Children and Trains

When it comes to children programmes, trains have been a huge topic of interest and very successful over the last 50 years. Trains have been animated from hand drawn animation to 3d modelling. In research for my brio train animation i have looked into various cartoons with trains (old and new) to try and take points in how they move and are animated for inspiration with my own Animation.

 

Going back to 1958 Ivor the Engine was filmed using stop motion techniques, animated using cardboard cut-outs painted with watercolours. The series was originally made for black and white television by Smallfilms for Associated Rediffusion, but was remade in colour for the BBC in 1975. Although the Ivor train has little animation techniques i can transfer to my Maya project, it is still good to see where it all started and what other animators took from Ivor to produce more advanced animation.

 

Watching the opening to Thomas the tank engine for me is my childhood in 32 seconds. Thomas the tank engine and friends took a new form of animation and was produced with live action model's. The use of moving models was seen at the time of the show's conception as an effective method of animating the stories. Locomotives and other vehicles were operated by radio, while humans and animals were static figures. Stop-motion was occasionally employed for instances in which a human or animal character would move. And some hand drawn animation was used at times. Watching back at Thomas gave me several ideas for how i wanted my train to move. Coming to a gradual halt with perhaps the wheels stopping vigorously whilst the train is still skidding along the track. Thomas and friends was eventually animated in CGI in 2009 starting a new chapter in animation

 

Chuggington is an international computer-animated television series for children produced by Ludorum plc and broadcast in 175 territories throughout the world including the BBC children's channel CBeebies. Chuggington currently airs on the Disney Channel Disney Junior’s preschool block in the United States. Chuggington is an very advanced Animation compared to Thomas and friends and Ivor the engine. The new CGI has been worked to a very high standard and although over the top at some points, offers lots of techniques and principles of Animation that i could source in my own work. Firstly I like how the pistons on the top of the trains squash and stretch as the train chug's along emphasising the motion of the steam exhaling through the pistons on the top of the train. The trains also bob along the track as they move as if they had a happy bouncy personality. Looking back at all these different cartoons has helped me build on the principles of animation that i will be representing in my animation and influencing my idea of how a train should move in a Cartoon.