As generative artificial intelligence is restructuring the animation industry at an astonishing speed, it seems that we are standing at a historical watershed: on one side is the efficiency revolution driven by algorithms, which can generate smooth animation sequences by simply inputting parameters; On the other side is the friction between the artists' fingertips and the material, as well as the painstaking frame-by-frame sculpting that embodies countless hours of toil and sweat. These creations, though imbued with the warmth of human endeavor, are being branded as inefficient.

In retrospect, the invention of the Phenakistoscope in the 1830s marked the inception of animation. Joseph Plateau (Belgium) and Simon von Stampfer (Austria) invented this visual toy almost simultaneously. Observers can view the hand-drawn animation reflected in the mirror through the slits on the spinning disc. From spinning jugglers to exaggerated facial expressions of surprise, these animations, with their simple lines and deformations, carry the original exploration of human into the essence of movement.

In the late 1870s, British photographer Eadweard Muybridge successfully photographed consecutive phases in the movement of a galloping horse, using 12 cameras arranged side by side. Later, the Zoopraxiscope he invented, an important precursor to the movie projector, contributed to the invention of film.

Animated films have been enjoying vigorous growth ever since. For more than a century, as artists engaged in extensive creative undertakings and explorations, an array of animation techniques came into being one after another. These include cel animation, puppet animation, powder animation, pinscreen animation, and cut-out animation. Some of them are widely used in the animation industry, while others are thoroughly studied by a few artists, who subsequently created immortal artistic masterpieces.

In the present era when generative artificial intelligence animations are pursuing ultra-high precision and ultra-high efficiency, these animations, which are made with natural materials, have not been phased out by the times. On the contrary, they are proclaiming their irreplaceable value with their rough texture and delicate portrayal of humanity.

In the Animation section of Beijing Film Panorama this year, Feinaki Beijing Animation Week specially curated two groups of animated short film screenings, A and B. In addition to expressing the deepest respect for the inventors of early images, it re-emphasizes the significance of material animation and manual animation in the face of the AI-driven revolution.

From Stampfer Dreams, Austrian artist Thomas Renoldner extracted elements from the early Phenakistoscope. Following the biography of Stampfer, the inventor of the Phenakistoscope, he depicted the development of science and technology as well as art after the Industrial Revolution. Taku Furukawa, a Japanese artist, created multiple sets of 18-frame infinitely looping phenakistoscopes. These creations serve as a long-distance tribute to the early pioneers of the motion pictures. Through hand-drawn animation, Koji Yamamura’s Muybridge's Strings unfolds the legendary life of Eadweard Muybridge, an important promoter of film invention. Moreover, it conducts a thorough exploration of the theme of time.

Still frame of the screening work, Muybridge's Strings

Hand-drawn animation on paper

The audience will also enjoy a number of animation works that employ different techniques: the pinscreen animation The Purple Season, the sand animation White Horse, the cel animation Self Scratch, the needle felting puppet animation Sister, the Hand-drawn animation on paper Miserable Miracle and My Milk Cup Cow, and the digital hand-drawn animation Singing of Birds and What is Drifting Away.

There are also many works created with the authors' original techniques or special materials. For example, the stop-motion animation Return, which is made with crystal clay; Silver Cave, which is depicted frame by frame on aluminum foil; The Fourth Wall, which is shot combining stop-motion scenes and hand-drawn characters; Nighthawk is not a Hawk, which is painted with oil paints on an acrylic board; Braided, which is drawn with charcoal on sulfuric acid paper; Three Birds, which combines hand-drawn and paper-cutting animation techniques; and The Miracle, which is shot by arranging characters drawn on transparent plastic sheets within a three-dimensional space.

Except for the last work in Group A, Glass House by Boris Labbé, none of the other works involved artificial intelligence. Fortunately, Glass House is still prominently characterized by the author's distinctive style. This leads people to ponder: in the AI-driven creations, how do we reveal the characteristics of human authors and how to keep them intact?

It is the involvement of hands that makes the animation the extension of the artist's body, no matter which technique is adopted. The creative process may feature accidental elements, be out of control, imperfect, or even contain mistakes. However, what’s truly irrefutable is that it is these unquantifiable redundancies that form the irreplicable soul of artworks.

Today, as the storm of artificial intelligence animation is approaching, we don’t have to panic about being replaced at all. Instead, let us, through these animation works, feel the warmth and vitality emanated from the the fingertips of artists. As long as we still have the ability to perceive them, the foundation of the art of animation will not be shaken.

Zhu Yantong: Animation director, director and co-founder of Feinaki Animation Week.

Her work My Milk Cup Cow has won many international awards, including the Grand Prix of KROK, the Young Animation Award of Stuttgart, etc. She has been invited to serve as the curator and final jury of the Chinese animation sections at the New Chitose Airport Animation Festival in Japan, the Bucheon International Animation Festival in South Korea, the Big Cartoon Festival in Russia, and the Tricky Women International Animation Film Festival in Austria. The animated feature film To the Bright Side that she produced, won the Grand Prize Feature Film at the New York International Children's Film Festival.