Animation Art Research Articles

Financial Development of Disney: Analyzing Box Office Revenue, Derivative Products, and Audience Demographics

Disney is known around the world for its unique animated films, theme parks and classic characters. Through continuous innovation and development, Disney has combined The traditional art of animation with modern technology to create many classic animated films such as "The Lion King," "Frozen" and "Beauty and the Beast."This paper explores Disney's success factors in terms of box office revenue, derivative products, and audience demographiAnalyzingzing relevant literature and it summarizes how Disney has solidified its leading position in the global entertainment industry through high-grossing films, a wide range of derivative products, and precise market positioning. The study reveals that Disney's continuous innovation and market adaptation, including the introduction of new content and diverse products, have successfully attracted audiences of all ages. The paper also provides recommendations for further enhancing Disney's market position and audience engagement, such as investing in original content, emphasizing diversity and inclusivity, and expanding digital and interactive experiences.

The Geopolitical Imaginaries in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale and Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick

This paper explores the geopolitical imaginaries in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851) and in the Japanese science fiction animation titled Hakugei: Legend of the Moby Dick (1997-1999) by the Japanese animation artist Osamu Dezaki. Although it is an adaptation of Moby-Dick, the setting of Hakugei has been creatively changed from the sea to space. In the mid-nineteenth century, when Melville chose the sea as the setting of his quest novel, the sea was inextricably intertwined with the nineteenth-century myth of U.S. expansionism. Melville presents a double vision of imaginary islands in the South Sea and the actual geopolitical relationships between existing transatlantic countries. Yet in the second half of the twentieth century, especially in the wake of Transpacific tensions, the sea as a place of quest among Japanese writers could not be delineated in the same kind of prefigurative language used by Melville, such as by drawing on symbolism. Instead, the animation reflects a Cold War psychology that was prevalent among Japanese after the defeat of World War II. As this paper suggests, Hakugei displays both fear and hope for the geopolitical transformation of the Pacific Rim countries and their future safety by choosing outer space as a site for the fable. It is in this way that the Japanese animator Dezaki draws on Melville’s Moby-Dick as a source text by engaging geopolitics, anti-war psychology, and uneasiness toward expansionism. Melville’s pacifism can be argued for as major transcultural influence, at the very least, driving Hakugei’s anime characterization. In fact, going beyond drawing on certain characters, including Ahab, Dezaki retains Melville’s anxiety over the proximity of creation and destruction in yet another era of increasing concern for world peace.

Influence of Walt Disney’s Work on Soviet Cartoons

In the mid-1930s, Walt Disney’s cartoon characters conquered screens all over the world. The Soviet Union was not spared from this fascination. Despite the fact that Soviet animation took its first steps in the mid-1920s and by the time of the Disney craze already had several successful films (e.g., “The Rink”, “The Post Office”, “Black and White”), domestic cartoonists fell under the “Disney hypnosis”. This leads to active borrowing of Disney methods, imitation of the performing manner, copying characters. At the newly established studio “Soyuzmultfilm” with the approval of high film bosses begins work on the creation of “his Soviet Mickey Mouse”. For the basis of cartoon production take the flow method – conveyor, which allows, thanks to the use of celluloid sheets instead of paper, accelerate the production of cartoons. This method of creating cartoon pictures divides artists into supporters and opponents of Disney methods. Some of the opponents are leaving the profession, believing that the conveyor belt method would turn the art of animation into a craft.However, even uncompromising supporters of Disney animation quickly realize that direct copying of the great master’s tapes leads domestic animation to a dead end, as it becomes obvious that Disney’s tricks, techniques and images cannot be adapted to traditional stories: folk tales, fables. In addition, in the second half of the 1930s, the USSR changed its cultural policy. All this leads to the struggle against “Disney” and the search for their own unique style of Soviet animation.The article analyses the memoirs of cartoonists N.P. Khodataev, I.P. Ivanov-Vano, A.V. Ivanov, F.S. Khitruk and others, their perception of Disney’s work, their attitude to the borrowing of the master’s creative methods, as well as the experience of creating their own works using Disney technologies.

