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Introduction
Animation is a method in which figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most animations are made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation, while 2D computer animation (which may have the look of traditional animation) can be used for stylistic reasons, low bandwidth, or faster real-time renderings. Other common animation methods apply a stop motion technique to two and three-dimensional objects like paper cutouts, puppets, or clay figures.
Commonly the effect of animation is achieved by a rapid succession of sequential images that minimally differ from each other. The illusion—as in motion pictures in general—is thought to rely on the phi phenomenon and beta movement, but the exact causes are still uncertain. Analog mechanical animation media that rely on the rapid display of sequential images include the phénakisticope, zoetrope, flip book, praxinoscope, and film. Television and video are popular electronic animation media that originally were analog and now operate digitally. For display on the computer, techniques like animated GIF and Flash animation were developed.
Animation is more pervasive than many people realize. Apart from short films, feature films, television series, animated GIFs, and other media dedicated to the display of moving images, animation is also prevalent in video games, motion graphics, user interfaces, and visual effects. (Full article...)
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The animated television series Rugrats has been noted for its portrayal of Judaism, a dynamic rarely portrayed in American animated programming during the series' broadcast run (1991–2004). Two episodes of the series are devoted to Jewish holidays and explaining their history, and the Pickles family is shown to be part-Jewish. The first Rugrats Jewish holiday special was suggested to the production staff in 1992 by Nickelodeon executives as a special devoted to Hanukkah. Germain instead refashioned it into a Passover episode and the series did not explore a Hanukkah special until 1996. Critical reaction to Jewish themes in Rugrats was largely positive. Each holiday special achieved high viewing numbers according to Nielsen Media Research and received positive reviews. However, Jewish character Grandpa Boris' portrayal in a 1998 Rugrats comic strip was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for apparent antisemitism.
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Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (1942-2008) was an American Grammy Award and Academy Award winning soul and funk singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger, and actor. Hayes was one of the main creative forces behind Southern soul music label Stax Records, for which he served as both an in-house songwriter/producer and later as its premier recording artist. In addition to his work in popular music, Hayes has also written scores for several motion pictures as well. His best known film score, for the 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft, earned Hayes an Academy Award for Best Original Song (the first Academy Award received by an African-American in a non-acting category) and two Grammy Awards. Hayes received a third Grammy for his 1971 album Black Moses. In 1992, Hayes was crowned an honorary king of Ghana's Ada district thanks to his humanitarian deeds. From 1997 to 2006, he provided the voice for "Chef", a singing ladies' man and elementary school cook, on the animated sitcom South Park. There are conflicting statements from Hayes' publicists and others as to why he left the show, and this controversy is satirized in the South Park episode, "The Return of Chef".
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The accolades received by WALL-E, the 2008 American animation film, include Best Picture from the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Chicago Film Critics Association, the Online Film Critics Society, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, where WALL-E became the first animated feature to win that award. The film was nominated for seven Annie Awards, six Academy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. It won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (pictured) at the 81st Academy Awards. Walt Disney Pictures pushed for an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination, but it was not nominated, provoking controversy about the Academy deliberately restricting WALL-E to the Best Animated Feature category. The character of WALL-E was listed at number 63 on Empire's 2008 online poll of the 100 greatest movie characters. Time listed WALL-E number one in its top 10 movies of 2008 and, in early 2010, number one in "Best Movies of the Decade."
Did you know...
- ...that animator Nickson Fong is the first Singaporean to receive an Academy Award?
- ...that combining computer animation with live action, Adhisaya Ulagam 3D was the first 3D Indian film that featured dinosaurs?
- ...that Roger Ebert said the animated documentary film Ryan "is hard to describe, impossible to forget"?
Anniversaries for March 23
- Films released
- 1946 – Hare Remover (United States)
- 1951 – Home Made Home (United States)
- 1951 – Corn Chips (United States)
- 1956 – The Egg and Jerry (United States)
- 1967 – Scrooge McDuck and Money (United States)
- 2007 – TMNT (United States)
- 2012 – Ben 10: Destroy All Aliens (United States)
- Television series and specials
- 2008 – Frisky Dingo, an American animated television series finishes airing on Adult Swim
- 2013 – Monsters vs. Aliens, an American computer-animated television series based on the film as the same name begins airing on Nickelodeon
- 2008 – Futurama, an American animated American sci-fi sitcom created by Matt Groening, finishes airing on Comedy Central