Cut out Animation (Sue)

Cutout animation is a technique that allows an animator to create a story using resources such as paper and magazines. They are arranged on a flat surface and repositioned to stimulate animation. Paper with drawings, photographs, Magazines. This type of animation is used to make photos of people, animals look as if they are talking and moving with a 2D/3D effect.

The British television comedy sketch, Monty Python’s flying circus was first aired on BBC in 1969 this is one of the first cut out animations to be shown on TV. South Park is another example of a cut out animation show.

Advantages of cut out animation is it requires fewer drawing then a normal animation the animator can use one drawing cut into pieces to represent different movements. The animator can design the cut out pieces themselves so its all based on their own imagination, it is easy and fun to do, the equipment is easy to access. A disadvantage is it can be difficult to create a fluid smooth movement towards the camera using 2D shapes. It takes a very long time to do and mistakes may take a while to fix. Its also difficult to synchronize the recorded sounds with the movement of the characters.

For the cut out animation i created with my group we used pictures from a magazine, we did not have a clear idea of the storyline as the pictures we found was very random and different. This is because the pictures in the magazine did not add up so as a group we decided to cut out pictures and then create a story from the pictures we had.

I Enjoyed learning and creating this type of animation as its very different from what we see on modern TV and film. Creating it was interesting and allowed me to explore my imagination in a different way as we could make characters that do not match the normal looks or characteristics of an average person, for example we created a pregnant man.