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CHILDREN ARE INTRIGUED by the concept of animation, the art of making still drawings appear to move on film. Nothing is real, nothing exists as it does in live drama-yet we are able to relate to animation characters as if they were real, and we can believe in the world where these characters live.
All films, including live action films, are actually created by joining together a sequence of still images called frames, with very small changes in-between progressive frames. A sequence of frames appears to move and to be alive when run through a TV, film projector or VCR. This happens because our eyes cannot keep up with the speed of change between each photograph and so naturally join all the images together. The impression of motion depends on two things: persistence of vision and the Phi phenomenon.
Persistence of vision refers to the length of time the retina-that is, the screen at the back of the eye-retains an image. Human vision is slow and if, for example, we see a light flash every tenth of a second or less, the flashes seem to overlap and we can't tell when one flash finishes and another begins. Because of this persistence of vision, we perceive it as one constant light.
The Phi phenomenon is a result of human instinct. When we see two different images close together we actually try to create a relationship between them-connecting the images in this way gives them movement and meaning.
Li'l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers-The Exhibition
In 1992, Peter Viska, the Director of one of Melbourne's largest and oldest animation studios, Mickey Duck Animation Company, teamed up with the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF), a national non-profit organization committed to providing Australian children with entertaining media made especially for them, to create the animated series Li'l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers.
Li'l Elvis Jones and the Truckstoppers was a landmark Australian television series: the largest Australian-created animation project that had ever been attempted. Completion of the series effectively required the ACTF to develop a skills base that did not previously exist in Australia.
The ACTF had to identify and train the animators who would create the series, which entailed the ACTF initiating a major on-the-job training...