Technicolor's Influence On Animation

Evolution is defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary as the process of slow change and development. There is no artform more influenced by the evolution of technology than film and specifically animation. Animation itself was born out of the evolution of technology, specifically photography. Eadweard Muybridge inspired a new way to capture motion with his photographs of animals and humans in motion, other advancements in the camera pushed film forwards, but it was the mistake of George Melies that the discovery of stop-motion cam out of, and thus the bases for animation as we know it today. In the roaring ‘20s animation was influenced by comic strips and the artist who made them. Jumping forward to the ‘40s they were influenced by radio personalities …show more content…
Although there had been experimentation in coloring films, the influences of Technicolor contributed to the creation of animated films in the 1930s and continued develop over the next decade or so. During this time animated films were influenced upon illustrations and storybooks. Color not only adds vibrance to the images and help to express emotions like shyness or embarrassment in characters turning bright red, however it also helps to create a mood. While Sleeping Beauty, 1959 was not the first animated piece to be made into color it probably had the most impact visually on the films that would follow. In Sleeping Beauty when Aurora follows that green little ball of light to the spindle that she’ll prick her finger on, everything in the background is dark, in contrast everything that the light of the green ball touches takes on a green hue, this green intensifies when she reaches the spindle. This use of color helps to create and ominous feel. The film’s Production Designer Eyvind Earle made Sleeping beauty very stylized. graphic, and modern. This is because Walt wanted to take a different directions than in previous films and called the artwork of Sleeping Beauty, “A moving illustration.” The influences of Sleeping Beauty on the filmmakers that followed was immense. Animator, Eric Goldberg stated that “...it’s something our current generation of animator shave taken greatly to heart, in trying to make our current films as stylistically and graphically as different from one another as we can. It’s a level of craftsmanship to which we can all still aspire.” Today, in color still holds a subconscious power of the viewer to help push the story like Coraline, 2009, Coraline’s real house and family use cool colors, while the other family warm colors because they lure her in with being fun and playful. This color intensify and then turn to black and white