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140-412: The Backyardigans ( / b æ k ˈ j ɑːr d ɪ ɡ ə n z / bak- YAR -dih-gənz ) is an animated musical children's television series created by Janice Burgess for Nickelodeon . The series was written and recorded at Nickelodeon Animation Studio . It centers on five anthropomorphic animal neighbors who imagine themselves on fantastic adventures in their backyard. The show's title

280-618: A The Backyardigans PC game, "Mission to Mars," in October 2006. There are interactive Backyardigans games made for the LeapPad and VTech 's V.Smile consoles. There is also a LeapFrog ClickStart game titled "Number Pie Samurai," teaching children necessary computer skills. From 2005 to 2007 Kohl's had a section devoted to the series' merchandise, including a clothing line and toys exclusively in-store. Over one hundred storybooks (both original stories and episode-based) were released throughout

420-410: A 1957 recording, Walt Disney explained why motion tracking was an issue for animators, as well as what multiplane animation could do to solve it. Using a two-dimensional still of an animated farmhouse at night, Disney demonstrated that zooming in on the scene, using traditional animation techniques of the time, increased the size of the moon. In real-life experience, the moon would not increase in size as

560-428: A big adventure. I think Die Hard is one of the greatest films ever, not to mention Terminator 2 . I love those big films... I wanted to bring some of that fantastical nature to young children, but to do it in a way that is safe, hopefully not scary, and not 'imitatable' except in your head. Burgess drew inspiration from action films when writing episodes of the show, as she wanted to adapt high-stakes stories for

700-480: A block on Animax , known as "Nick Time") and Cartoon Network (Cartoon Network's age demographic is moving towards older viewers with shows such as Hello Kitty , Regular Show and Adventure Time ) One of the most well-known children's TV programmes comes from Iceland, LazyTown , was created by Magnus Scheving , European Gymnastics Champion and CEO of Lazytown Entertainment . The show has aired in over 180 countries, been dubbed into more than 32 languages and

840-553: A cable, satellite, streaming, or internet subscription to view them on first airing." In the United States, there are three major commercial cable networks dedicated to children's television. All three also operate secondary services with specialized scopes drawing upon their respective libraries, such as a focus on specific demographics, or a focus upon classic programming that fall within their scope and demographics; all three have also extensively franchised their brands outside

980-420: A cel with detailed black lines was laid directly over it, each line is drawn to add more information to the underlying shape or figure and give the background the complexity it needed. In this way, the visual style of the background will match that of the xeroxed character cels. As the xerographic process evolved, line overlay was left behind. In very early cartoons made before the use of the cel, such as Gertie

1120-440: A character or object looks in three-dimensions along with standardized special poses and expressions so that the artists have a guide to refer to. Small statues known as maquettes may be produced so that an animator can see what a character looks like in three dimensions. Background stylists will do similar work for any settings and locations present in the storyboard, and the art directors and color stylists will determine

1260-564: A character's imaginary role, further the plot, or explain a problem. In addition to singing songs in a new genre each episode, the show's background music changes to match, scoring all of the Backyardigans' actions. Each of the five main characters on the show has a separate voice actor in the original US dub for speaking and singing voices, while the voice actors in the UK dub provide both speaking and singing voices. Live-action dancers first performed

1400-471: A character, including props, vehicles, machinery and phenomena such as fire , rain , and explosions . Sometimes, instead of drawings, a number of special processes are used to produce special effects in animated films; rain, for example, has been created in Disney animated films since the late 1930s by filming slow-motion footage of water in front of a black background, with the resulting film superimposed over

1540-426: A child; as a result, Uniqua was written as the leader of the Backyardigans, and Uniqua was the only character who appeared in every episode. The main characters were based on designs by children's book author and illustrator Dan Yaccarino . Michael Lennicx, an artist at Nick Digital, co-designed the characters. Before Nickelodeon ordered the first season, two pilot episodes of The Backyardigans were made. The first

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1680-477: A computer animation system for digital ink-and-paint usage. Following a commitment to the technology in 1979, computer scientist Marc Levoy led the Hanna-Barbera Animation Laboratory from 1980 to 1983, developing an ink-and-paint system that was used in roughly a third of Hanna-Barbera's domestic production, starting in 1984 and continuing until replaced with third-party software in 1996. It

1820-535: A computer program on many transparent "layers" much the same way as they are with cels, and made into a sequence of images which may then be transferred onto film or converted to a digital video format. It is now also possible for animators to draw directly into a computer using a graphics tablet such as a Cintiq or a similar device, where the outline drawings are done in a similar manner as they would be on paper. The Goofy short How To Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007) represented Disney's first project based on

1960-480: A fairy sequence where stippled cels are used, creating a soft pastel look. The methods mentioned above describe the techniques of an animation process that originally depended on cels in its final stages, but painted cels are rare today as the computer moves into the animation studio, and the outline drawings are usually scanned into the computer and filled with digital paint instead of being transferred to cels and then colored by hand. The drawings are composited in