Research on the Design Aesthetic Characteristics of Chinese Digital Virtual Products in the 21st Century

The advancement of digital technologies profoundly impacts design art, particularly in virtual product design, where new expressions and effects, unattainable through traditional methods, emerge. Digitalization supports designers by freeing their creativity and enabling the embodiment of artistic pursuits. This transformation affects all stages of artistic creation, from concepts to expression, facilitated by the integration of digital technologies. The interactivity of digital virtual design promotes personalized, humane aesthetics through user participation.In the context of China's development, the animation industry's growth necessitates a unique cultural approach. Successful films like "Storm Rider Clash of the Evils" integrate Chinese elements and philosophy, reflecting traditional culture and values. This film exemplifies the fusion of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, presenting the idea of fate and the unity of characters in accordance with destiny. Martial arts scenes, rivers, lakes, and dynamic fights showcase innovative audio-visual effects. Despite some design flaws, the film's innovations and desire for innovation mark a significant step in the evolution of Chinese animation art, providing new creative opportunities and inspiring future projects. The film's cultural depth, blending traditional elements with modern trends, appeals to a broad audience, solidifying China's position in the global animation industry and showcasing its potential for innovation and cultural contribution.

The Transformation of Animated Character Images: A Perspective on the Shift in Contemporary Chinese Public Aesthetics

As a rising star among various film categories in China, animated films hold a pivotal position. Directly targeting a vast audience of children and teenagers, they enjoy a natural advantage in cultural dissemination and ideological guidance. Since the creation of China’s first animated film, The Big Stir in the Studio in 1926, a distinctive national style has been one of the most prominent hallmarks of domestic animation. With the integration of modern artistic concepts and advanced animation production technologies, Chinese animation has, after a rich developmental journey, ultimately formed its unique creative paradigm and aesthetic philosophy. As a “young” art form, animation employs a wide array of content expression methods, encompassing artistic forms such as ink wash painting, sculpture, watercolor, and oil painting. Its “all-encompassing” nature also determines that animation art possesses a strong “moldability,” making it more susceptible to the influence of various cultural trends during the creation process. This is particularly evident in the evolution of character design influenced by aesthetic preferences in different periods since the founding of New China. This article will delve into the transformation of public aesthetics since the establishment of New China by examining the artistic expression and gender body structures in characters from domestic animated films. It aims to contribute to the development of China’s animation industry and promote outstanding Chinese culture.

Identities of Farming Culture in Jiangnan: The Creation of Animation to Inherit Folk Customs of Polder Rice Farming in Water Towns

Background and Aim: Jiangnan farming culture, a custom culture formed by Jiangnan people in their long history of agricultural production and life, highlights the features and connotations of the region. Recent years have witnessed a shift from a traditional agricultural society to a modernized and urbanized one, which is influencing the traditional agricultural cultural system deeply. In the context of increasingly globalized and intelligentized economic development, factors such as differences in survival and consciousness caused by the special geographical environment in Jiangnan (southern Yangtze River) have accelerated the modernization of farming civilization in the region. Confronting such a crisis, this study adopts an interdisciplinary research thinking pattern to protect, inherit, and spread Jiangnan farming culture in animation works by establishing a connection between the culture and animation art as well as combining theories such as semiotics, design, and communication. Materials and Methods: Data was collected through literature research, field investigation, and expert interviews to analyze the value, connotation, and characteristics of Jiangnan farming culture, as well as extract its symbolic and animation elements. Results: The research found that Jiangnan farming culture as a typical polder rice farming culture in China is featured by its unique Jiangnan water town characteristics, which serve as a foundation for creating animation works in this article with polder rice farming as the theme to inherit and spread Jiangnan farming culture. Conclusion: 1. As an independent art category, the animation plays a key role in building a farming cultural space and shaping the image of farming culture in cross-cultural communication. 2. Through the narrative expression of animation art, farming ideas are spread and passed on through animation lenses, allowing people to further understand the origin of Jiangnan farming culture. 3. Animation brings unlimited creative space to Jiangnan farming culture, which can promote its future innovation and sustainable development.

