Animation is a film genre that is very diverse and is often paired with other genres. Not all animated films are the same genre for example; The Lion King (Walt Disney Pictures 1994) can be classed as animation and adventure, while a more serious film like Barefoot Gen (Mori Masaki 1983) is more in the animation/war or drama genre.
Barefoot Gen (Masaki 1983)
The Lion King (Walt Disney Pictures 1994)
Although animated films are made similarly, they each have their own visual style and context. Good examples of this would be the works of Studio Ghibli and Walt Disney. While they are both companies that produce animated films, they each create a different look and feeling in their films. This is because of the cultural differences of the companies and the context they are trying to give the film. For example Grave of the fireflies (Studio Ghibli 1988) was made as a powerful statement of the Second World War, while The Jungle Book (Walt Disney 1967) is a more coming of age story aimed at younger audiences. This is reflected in the artistic style of the films, in the music and in the story given to the films.
The way a company makes animated films also changes over time. Each company has their own way of producing an animated film, how they want each frame to look or play. For example, Walt Disney previously used a method similar to flip books where they painted each frame from a movie and then photographed them using a machine called a Moviola.
As technology advances so does the way animated films are made but the stories and feelings provided by these films are still as powerful as they were when animation was first invented.
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Bibliography:
Websites visited:
“Animated Films.” Animated Films. http://www.filmsite.org/animatedfilms.html (accessed June 14, 2014).
IMDb.com. “IMDb: Genre: Animation.” IMDb. http://www.imdb.com/genre/animation (accessed June 14, 2014).
“The Animation Process.” The Animation Process. http://www.justdisney.com/animation/animation.html (accessed June 14, 2014).
Books:
Wells, Paul. Animation: Genre and Authorship. : Wallflower Press, 2002.
Films:
Disney Pictures “How Walt Disney Cartoons are made.” YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhfp6Z8z1cI#t=20 (accessed June 14, 2014).
The Lion King. Directed by Rodger Allens. Burbank, California : Walt Disney Pictures, 1994.
Barefoot Gen. Directed by Mori Masaki. 1983.
Grave of the fireflies. Directed by Akiyuki Nosaka. : Studio Ghibli, 1988.
The Jungle Book. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman. : Walt Disney , 1967.
Elizabeth Poole 