Rotoscoping

 Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over footage, frame by frame, for use in live-action and animated films. Originally, recorded live action film images were projected onto a glass panel and drawn again by an animator, the equipment used is called Rotoscope. Later on this was then replaced by computers.

History of Rotoscoping:

• The Rotoscoping technique was developed by Max Fleischer, who used it in his series called Out of the Inkwell which was around 1915, with his brother Dave Fleischer dressed in a clown outfit as the live film reference for Koko the Clown. Max then went on an patented the method in 1917.
• Fleischer used rotoscoping in a number of his later cartoons, including his most known cartoons. The Cab Calloway dance routines in three Betty Boop cartoons from the early 1930s, and the animation of Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels 1939.
• Leon Schlesinger Productions, who produced the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies for Warner Bros., produced cartoons that were more towards exaggerated comedy, and used rotoscoping only occasionally.
• Rotoscoping was used extensively in China's first animated feature film, Princess Iron Fan 1941.
• More recently, in 2013, the anime The Flowers of Evil was criticised by viewers for using rotoscoping to achieve a look that different greatly from its manga source material. The main problem existed in cutting corners in animating facial features, reusing several backgrounds, and taking liberties in realism.

A use of rotoscoping being used is in Boromir's death in Lord Of The Rings (1978). The use of rotoscoping is effective because it makes the animation more convincing, as the background is still so you can't notice the effect taking place - meaning it's done its job well.