Limited animation

Limited animation is a form of animation that is usually performed with cels , slides, and static backgrounds. The limited animation is differentiated from the full animation . Limited animation is often associated with a still image and full animation with a moving image , so that the former is sometimes not viewed as animation in the narrower sense.

functionality

With limited animation, instead of the 18 different drawings per second required for the illusion of movement, fewer are used or only small parts of the overall image are changed, while the rest remains static. A large part of the picture lies in the static background and only the parts that are supposed to move are animated by means of the picture film ( Cel ) placed on it. The viewer's attention is always drawn to the moving part of the picture.

In addition, movement is not only conveyed by changing the drawings, but also by changing perspectives of the simulated camera or changing the position of a film on the ground. Particularly fast or slow cuts are also used. The dialogues and monologues are also important in drawing the viewer's attention to the moving parts of the picture.

In the case of productions with limited animation, slide libraries are often created so that once used image slides can be used again in other scenes.

use

As limited animation, many animated series were carried out for television, such as the Feuerstein family from Hanna-Barbera-Studios or Astro Boy from Osamu Tezuka . The Gainax studio operated an extremely extensive form of limited animation in the 1990s with the series Die Macht des Zauberstein and Neon Genesis Evangelion .

In contrast to full animation, this technology is more cost-effective, as less work is required.

literature

• Thomas Lamarre : Full Limited Animation in ga-netchû! The Manga Anime Syndrome . Henschel Verlag, 2008.