Examining Young Children’s Computational Thinking through Animation Art

AbstractEducators and researchers are becoming interested in cultivating computational thinking (CT). However, in the Hong Kong context, CT-related studies regarding young children are rarely found. The present study aimed to use an unplugged digital arts activity to examine the CT concepts that children performed and document their CT developmental trajectories. Constructionism theory highlights the importance of children engaging in hands-on activities and developing independent thinking skills. Meanwhile, social constructivism theory emphasizes the role of teachers as scaffolders, supporting children in their learning processes. A sample of children (N = 27, aged 3–6) was recruited from a nursery school in Hong Kong to participate in an animation art workshop. A total of 540 min of video data was recorded and collected for content analysis. The teaching team (N = 4) for this workshop were invited to write up their reflective journals, capturing their observations of the scaffolding strategies employed and their perspectives on how children at various levels demonstrated their understanding of CT concepts throughout the entire process. Within an analytical framework based on powerful ideas, the findings from the observations and field notes revealed that the children’s CT concepts and practices could be linked with the CT conceptual framework. In this study, older children showed a sophisticated competency and a more complicated mind structure in terms of the CT concept. Our findings highlight the importance of designing an age-appropriate curriculum for nurturing the computational thinking of young children through animation art.

“Becoming a fine art”: Walt Disney and The Art of Animation exhibition, 1958–1966

“Becoming a fine art”: Walt Disney and <i>The Art of Animation</i> exhibition, 1958–1966

Power in Närke. Elite settlement and animal art AD 150–1125 in a Swedish province

Abstract This survey of archaeological and onomastic evidence, prominently including Style I–III animal art, aims at identifying the most promising locations where elite manorial settlements of the period AD 375–1125 can be expected in the Medieval Swedish province of Närke. One such site of c. AD 600–800 has been partly excavated at Husby in Glanshammar. This parish is one of six that stand out by their unusually rich, numerous and sustained elite indications. A recent campaign of large intensive metal detector investigations has proven both a boon and a bias in terms of new evidence. None of the six most promising parishes would however fall off the elite map even without the new metal detector finds. Of the place names, Tuna appears to be irrelevant to Närke’s elite, while two out of three Husby names correlate with Viking Period elite indicators.

A Survey on Cage‐based Deformation of 3D Models

AbstractInteractive deformation via control handles is essential in computer graphics for the modeling of 3D geometry. Deformation control structures include lattices for free‐form deformation and skeletons for character articulation, but this report focuses on cage‐based deformation. Cages for deformation control are coarse polygonal meshes that encase the to‐be‐deformed geometry, enabling high‐resolution deformation. Cage‐based deformation enables users to quickly manipulate 3D geometry by deforming the cage. Due to their utility, cage‐based deformation techniques increasingly appear in many geometry modeling applications. For this reason, the computer graphics community has invested a great deal of effort in the past decade and beyond into improving automatic cage generation and cage‐based deformation. Recent advances have significantly extended the practical capabilities of cage‐based deformation methods. As a result, there is a large body of research on cage‐based deformation. In this report, we provide a comprehensive overview of the current state of the art in cage‐based deformation of 3D geometry. We discuss current methods in terms of deformation quality, practicality, and precomputation demands. In addition, we highlight potential future research directions that overcome current issues and extend the set of practical applications. In conjunction with this survey, we publish an application to unify the most relevant deformation methods. Our report is intended for computer graphics researchers, developers of interactive geometry modeling applications, and 3D modeling and character animation artists.

SCENOGRAPHIC IDEA AND CONCEPT IN CONTEMPORARY THEATER OF ANIMATION, FROM TRADITION TO ARTISTIC EXPERIMENT

In the era of accelerated digitization of all societal activities, artistic fields are also significantly affected by new technologies, which have a positive or negative influence on education as well. Visual arts have known surprising transformations and are increasingly faced with detachment and even delimitation from tradition. Puppetry, nowadays called theater of animation, has been favorable since ancient times to the constant mixtures specific to the language of visual arts, music and dance, since it relies on both tradition and modernity, on syncretism and functionality. The versatility of the language specific to the theater of animation largely appeals to the intellect of its audience, from the simple to the complex. The current superficiality of the artistic act is a consequence of the speed triggered by the alert rhythm of the search for new means of expression of the artist’s ideas and concepts, and also by people’s expectations. The transition from tradition to modernity can only be achieved through practice and experimentation. Unlike drama, the art of animation no longer preserves many constraints, this being a case-specific process. Various scenographers, puppeteers or companies, actors full of courage and vision such as Serghei Obrazțov, Yves Joly, Michael Meschke, Margareta Niculescu, Cristina and Cristian Pepino etc. made puppetry history for the new generations of artists passionate about puppetry. From scenographic idea to concept, the essential tool of the final perception’s shaping the message may be the actor’s stage improvisation, the scenographer’s spontaneous vision and the director’s openness to the present. The novelties brought about by numerous experiences contribute to the regeneration of the means, to the verticality of the evolution and the crystallization of the autonomy of the field.

