E4 is a digital television channel owned by 'Channel Four Television Corporation' and is also funded through advertising. In January 2001, E4 was launched as a pay-TV companion, coinciding with channel 4. However, in December 2004 Channel 4 made E4 'free to view' as long as you had a legal viewed television.
In 2005, E4 first started showing episodes of popular programmes such as Hollyoaks and Come dine with me. This is said to be the time when E4 starts becoming a popular viewing channel.
Popular TV shows that have been shown primarily on E4 include popular dramas such as 'my mad fat diary' and 'skins'. Comedies include 'the inbetweeners' and 'chewing gum'.
The primary target audience for E4 is said to be people between the aged of 16-34 and prominently females due to most of the shows shown being dramas. However, demographically most E4 viewers are aged between 16-24 as many shows broadcasted are easily relatable to this age rage. For example, my mad fat diary has the story line of a group of friends who are around 16-17, it covers on issues such as mental health and relationships. Skins acts similarly to this, and they both have story lines which would impact that age rage on a personal level. Linking to these demographics, most viewers of E4 are of the C2DE social rank, meaning they are part of one of the three lower social groups in society. I think this demographic is right, because a lot of the content E4 shows would appeal to students, and young people who are no longer living at home; as they come under this category.
An E Sting is a break bumper that E4 use. They're short animations which are created in-house, however; sometimes there are competitions for public submissions.
The above three embedded videos are all E-stings which have made the final E4 cut or have been shortlisted. In the first video, we can see the target audience would be the older viewers who have a sense of nostalgia towards the old school popular game snake. Snake is always seem to be a classic yet simple old game, and i think interpretation of this into a modern thing like E4 works well as it shows a contrast between new entertainment to new entertainment but in a fairly modern way. The second embedded E-sting has a very different approach, however once again has the aspect of appealing to an audience due to its relate-ability of having a hectic day and just wanting to 'switch off' and its showing that E4 has the power to inflict that. The final one i have embedded has a target audience of teenagers, particularly those who are obsessed with smart phones and social media as it shows how everything is now influenced and posted on social media via photos. When responding to the brief, and designing my own E4 E-sting, i have taken part in some preparation activities to get used to different techniques and pioneers. Specifically in my human animation and the live action SMA, my main target was to create the impossible and a scene of mystery. Personally, my favourite is animation via humans, as it allows alot more creativity and i enjoy making the impossible possible (such as flying and surfing through corridors)
The Esting i am going to create is going to be a lego based Esting. I have come to this decision because i want to use the idea of a old fashioned game such as tetris or snake, and i feel like lego fits in with the old styled entertainment well. I also like how i will be in full control, and will be able to alter and change the lego's position quickly to produced a smooth 10 second long Esting. I haven't combined techniques because i feel like this will be too complicated to create a narrative for 10 seconds which works and is easy to follow.
These are techniques i have already practiced which will influence my ideas for my final digital text.
Persistence of vision. This refers to the illusion where multiple images blend into a single image in the human mind and they are believed to be the explanation for any motion perception shown in cinema or animated films. Persistence of vision works because the eye and brain can only limit the process of seperate images to 10 or 12 a second; meaning an image is retained for fifteenth of a second.Thaumatrope.
A thaumatrope is a form of optical toy which uses a disk with a picture of something on both sides and is attached either side to two pieces of string. If the string is twirled fast enough in between ones fingers, the two pictures appear to blend into one causing an illusion it is one image. Common examples of thaumatrope designs would be having a tree on one side and leaves for the tree on the other, and when spun it appears the leaves are on the tree. Also another common example is a bird in a cage.
The thaumatrope was first noticed to have been invented by a British physician known as John Aryton Paris, who first published the thaumatrope alongside W. Phillips some time in 1825.
Phenakistoscope
A phenakistoscope is another optical toy which was invented in 1832 by a Belgian physicist names Joseph Plateau along with the Austrian professor simon stampfer. It works by having consecutive images on a disk, and you would look through slits at the images reflection, the slits would also cause them to merge together.
Zoetrope. Click here to view my presentation on zoetropes. Praxiniscope The praxiniscope was invented in 1877 by Charle-Emile Reynaud. Similarly to the zoetrope, the praxiniscope used a strip of pictures placed around the inner surface of a spinning cylinder.
Kinetiscope A kinetiscope was designed to be used by one individual at a time via a 'peep hole'. Overall the kinetiscope influenced the invention of movie projectors as it created the illusion of movement by conveying a strip of perforated film. It was invented in 1891 by Thomas A. Edison and Willism Dickson in the United States.
Developers:
George Pal is know for his puppet work. He was born in Hungary, where he lived with his mother and father. George Pal patented the Pal-doll technique, which was more commonly known as the puppetoons. He went on to study at the Budapest Academy of Arts where he achieved an architecture degree, and alongside this he developed many drawing skills. He spent years working at Hunnia Films where he learned the craft of picture cartoon, this gave him the idea and a passion to create a perception where inanimate objects could move. His most famous piece of work is the pupetoons creation called 'Tulips shall grow'
Willis O'Brien was born in 1886 in California and was a stop motion and special effects pioneer. His primary interest laid in dinasours, which inspired him to sculpt and illustrate in his free time. O'Briens most famous pieces of work was used in the 1933 King Kong film.
