An animatronic is a multi-disciplinary arena incorporating anatomy, puppetry and mechatronics. In other words, an animatronic is “electro-mechanically animated puppet”[1] devised to realistically imitate, through human or computer control, the movement of robotic characters, thereby bringing such characters to ‘life’. Animatronics have, for a considerable period of time, played a crucial role in posthumously conjuring historical figures and bringing to life fictional characters in film and on TV. The history of Animatronics dates back to 1939 where Sparko the Robot Dog, the first ever modern-day animatronic robot was displayed in New York World’s Fair. Although there had previously been various robotic developments prior to Sparko, it was distinguished by the fact that it resembled and functioned like a living animal.
Animatronics as a popular component of the entertainment industry is often credited to Walt Disney. Disney’s “first fully completed human audio-animatronic figure was Abraham Lincoln, created by Walt Disney in 1964 for the 1964 World’s Fair in New York. In 1965, Disney upgraded the same figure and coined it as the Lincoln Mark II, which appeared at the Opera House at Disneyland Resort in California”[2]. This was the first instance of robotic autonomous humanoid figures; through coordinated developments in their lips, arms, legs, and heads, all synchronized alongside a soundtrack to make a shocking deception of life. When the World Fair had concluded, Disney employed animatronics to various structures in Disneyland. Lincoln Mark II found a home in Disney’s Hall of Presidents, and other animatronic features such as It’s A Small World and The Carousel of Progress which turned into their own attractions.
A Glimpse of Lincoln Mark II delivering a speech at Disney’s Hall of Presidents.
Disney’s animatronic presentations captured the public’s imagination, setting off a gigantic and extensive time of fervor and progression in animatronics. With the steady development and improvement of computing technologies, the world of animatronics also witnessed a significant boom. It became an instrumental component not only in film and on TV, but also in military and restorative fields. The applications for animatronics in innovation were numerous and was expanding in innumerable ways. The use of animatronics in the entertainment industry was further popularized by the American television and film special make-up artist, Stanley “Stan” Winston. Winston, who died in 2008 at the age of 62 was “best known for his works in the Terminator series, the first three Jurassic Park films, Aliens, the first two Predator films, Inspector Gadget, Iron Man and Edward Scissorhands”[3] was the recipient of four Academy Awards for his work.
Behind The Scenes: Animatronic T-Rex Rehearsal for Jurassic Park, Stan Winston School
Organic Mechanics: Animatronic Character Creation, Stan Winston School
Animatronics, however, has been relegated to the background in today’s entertainment industry, owing to the increasing use of Visual Effects (VFX) and Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI). “Visual effects involve the integration of live action footage (special effects) and generated imagery (digital or optical effects) to create environments, inanimate objects, animals or creatures which look realistic, but would be dangerous, expensive, impractical, time consuming or impossible to capture on film”[4]. As Beverly Jones states in her article, Computer Imagery: Imitation and Representation of Realities, “In the early days of computer graphics, systems were built primarily for scientific and practical purposes. Few artists had access to them. However, their users, primarily scientific and technical personnel with no formal art background. Currently computers are more accessible to artists”[5]. This, according to Jones, allowed for the increasing use of such computer-generated imagery to be used for artistic explorations, and eventually becoming a dominant tool in the arena of film and TV. Visual effects using computer-generated imagery (CGI) has lately become available to the autonomous movie producer with the development of economic, user animation and compositing software.
Creating A Virtual world: Behind The Scenes of Guy Ritchie’s Aladdin.
However, in today’s time, as the entertainment industry is striving to become increasingly efficient in both aspects of time and budget, animatronic engineers are no longer provided the time and freedom to experiment and create. The short deadlines leave no room for experimentation, resulting in less innovations. Unlike Practical effects, VFX and CGI, which is largely a post-production procedure, animatronic components are immediate, in the sense that they are readily available and present in the shot. They are ‘real’ in a way that they occupy physical space, therefore grounding the element to the same space as the actor, environment and props. Moreover, unlike Practical and Visual Effects, animatronic characters are promptly performable, allowing the director to get the desired shot on the set itself. On the other hand, CGI and VFX, unlike animatronics that physically exist the real world, may wholly disregard the law of nature. CGI elements can bend, fly, float and jump at their own discretion, without having to deal with the issues and constraints of the real world.
The wide array of possibilities that Visual Effects offers -from manipulating reality to creating a complete, immersive environment – and the comparative ease with which such possibilities are achieved have persuaded makers of film and TV to prefer the use of such technology over animatronics. However, the use of VFX and CGI remains limited to the screens alone as they do not exist in the physical world, enabling Animatronic components to find its use in other arenas such as theme parks and other environments that offer an immersive as well as physically interactive experience to its audience. Sadly, with the steady development of Virtual Reality (VR), the use of animatronics in its primary domain of theme parks might find itself in jeopardy owing to the unfathomable degree of immersion that VR offers to its audience. For the time being, animatronics continues to find its use in the physical components of amusement parks and in movies with the financial capacity and the desire to utilize such components along with practical effects whenever circumstances allow. All in all, it is in the hands of the makers of animatronics to keep the technology vying in a world where ‘new’ is almost always considered ‘better’.
[1] “Definition of ANIMATRONIC”. www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
[2] Pierce, Todd James (2013-07-18). “Beyond Lincoln: Walt’s Vision for Animatronics in 1965”. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
[3] Stan Winston Studio (2008). “Press Release”. Los Angeles Times. June 16, 2008. Retrieved June 16, 2008.
[4] En.wikipedia.org. (2020). Visual effects. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_effects [Accessed 10 Feb. 2020].
[5] Jones, Beverly. “Computer Imagery: Imitation and Representation of Realities.” Leonardo. Supplemental Issue 2 (1989), P 32.