Animator (film)
Animator is a professional title from the film industry. The animator deals with the creation of films from individual images ( animation ), which are either drawn by hand, generated on the computer or executed with any technique. The previously common term animator is gradually being replaced by "2-D animator", in contrast to the 3-D animator or computer animator (also CGI animator). Other common specialties are the doll animator and the plasticine animator.
The animator's art is to bring the inanimate to life. “An animator is an actor with a pencil” ( Art Babitt ), nowadays supplemented by “or with the computer”. Nowadays, training to become an animator takes place mainly as a course of study, in Germany both at state art or film academies and at private educational establishments. Being able to animate on paper is still the basis of the profession. Only later does the specialization in a certain technique or one of the niche professions within the film industry take place. The use of computers is part of it in any case, since hand-drawn animation is now usually processed further in the computer.
Depending on the size of the studio and the scope of the film project, an animator is a generalist who masters everything from the idea to character design to animation and camera, or he is a specialist who moves strange characters under the guidance of other people. In addition to this character animation, there are z. B. still the special effects animation , the scientific visualization or the moving visualization in design and architecture. Due to the rapid development in the field of computer animation, even people without traditional training can work as animators, provided they have enough talent or aptitude.
