ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Animation department

An animation department is like a big team of people who work together to make drawings come to life on a screen. Imagine that you like drawing pictures of your favorite superheroes, and you have a big stack of paper with these drawings. Now, imagine that you want to make these drawings move and talk, just like in a movie or a video game.

In an animation department, there are artists who create drawings and sketches of characters, backgrounds, and props. They may use pencils, markers, or digital tools to make these drawings. These artists are like the architects who design the blueprint of a building, but in this case, they are designing the blueprint of a movie or a game.

Then, there are animators who take these drawings and bring them to life. They use special software to create a series of images that show how a character moves, from one frame to another. These images are like the pages of a flipbook, but instead of flipping them with your hand, a computer does it very quickly, to create the illusion of movement.

Animators need to pay attention to every detail, such as how the character's body moves when they walk, how their hair or clothes flow in the wind, or how their facial expressions change when they talk or feel an emotion. They may also add special effects, like explosions, magic spells, or glowing lights.

Finally, there are editors and sound designers who put all these images, sounds, and music together, to create a final product that tells a story and entertains people. The editors choose which frames to use, in which order, and how long they should last. The sound designers add voices, sound effects, and music, to make the characters and the environment feel alive and believable.

All these people work together as a team, communicating and sharing their work, to create something that is greater than the sum of its parts. They may face challenges and problems along the way, such as tight deadlines, technical glitches, or creative differences, but they use their skills, imagination, and collaboration to overcome them and create something amazing.
Related topics others have asked about: