside the voice actors for a signed performance in an animated production?
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Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (born December 9, 1960) is an American television director, writer, producer, storyboard artist, and actor associated with several animated television series. Marsh was born in Santa Monica, California, where he grew up with a heavily blended family dynamic. Marsh has been and continues to be a driving force behind several animation projects, working for over six seasons on the animated television series The Simpsons. Marsh continued to work on other animated television series, including King of the Hill and Rocko's Modern Life, before moving to England in 1996. While in England, Marsh worked on several animated programs, including Postman Pat and Bounty Hamster, and worked for BKN New Media Ltd. to produce several feature films. After six years living in England, Marsh was asked by his longtime partner Dan Povenmire to help produce Phineas and Ferb in 2007, a concept the two had while working together on Rocko's Modern Life. Marsh accepted and moved back to the United States; the series has since garnered Marsh two Emmy Awards nominations for songwriting.
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The accolades received by Up, a 2009 computer-animated film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. The film, which premiered on May 29, 2009, in North America, became the first animated 3D film to open the Cannes Film Festival. It was directed by Pete Docter (pictured), co-directed by Bob Peterson, and produced by Jonas Rivera. It garnered various awards and nominations, most of them for the "Best Animated Picture" category and for the film's soundtrack. Up was nominated for five Academy Awards at the 2010 Ceremony, winning two, for Best Animated Feature and for Best Original Score. Rivera received the Motion Pictures Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award, for Animated Theatrical Motion Pictures, given by the Producers Guild of America, while Docter, Peterson and Giacchino were honored with British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards for their work on the film. Furthermore the film was nominated at the 2009 Satellite Awards in the categories "Best Animated or Mixed Media Film", "Best Original Screenplay" and "Best Original Score".
More did you know...
- ...that Jack-Jack Attack is the first Pixar short not to be given a theatrical release?
- ...that pixel artists are featured in an annual juried art show, "Into the Pixel", at the E3 trade show for computer and video game industries?
- ...that critics praised The Spectacular Spider-Man episode "Natural Selection" for its action and fight sequences?
Anniversaries for June 4
- Films released
- 1949 – Bowery Bugs (United States)
- 1955 – Tweety's Circus (United States)
- 1960 – Rabbit's Feat (United States)
- Television series and specials
- 2011 – Kid vs. Kat, a Canadian animated television series finishes airing on YTV (Canadian TV channel)
- Births
- 1955 – Mary Testa, American singer and actress
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