Animation is a method in which figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most animations are made with computer-generated imagery (CGI). Computer animation can be very detailed 3D animation, while 2D computer animation can be used for stylistic reasons, low bandwidth, or faster real-time renderings. Other common animation methods apply a stop motion technique to two- and three-dimensional objects like paper cutouts, puppets, or clay figures.
Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames is played back. Any kind of object can thus be animated, but puppets with movable joints or plasticine figures are most commonly used. Puppets, models or clay figures built around an armature are used in model animation. Stop motion with live actors is often referred to as pixilation. Stop motion of flat materials such as paper, fabrics or photographs is usually called cutout animation.
Chicken Run is a 2000 stop-motion animated comedy film produced by Pathé and Aardman Animations in partnership with DreamWorks Animation. Aardman’s first feature-length film and DreamWorks' fourth film, it was directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park from a screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick and based on an original story by Lord and Park. The film stars the voices of Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Tony Haygarth, Miranda Richardson, Phil Daniels, Lynn Ferguson, Timothy Spall, Imelda Staunton, and Benjamin Whitrow. The plot centres on a group of British anthropomorphic chickens who see an American rooster named Rocky Rhodes as their only hope to escape the farm when their owners want to turn them into meat pies.
Motion capture is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robots. In filmmaking and video game development, it refers to recording actions of human actors, and using that information to animate digital character models in 2-D or 3-D computer animation. When it includes face and fingers or captures subtle expressions, it is often referred to as performance capture. In many fields, motion capture is sometimes called motion tracking, but in filmmaking and games, motion tracking usually refers more to match moving.
Lang Lang is a Chinese pianist who has performed with leading orchestras in China, North America, Europe, and elsewhere. Active since the 1990s, he was the first Chinese pianist to be engaged by the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and some top American orchestras. A Chicago Tribune music critic called him "the biggest, most exciting young keyboard talent I have encountered in many a year of attending piano recitals". Lang is considered by many as one of the most accomplished classical musicians of modern time.
Geoff Lindsey is a British writer and director who has written episodes for television series including the BBC soap opera EastEnders and The Bill.
The Études by Frédéric Chopin are three sets of études for the piano published during the 1830s. There are twenty-seven compositions overall, comprising two separate collections of twelve, numbered Op. 10 and Op. 25, and a set of three without opus number.
Étude Op. 10, No. 3, in E major, is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1832. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the third piece of his Études Op. 10. This is a slow cantabile study for polyphonic and expressive legato playing. In fact, Chopin himself believed the melody of the piece to be the most beautiful one he ever composed. It became famous through numerous popular arrangements. Although this étude is sometimes identified by the names "Tristesse" (Sadness) or "Farewell (L'Adieu)", neither is a name given by Chopin, but rather his critics.
Étude Op. 10, No. 6, in E♭ minor, is a study for solo piano composed by Frédéric Chopin in 1830. It was preceded by the relative key. It was first published in 1833 in France, Germany, and England as the sixth piece of his Études, Op. 10. The tempo Andante in 6
8 and con molto espressione indicate a more moderate playing speed than Chopin's other études with the exception of Op. 10, No. 3 and Op. 25, No. 7. This étude focuses on expressivity and chromatic structuring of the melody as well as polyphonic texture.
The Studies on Chopin's Études are a set of 53 arrangements of Chopin's études by Leopold Godowsky, composed between 1894 and 1914. They are renowned for their technical difficulty: critic Harold C. Schonberg called them "the most impossibly difficult things ever written for the piano." Several of the studies put the original right-hand part into the left hand; several others are for the left hand alone. Two of the studies even combine two études; the better known of these, called "Badinage," combines both the G♭.
Jan Lisiecki is a Canadian-born classical pianist of Polish ancestry. Lisiecki performs over a hundred concerts annually and has worked closely with the world's leading orchestras and conductors, his career at the top of the international concert scene spanning over a decade. He has been a recording artist with Deutsche Grammophon since the age of fifteen.
FilmFair Animation was a British production company and animation studio that produced children's television series, animated cartoons, educational films, and television advertisements. The company made numerous stop-motion films using puppets, clay animation, and cutout animation.
BreakThru Films is an independent film production company based in Sopot in Poland. Founded in 2002 by Hugh Welchman and initially based in the United Kingdom. The company concentrated mostly in the production of short films, animation, documentary and live-stage shows but has since focused mainly on feature films. Their 2006 short film Peter and the Wolf was awarded an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and their 2017 feature film Loving Vincent was Academy nominated for Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
Frankenweenie is a 2012 American 3D stop motion-animated science fiction comedy-horror film directed by Tim Burton and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a feature-length remake of Burton's 1984 short film of the same name, and is also both a parody of and homage to the 1931 film Frankenstein, based on Mary Shelley's 1818 book Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. The voice cast includes five actors who worked with Burton on previous films: Winona Ryder, Martin Short, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Landau, and Conchata Farrell, along with some new voice actors, such as Charlie Tahan and Atticus Shaffer.
Tzvi Erez is an Israeli–Canadian pianist. He was born in Israel and began his piano studies at the age of six. He moved to Canada and graduated from The Royal Conservatory of Music, where he trained with Mildred Kenton, Andrew Burashko, and Antonin Kubalek. Erez has released over 33 albums worldwide, including Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier, Partita 2, Goldberg Variations, Two-Part Inventions; Beethoven's Piano Works, Sonatas, Piano Concerto No. 3; Chopin's Complete Ballades, Etudes, Preludes, Piano Concertos No. 1 & 2; Debussy's Suite Bergamasque; Liszt Piano Recital; Erik Satie's Gymnopedies, Gnossiennes, and Cold Pieces; Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition; Essential Classics, Masterpieces, Sentimental, Mozart's Piano Sonatas, Rachmaninoff's Concerto No. 2 & 3, the Grieg Piano Concerto, the Robert Schumann Piano Concerto, the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto, and others. Erez is active in new classical recordings, teaching piano performance and classical music research. He also assists artists in production and produced several film scores and music for television shows.
Kraken Black Spiced Rum is a Caribbean black spiced rum. It is distributed in the United States by Proximo Spirits, and named after the kraken, a mythical giant squid-like sea monster.
Geoff Dunbar is an English animator and director known for his animated music video Rupert Bear and the Frog Song for Sir Paul McCartney and The World of Peter Rabbit and Friends from the stories by Beatrix Potter. He championed a hand-sketch style of animation.