Tim Burton was born in 1958 and is a write, artist director, producer and animator. Jason and the argonauts was what triggered Burton into loving animation, and from here he begun creating films such as 'Vincent' and 'Beetlejuice'. These lead to much more famous and well known films such as Edward Scissorhands and Coraline.
Otmar Guttman - click here to view my presentation about Otmar.
Adam Shaheen was born in London in 1964 and is a television producer who also owns Cuppa Coffee Studios. Examples of his productions include Celebrity Deathmatch and Starveillance, alongside 400 TV commercials.
The Brothers Quay (better known as Stephen and Timothy Quay) were identical twins born in 1947 in Pennsylvania. Their most well known piece of work is their play ' The Chairs '
They both studied in London at the Royal College of Art and when they left Uni begun their career in film.
Nick Park was born in Lancashire in 1958, and his first stop motion was made when he was 13. He always enjoyed drawing, and took after his father in this talent. He is most well known for being the animator of Walace and Gromit, but he did also work on Chicken Run. He is best known for using the technique of clay models. Ray Harryhausen is know for being an American-British designer as well as artist, write and producer, and visual effects creator. Harryhausen was brought up in California, and was inspired by the 1933 King Kong film which lead him to spend his early years of production experimenting with animation. Ray Harryhausen is most well known for 'dynamation' where he created the animation of 'Mighty Joe Young'.
Phill Tippett is from California, and is best known for being an American movie director who's specialised area is creature design and any type of computerized animation. His inspiration stemmed frfom Ray Harryhausens work, especially his classic speccial effects piece known as 'The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad'. This is where Tippett decided what he wanted to do, and he continued to complete a degree in at to a bachelors level. From here, he worked in an animation studio known as Cascade Pictures, where he produced a minature stop motion chess scene for the very original Star Wars film, and he also done some work on the jurrasic park films.
Media Platform and Audiences.
TV Programmes a TV programme which uses stop motion animation is Wallace and Gromit. Wallace and Gromit is a BBC production, with the target audience which is very broad. Despite its childish approach, and silly humour; it touches upon topics relatable to all genders and ages, and is something anybody from the age of around 4 could happily enjoy and understand. As W&G was first aired in 1990, it would be a programme many people would have grown up alongside, and would enjoy watching it with their families in the future to maintain a sense of nostalgia.
Another TV programme using animation is Bob the Builder. Bob the builder is a BBC children's animation which covers on the aspect of the working life, and makes the impossible possible (such as talking tools, and living diggers) The target audience of bob the builder is mainly young boys aged between 1 and 5, however; as it is such a young aged based show, girls have always been known to also enjoy it.
Feature Films
Toy Story
Toy story was first produced in 1955 as a computer animated buddy feature film. The target audience is multi-gendered and its age is based on primary school children, however some characters such as bo-peep could be aimed at an older audience due to the nostalgia.
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Fantastic Mr. Fox is an animated feature film produced from a book. The overall target audience would be both genders of younger people and the secondary audience is their parents as they too arent only attracted to the fact the author of the original book is Roald Dahl but also some humor would be appreciated by them. The animation is relatively simple and allows a younger audience to easily follow the narrative.
Adverts
Sainsbury's in 2016 used animation in their Christmas television advert of the 'greatest gift'. Despite the fact the production technique of animation appeals to a younger audience a lot more than older, the general narrative has more of an impact on older people as it represents every day life of a family. In terms of advertising, the advert is also mainly based at anybody over the age of 18-20 as it touches upon buying gifts at Christmas for a family, and supplying your loved ones with a nice holiday period.
In 2010, Volvo produced a stop animation advert to celebrate the release of a new V70 model that was released. The typical owner of a Volvo is a middle aged person who can afford that type of car, meaning the advert is aimed at these people as opposed to young people who would not be able to afford that type of car. The video also includes the technique of touching upon the models best features, which again would attract the target audience . Music Videos Dodie Clarke is a singer/songwriter who has made her fame from youtube. Her video for her song 'absolutely smitton' was made into an advertisement for the Hp Spock printer, however refelects Dodies overall style. The target audience for this is young girls who admire and are inspired by youtubers. Not only has the technique been used to attract a naive audience, who would find gadgets such as the Hp Spock Printer fascinating, but also using a youtuber whos fanbase really like the style of her music videos
.
In 2014 - Moving on by James' released a stop animation video to accompany their new song. As James is a very lowkey artist, i think the simple yet effective technique of the video would attract to teenagers of both gender who would be attracted by the qwerky style.
Conclusion I feel like stop animation is made for both genders however a younger audience due to how it is apparent the majority of children based tv shows are made using stop animation, not only does it make it more fun to watch but also allows a child to discover something you arent met with in everyday life. I feel stop animation will be used in the future, as not only does it touch upon the nostalgic aspect as a child is growing up to be met again with the style they grew up with; but also traditional toys such as clay/playdough and stuffed toys are still used as entertainment today, and i feel series such a walace and gromitt will continue to be enjoyed.
