1. Stop Motion Animation

It is a style where physically the animators manipulate objects, which makes it look like these objects are moving by themselves. So an exact sequence is played back, generating an image of movement and action.

2. 2D Animation

This is the traditional way of drawing for animation. Its function is to produce storyboards, backgrounds and characters in an environment of two dimensions. Now due to computers, it is mostly done on software. But earlier, everything was hand drawn. Though 3D is on the rise, 2D is still in demand.

3. 3D Animation

This is a revolutionary technique. In this style, objects appear in three dimensions. They have the ability to move and rotate. 3D animation is used in feature and short films, television commercials, brand or corporate videos, etc.

4. Mechanical Animation

This is utilised to show assemblies, modus-operandi and configuration of mechanical products. Explaining the functions of machines using this style of animation makes it easier to understand.

5. Cutout Animation

This animation is a form of stop motion. They move paper cutouts under the lens to tell a story. But with innovations in the industry, computers can now easily cut and animate images.

6. Animatronics

This is a robotic animation. This idea belonged to Walt Disney Imagineering, which they created to welcome guests at their theme parks. Many companies later began using this style of animation for their brand’s purposes.

7. Whiteboard Animation

It is also known as an explainer video. Due to its minimalistic design, it allows your audience to keep his/her focus on what is being shown on the screen without getting distracted by the visual effects. In this animation, a story will be told using a whiteboard to the audience using drawings. It is good for an educational purpose.

8. Clay Animation

A kind of stop motion were pieces of clay are used to form various characters. Here water based or oil based clay are used. It is a time-consuming process. That is why clay animated movies are much shorter than other animated ones.

9. Rotoscope Animation

In this technique, the footage is software-traced using the rotoscoping tool. It’s an early animation style. This equipment was developed by Max Fleisher, a Polish-American. Although computers create this animation now, it is still known by its previous name.

10. Typography Animation

In this style, there is both motion and text. This is used in cinematography during the title scene of the movie. If creating font faces is what you like, then this could be your favourite animation style.

At Magic Elements Studios, we are on a mission of making this world a better place, one film at a time.

Despite their experience and action of over three decades, November 2016’s “Moana” was a new chapter, a new accomplishment for the director duo. This went on to be Musker and Clement’s first film with 3D animations.

The last Disney 2D movie was 2009’s “The Princess and the Frog”. It was directed by the duo. All animation used were hand-drawn at their studios. In “Moana” lot of traditional techniques were used for production and pre-production, especially with the Mini-Maui character who was entirely drawn by hand.

Moana’s character was drawn using a computer and not by human hands. However, the character of Mini-Maui is a mix of 3D and 2D animation. The film’s Mini-Maui character travels using Maui’s body. This character represents a big technical accomplishment, as it is a 2D character who seamlessly interacts with the 3D animated world all around.

Animation is an art. For a film, after the artist adds the final touches to the drawings then the technical animation team takes over to draft the animations to the 3D model. Now unlike paper, our body is not flat and has curves. The skin moves and the muscle flex, which moves alongside the character. So to avoid any warping or stretching, the technical animators whipped a whole new technology. This would preserve old-fashioned and modern-day animation.

During the film’s production, the adjustments between 3D and 2D techniques did not always go smoothly. At times Musker and Clements asked for some changes, which made the animators push their limits. In fact, as the movie progressed, the team discussed as to how to make the movie more interesting. Now as 2D animators produced new drawings and the computer animation team had to frame and rearrange digital objects.

Combining a balance of modern as well as traditional animation and also of the techniques and ideas wasn’t easy, but in the end, was really worth it. The audiences and the critics agreed that this was the most advanced technologically animated movies ever produced. Not to mention that it had the same humour, charm and warmth for which Disney has been known and loved for over 100 years.

At Magic Elements Studios, we are experts of 2D and 3D animation styles. We appreciate good pieces of art. Disney’s Moana blended the freshness of 3D animation with old-fashioned 2D, creating a new cult. What a masterpiece!