Analysis of Ukrainian Animation Film Art

Ukraine, as a country with profound cultural heritage, exhibits rich and diverse characteristics in its cultural development. This paper focuses on the development status of Ukraine in the field of animated filmmaking, aiming to conduct in-depth discussions and exchanges. Although Ukraine's film industry possesses certain strengths and has even won awards at international film festivals, its performance in the specialized field of animated filmmaking seems to have not reached a level commensurate with its overall cultural strength, leaving certain gaps and deficiencies. By reviewing the history of Ukrainian cinema and animated filmmaking art, analyzing the early development of Ukrainian animated art, and combining it with the analysis of the current situation of Ukrainian animated films, this paper explores potential paths for its development.

The expression of multimedia animation art design in the era of artificial intelligence

Abstract Aesthetic rules are the basis of animation art design, combined with the user-centered design method is a new form of multimedia animation art design. This paper combines the existing three-dimensional animation art forms of expression, the use of points, lines, and surfaces to generate three-dimensional animation three-dimensional space, and selected virtual reality technology to achieve three-dimensional animation conversion. Based on ray tracing algorithm and radiance global illumination technology, to optimize animation scene realism, analyze the difficulties of rendering image styles. Combined with the Canny edge extraction algorithm to extract the target area contour, homogenization processing of local area coloring, fusion of the extracted contour and coloring area, the formation of animation style rendering, constituting the design of this paper three-dimensional animation art design expression. Analyze the rendering data of trees in a typical natural scene and use design evaluation indexes to assess the performance impact of animation scene art design. The average score for the animation scene expressing information content, the average score for the animation matching with the information, and the average score for the animation effect art and beauty are 7.672, 7.027, and 7.474, respectively. The scores indicate that the animation art design expression proposed in this paper can provide a more accurate depiction of the aesthetics of animation art.

Stereoscopic Image Enabled Animation Art Design Exploration

Abstract With the emergence of movie art, many related art forms were born. Animation art has gained a large number of audiences due to its exaggerated expression. In order to improve the problems of character image overlapping and scene distortion that may occur in the original two-dimensional space, this paper constructs a semi-global stereo image matching algorithm based on the use of point cloud matching in the animation screen for the determination of the screen position and the morphology of the animated character. To compensate for the radiation difference in the stereo image matching algorithm, object-square geometric constraints are proposed to improve the matching cost calculation process. After calculating the matching cost, the original animation model is optimized or rebuilt by creating a depth space image. Taking Disney animation characters as an example, the number of joints required for the reconstruction of the “Snow White” character is 2.9 times more than that of the “Mickey” character, but the reconstruction time of the skeleton is only 12 times longer than that of the “Mickey” character. However, the skeleton reconstruction time is only 12.1 seconds longer than that of the “Mickey” character, which indicates that the algorithm proposed in this paper does not produce a large difference in reconstruction time due to the difference in characters. For the construction of animated indoor scenes, in the eight experimental scenes, the maximum number of grids can be divided into 42365412, and the processing time required is 276.413 seconds. It shows that the algorithm in this paper is capable of subregionally refining the indoor space of the animation. The proposed semi-global stereo image matching-based pan can quickly reconstruct animated character models and animated scenes, as can be seen.

Research on the creation and application of realistic animation on Northeast rural theme

With the continuous development of the needs of The Times, animation is no longer limited to entertainment art or specific audience groups, but should pay more attention to how to enrich its connotation. To popularize the development status of Northeast China’s rural areas and the living conditions of farmers through animation, and to popularize the development status of Northeast China’s rural areas and the living conditions of farmers through realistic animation will play its role in popular science. This practice also highlights the value and social responsibility of animation artists, and provides a broader space and innovation opportunities for the development of the animation field.

