Cell Animation

Traditional animation (also called cell animation or hand-drawn animation) was the process used for most animated films of the 20th century. The individual frames of a traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, which are first drawn on paper. To create the illusion of movement, each drawing differs slightly from the one before it. The animators' drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets called cells, which are filled in with paints in assigned colors or tones on the side opposite the line drawings. The completed character cels are photographed one-by-one onto motion picture film against a painted background by a rostrum camera.
The traditional cell animation process became obsolete by the beginning of the 21st century. Today, animators' drawings and the backgrounds are either scanned into or drawn directly into a computer system. Various software programs are used to color the drawings and simulate camera movement and effects. The final animated piece is output to one of several delivery media, including traditional 35 mm film and newer media such as digital video. The "look" of traditional cell animation is still preserved, and the animator's work has remained essentially the same over the past 70 years. Some animation producers have used the term "tradigital" to describe cell animation which makes extensive use of computer technology.
Examples of traditionally animated feature films include Pinocchio (United States, 1940) and Animal Farm (United Kingdom, 1954). One of the traditional animated films which were produced with the aid of computer technology was The Lion King (US, 1994).