Here’s where Tibu took birth.

Different Dialogue styles

Various animation studies used this element of dialogue in different ways. Disney used it in a way of reprimanding or whenever a conflict arose. Dialogue was a way to set things straight with discipline.

For example when Mickey trains Pluto, Donald complains against the world. Their style of dialogue was preachy and moralistic. Whereas the Warner Bros used dialogue to add a sense of comedy. Their dialogues were joke oriented and this style of dialogue in animation was established by them. Simple dialogues like ‘What’s up Doc?‘ showed Bugs’ Bunnys’ superiority! or ‘You realise, this means war’ when things didn’t go the Bugs’ way. Daffy on the other hand with his consistent lispy babble would utter in great shame, ‘You are despicable’. Elmer Fudd would quietly hunt wabbits whereas Yosemite Sam would hype himself up and say ‘I’m seagoing Sam, the blood thirstiest, shoot ’em firstiest, doggone worstiest, buccaneer that’s ever sailed the Spanish Main!’.

All of these Verbal Dynamics,

be it admonishing or humourous added texture and remarkably supported the visuals. Philip Brophy suggested that Disney soundtrack leaned towards the Symphonic which was inspired by classical aspirations, poetic, balletic and operatic. On the other hand, the Warner Bros leaned towards the Cacophonic which included more urban, industrialized, beat-based vocabulary. Now that you know the secret of how the most successful animation studios used dialogue and language in their projects in order to be more striking and relatable, how are you going to use it? The Disney style? Warner Bros style? Or something new altogether?

The art of writing stories is based on creativity and innovation. But along with that it’s based on a set of guidelines and rules. These storytelling guidelines decide which route the story will eventually take. In animation, there are two basic types of stories that are Linear and Non Linear stories.

Linear stories.

Linear storytelling is the most widely used and accepted format in animation. It develops with a beginning, progresses into a middle and then goes off to a resolution at the end. At the beginning a situation is shown along with a problem arising in the middle of the story and it ends with a resolution or a solution to the story. Linear stories can also work in reverse as seen in Piet Kroon’s short film T.R.A.N.S.I.T. The movie begins as a man is moving away to Argentina after a murder. The movie then goes into a flashback showing the interconnections in the characters’ past and how this situation was inevitable and unavoidable.

Non Linear stories.

Whereas non-linear movies aren’t based on structural outlines, they’re based on setting a mood or an effect. Non linear movies basically consist of experimental short films. Waking Life is a rare example of a full fledged feature film of a non linear pattern. The story revolves around dreamy logic and it builds up over time. Instead of being a carefully assembled narrative.

However both of these type of stories will require extensive pre-production work. Although non linear stories might not need character development as much as linear stories to attains it’s desired effects. If you’re wanting to create a non linear film, you must concentrate on the moods, effects and emotions. Try out different artistic styles, color, sound, music and effects that will impact the audiences in the required and necessary manner.

Creativity has indeed affected by all of the improvements and progress in visual effects during the past century. The transition from the original hand-cranked camera, to optical printing, to digital compositing, to computer graphics imagery—have had one major impact. They have opened creative options well into the post-production process, virtually until the last possible moment.
When the techniques available to us were photochemical, the effects artists knew exactly what had to be done to finish the film. Shots were not easily changeable, and filmmakers had long settled on what they expected from a given visual effect.
They knew exactly what everything had to do. It was an intense exercise to get it done. And to come up with a creative technical solution that looked good on screen. Now, after remarkable progress in the power to create visual effects, everything can be constantly manipulated and changed (although often with extraordinary effort).

Because of this, filmmakers are no longer disciplined to make critical creative decisions up front and often postpone them as long as they can.

In essence, the creative process only ends when time runs out and the film, game, or other project must be released.