Intelligent Recognition and Classification of 3D Animation Styles - Based on AIGC Technology Application

Abstract The study of style identification in 3D animation not only enhances the artistry of animation scenes but also has a profound significance on the development of 3D animation works. In this paper, we first sorted out the art style expressions of 3D animation and explored the innovation path of 3D animation art style and related influencing factors. Based on the generative adversarial network in AIGC technology, the discriminator and generator are trained. The 3D animation style intelligent recognition and classification model is established by combining the GAN network and SoftMax classifier, and the loss function of the model is optimized. Using crawler technology to obtain 3D animation-related images and crop them to 128*128 size for dataset construction, 3D animation style recognition and classification experiments were designed to verify the application effectiveness of the 3D-GAN model. It is found that the 3D-GAN model reaches the peak of IS index 9.222 after 60*103 iterations, which is 12.85% higher than the ALGAN model. The average classification accuracy of the 3D-GAN model is 91.42%, which is 6.01 percentage points higher than that of the sub-optimal CycleGAN model. Conducting intelligent recognition and classification of 3D animation styles based on AIGC technology can provide a new direction for innovating 3D animation styles and optimizing scene design.

Action capture method of animated characters based on virtual reality technology

Abstract Virtual reality technology is a kind of animation technology that is widely used in the creation of film and television animation art, which makes the technological imprint of film and television animation art creation exceptionally obvious. The article utilizes virtual reality technology to create a virtual scene for character motion capture in film and television animation by combining the video motion capture system. The camera position-solving method is used to map the points in the three-dimensional space to the two-dimensional image plane, and then the high-dimensional image signals are converted to the low-dimensional signals of human body postures through the minimum bounding rectangle of the foreground image to realize the solving of the character’s action posture information. Based on the graph convolution neural network, a time domain graph convolution model is established with the help of layering and cross-frame connection of the null time domain convolution to realize the 3D pose estimation and capture of the character movement in film and television animation. The joints’ confidence smooths the pose sequence of the character’s action. The maximum error of the yaw, pitch, and roll angles in 15 frames does not exceed 0.4° in the pose resolution of the animated character. Real and measured joint flexion and extension angles have errors that are less than 0.3°. The average error of the Euler angle data for character motion capture is between 1.37 and 3.86°, and the MPJVE error of the smoothed data is reduced by 1.15 mm compared to the pre-processing data. The virtual scene constructed by relying on the virtual reality technology can help the video motion capture system to obtain the performance of film and television animated characters, and provide a reference to optimize the film and television animated characters’ movements.

The Impact of Digital Media Arts on Educational Change in Animation Arts Programs

The Impact of Digital Media Arts on Educational Change in Animation Arts Programs

Digital Enabling Rural Revitalization: An Innovative Study of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Animation-based Inheritance and Dissemination

Abstract With the development of digital technology, the animation of intangible cultural heritage provides a new form of cultural carrier for its transmission and dissemination. The innovative use of animation in intangible cultural heritage is examined in this thesis through the lens of digital empowerment for rural revitalization. After selecting indicators for animating intangible cultural heritage, a questionnaire was designed. Data was collected based on the Kano model to study the audience demand for animating intangible cultural heritage. Then determine the variables affecting the animation of non-heritage culture, construct the structural equation model, validate the model after correlation analysis, and explore the influencing factors of the dissemination of non-heritage culture animation. Finally, user needs are divided into four different attributes, of which animation action design (0.8265) and scene props design (0.7817) have the greatest impact on user satisfaction. In contrast, animation art style design (-0.7483) and folklore (-0.7175) have the greatest impact on user dissatisfaction. Except for cultural context and perceived pleasure, animation information quality, and perceived usefulness, the hypotheses of this paper are all verified (p less than 0.05), and audience satisfaction has the greatest influence on communication behavior among the perceived factors. This paper discusses the animation-based transmission and dissemination of intangible cultural heritage, which has a positive significance in promoting the protection and transmission of intangible cultural heritage.

Children’s knowledge construction of computational thinking in a play-based classroom

ABSTRACT This study investigated the development of computational thinking (CT) in young children within the specific context of Hong Kong. The researchers utilized an unplugged digital arts activity to explore the CT knowledge exhibited by children and document their developmental trajectories. A sample of 23 children aged 3 to 6 years participated in an animation art workshop conducted in a Hong Kong kindergarten. The video data were recorded and analyzed in terms of content. Drawing on a three-dimensional framework combining powerful ideas for teaching coding, the observations and field notes revealed that children’s CT knowledge construction aligned with the CT conceptual framework. Notably, older children demonstrated more advanced competences and more complex cognitive structures in terms of the design process, representation, algorithms, modularity, sequences, connecting, choices of conduct, and utilization of hardware/software. These findings emphasize the importance of designing age-appropriate curricula that foster children’s CT skills through the animation art.