How Animation Changed the World

By April 17, 2018For Talent

From Snow White to The Simpsons, animation is something that has developed rapidly. We’ve seen it exceed all limitations, shaking off its associations with children’s TV and becoming a respected and accomplished art form.

With Pixar movies like Toy Story (1995) and Up (2009) attaining successes usually reserved for their live action counterparts, animation has produced some of the most prolific pop culture moments of the 21st century.

However, animation has impacted upon several other sectors aside from film. Its effects have spanned wider and further than you may have ever realised before.

Medicine

Short animated films are used frequently in the medical profession. These 3D graphic pieces are usually produced to explain a physiological or surgical topic, depicting matters that’d be difficult to articulate. They are most commonly used as an instructional tool for medical professionals or their patients, in order to explain how a complicated procedure will or should be carried out.

Education

Aside from medicine, there are plenty of other sectors that benefit from having animation in their education programmes. Pilot training schools are a particularly significant example, as they allow for a real life simulative experience without any of the dangers. The same goes for astronauts and operators of dangerous machinery. With the development of VR technology, animation is being used more frequently in everyday teaching practices too. Soon, we can expect to see classrooms full of children in VR headsets, learning through animated worlds.

animation

Gaming

In October 1958, William Higinbotham created what is considered to be the first video game. Using animation technology, he created the classic 1970s video game Pong. As animation has developed, so have games- and the industry as a whole. Nowadays, the industry takes in huge annual US profits; $9.5 billion in 2007, 11.7 billion in 2008, and 25.1 billion in 2010 (ESA annual report).

Architecture

Architectural animations are short animated movies created on a computer. Professionals often find it difficult to explain the complexities and spatial qualities of large projects without computer generated visual aids. Therefore, to solve this issue, they compile hundreds or even thousands of computer generated images. These pictures are sent away to small animation studios who create the finished content.

Marketing

The most eye catching and memorable brand logos are those that use bright colours and fonts. These computer generated images are also examples of animation. However, the area of marketing in which it is most used has to be the TV advertisement. Just think of all the cereal ads over the years which have featured cute animals with human features interacting with the human world. Also, just in case you’ve never realised, the food that you see being marketed is typically fake too!


Subscribe to our mailing list

* indicates required





Author Jack Maguire

Jack Maguire is a recent English Studies graduate, content writer for the Jobbio blog, freelance journalist and podcast creator.

More posts by Jack Maguire

Leave a Reply