Remember as kids we would laugh and sometimes imitate the wacky voices of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Sylvester? It was because of a grown man behind the bunny, the duck, the cat and thousands of other characters which he enhanced with his voice. It all came out of one legendary person, Mel Blanc aka “The Man of 1000 Voices”.

He practically became one of them. Bugs’ voice, Blanc said, grew out of his impression of the character as a smart, endlessly resourceful maverick, a very urban rabbit despite his residency in rural holes. His inputs made a huge impact on what Bugs eventually turned out to be. Mel said “I thought, when we were working on how Bugs would talk, which accent sounds the toughest – Brooklyn or the Bronx? I couldn’t make up my mind, so I made his voice a combination of both.” Blanc would instantly embody the facial expressions of whatever character he was voicing. He actually lived these characters. And the characters lived him. One of them also saved him. It was our hero, Bugs Bunny.

When one night at Sunset Boulevard’s Deadman Curve, Mel Blanc met with an accident that crushed his Aston Martin and himself inside it. The chances of him surviving were a million to one. That’s when the address “Bugs Bunny, Hollywood, USA” received fifteen thousand cards and letters, gifts of pennies, nickels, sticks of gum and carrots. Thousands of people praying for Bugs Bunny to get well soon. It’s weird, isn’t it? People don’t even love humans as much as they loved a cartoon character. Maybe that’s the magic of animation and creating new characters. The voice of Bugs Bunny was heard, and it was heard well alright!

After about 3 weeks of Mel being in a coma, his neurosurgeon got an idea. He knew the affection Mel had for Bugs, he said “How are you feeling today, Bugs Bunny?”. It was like a miracle waiting to happen, that’s when a bleak but extremely familiar voice said “Eh, just fine, Doc, How are you?”. A human who was suffering, close to his death and there’s a fictitious character who was being his hero was trying to save him. Bugs eventually won, Mel survived.

Mel Blanc was the voice to Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Bugs Bunny, Woody Woodpecker, Pepe Le Pew, Yosemite Sam, Mr. Spacely, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Foghorn Leghorn, Marvin the Martian, Speedy Gonzalez,The Tasmanian Devil, Barney Rubble, Dino the Dinosaur, Heathcliff and so many more but the love for one saved him and it was our dear Bugs. This is the power of animation. Mel Blanc is said to be one of the first voice actors and he is also the first voice actor to get screen credit which he funnily enough received after being denied a raise by his studio boss Leon Schlesinger.

Out of his glorious work history, his career at Warner Bro’s was the longest and memorable. When we think of Bugs, we hear his voice along with the chomping of carrots. We could never thank Mel Blanc enough for the iconic legend that his voice created.

It gives me great pleasure to share with you all out there these warm words by Aksha from Isobar, whom we worked with for Kellogg’s Video.
Thank you Aksha for the acknowledgement, it is an honor for us (Magic Elements) to receive this testimonial.

“It was a delight to work with Magic Elements!

Two very important reasons why I recommend working with them – Professionalism & Quality. Sampada will turn the world upside down to ensure the timelines are met and all paper-work is in order. And there is no one who will deny that Nikhil’s piece of work is always ace. I had reached out to them for an animated short film for a Kid’s Brand that I handle, the timelines as always were crunched. But Nikhil worked with us like a team and brought in his ideas on the table. We managed a successful release on the planned date all thanks to the magic of Magic Elements.”

Aksha Sachdev
Account Manager, Isobar India

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The artist is reduced to a piece of frustration, after all the years of toiling hard to excel and gathering accolades from peers and mentors he now has to face this bit of reality. We can simply start blaming that the client has no appreciation for art, has no taste, etc, etc. While all of this is true, we also have to bear with the fact that we still have to come face to face and confront this situation and stop ranting about it.

However irritating this might be we need to widen our scope of thinking for our own sake, if not for art. After all we Artists can create art at any given time which we know from deep below has the subtlety, fundamentals and more over one which you enjoyed doing.