For this reason, more than 20,000 drawings and 20,000 photographs must be taken to create just a 15-minute animation. This alone should give you a good idea of how difficult it is to create an animation.
Next, let me explain the pictures used for animation.
The pictures used in animation are drawn on a kind of transparent film called cell. The reason why drawings are drawn on transparent film is one of the most interesting aspects of animation.
For example, let's consider a scene in which the main character is talking. In this scene, the main character's facial expression does not change, but only his mouth is moving.
For such a scene, we would create a picture of the main character's face without a mouth and several cells with only the mouth drawn on them. The mouth is drawn in a transparent cell and placed on top of the face without a mouth. This completes the face. Then, by replacing only the mouth picture, the cartoon face looks as if it is talking.
It is useless to draw several pictures of the entire face to move only the mouth. Therefore, we draw pictures on this transparent film and make it look like a talking face.
For example, a scene in which the main character runs along the seaside in an animated cartoon makes use of such a technique. In this case, the seaside background is drawn on plain paper. The picture of the main character, drawn on a transparent cell, is overlaid on top of it. In this way, only the picture of the main character is replaced and the picture is taken one after another. In this way, only one picture of the ocean background is needed.
However, this is not the end of the process. Sound is required. The sound is recorded by a person speaking while looking at the finished film. In addition to the human voice, various other sounds are used, such as the sound of cars and airplanes. Sometimes these sounds are real sounds, but more often instruments are used.
In this way, many people share the various tasks involved in the creation of an animated film.