persistence of vision
Animation is the creation of the illusion of movement by assembling a sequence of still images.
These pictures do not really move -- they are composed of a series of static images that affect the eyes at the rate of 12 to 24 images per second. The illusion of movement is caused by a physiological affect known as 'persistence of vision'.
The Computer Animation Dictionary (1989) defines animation as "producing the illusion of movement in a film/video by photographing, or otherwise recording, a series of single frames, each showing incremental changes in the position of the subject images which when shown in sequence, at high speed, give the illusion of movement. The individual frames can be produced by a variety of techniques from computer generated images, to hand-drawn cels."
Animation, then, consists of the imagining and representation of movement -- the quality of the sequence, the movement, is more important than the quality of the individual images. The sheer amount of physical and creative labour and the complexity of techniques intrinsic to producing animations has encouraged its development as a group or collaborative endeavour -- a form of commercial industrial design with three main purposes -- to entertain, educate or to inform. Its major producers have been studios.
(image, left: 19th century Magic Lantern tin toy)
This is not to say that many creatively and conceptually important animations have not been produced by individuals or small 'non-commercial' groups -- simply that what is available in the way of resources to produce such works is comparatively limited and must affect the outcome. It would be ludicrous, for example, to think of making 'Toy Story' on your home computer. As an individual animator it is important to plan well in advance -- plotting, scripting, storyboarding and producing key frames to minimise the waste of your time and resources.
---> historical timeline
(Image above: Kirchner's diagrams for a Magic Lantern, 1645)
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