2100-717: A few exceptions, perhaps the best-known being the Power Rangers franchise). Typically, programs are either 'for boys' or 'for girls'. The teen demographic targets viewers 12 to 18 years of age. Live-action series that target this demographic are more dramatic and developed, including teen dramas and teen sitcoms . In some cases, they may contain more mature content that is usually not permissible on shows targeting younger viewers, and can include some profanity or suggestive dialogue. Educational programming targeted at this demographic has historically been rare, other than on NASA TV 's education block. However, some programming aimed at

2240-437: A foreground when laid on top of a ready frame. This creates the illusion of depth, but not as much as a multiplane camera would. A special version of cel overlay is called line overlay , made to complete the background instead of making the foreground, and was invented to deal with the sketchy appearance of xeroxed drawings. The background was first painted as shapes and figures in flat colors, containing rather few details. Next,

2380-402: A large backyard between their houses. In each episode, they meet in the backyard and imagine themselves on a fantastical adventure. Their adventures span a variety of different genres and settings; many episodes involve visiting different parts of the world, traveling back or forward in time, and using magic or supernatural powers. The characters give themselves different jobs or roles depending on

2520-451: A number of children's channels under the Pop and Tiny Pop brands. British versions of Cartoon Network and its sister channels Boomerang and Cartoonito also operate in the country, some 25 years after the initial launch. Ireland has one dedicated children's TV service RTÉjr . Since 1998 RTÉ2 has provided children's programming from 07:00 to 17:30 each weekday, originally titled The Den ,

2660-439: A production will combine both live-action and animated footage. The live-action parts of these productions are usually filmed first, the actors pretending that they are interacting with the animated characters, props, or scenery; animation will then be added into the footage later to make it appear as if it has always been there. Like rotoscoping, this method is rarely used, but when it is, it can be done to terrific effect, immersing

2800-523: A promotional music video from Cartoon Network 's Groovies featuring the Soul Coughing song "Circles" poked fun at animation loops as they are often seen in The Flintstones , in which Fred and Barney (along with various Hanna-Barbera characters that aired on Cartoon Network), supposedly walking in a house, wonder why they keep passing the same table and vase over and over again. The multiplane process

2940-481: A scene in which a person is sitting in a chair and talking, the chair and the body of the person may be the same in every frame; only their head is redrawn, or perhaps even their head stays the same while only their mouth moves. This is known as limited animation . The process was popularized in theatrical cartoons by United Productions of America and used in most television animation, especially that of Hanna-Barbera . The end result does not look very lifelike, but

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3080-755: A separate deal with Nelvana, with this worldwide deal later transitioning to Fremantle Home Entertainment . Songs: All four seasons have been released on the iTunes Store in Canada and the United States; however, the US iTunes Store is missing three episodes from the first season: "Secret Mission," "It's Great to Be a Ghost!," and "High Tea". There were three The Backyardigans albums released in North America, and one album released in Europe. Each has approximately 20 tracks, while Born to Play has four bonus tracks only available on

3220-554: A story editor, writer, and creative consultant on Winx Club . The crew considered it a natural progression, as Winx Club was also a musical action-adventure show, but it targeted an older audience, allowing them to branch out. The Backyardigans received eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations, and Burgess won the 2008 Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program. In a 2016 article for The Chicago Tribune , drama critic Chris Jones called The Backyardigans "a fabulously inventive TV show." DVD Talk ' s John Crichton gave

3360-409: A viewer approached a farmhouse. Multiplane animation solved this problem by separating the moon, farmhouse, and farmland into separate planes, with the moon being farthest away from the camera. To create the zoom effect, the first two planes were moved closer to the camera during filming, while the plane with the moon remained at its original distance. This provided a depth and fullness to the scene that

3500-529: A young audience. In an interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , Burgess was asked what inspired the show; she responded, "I know this is going to sound very strange, but the things I really draw upon are action films. I like Die Hard , Star Wars , the Tolkien movies ... I thought it would be fun to take kids on that big adventure." The character of Uniqua was based on how Burgess viewed herself as

3640-469: Is "traced" over actual film footage of actors and scenery. Traditionally, the live-action will be printed out frame by frame and registered. Another piece of paper is then placed over the live-action printouts and the action is traced frame by frame using a lightbox. The end result still looks hand-drawn but the motion will be remarkably lifelike. The films Waking Life and American Pop are full-length rotoscoped films. Rotoscoped animation also appears in

3780-426: Is a portmanteau of "backyard" and " cardigan ". Each episode is set to a different musical genre and features four songs, composed by Evan Lurie with lyrics by McPaul Smith. The Backyardigans' adventures span many different genres and settings. The show's writers took inspiration from action-adventure films , and many episodes are parodies of films. Janice Burgess had worked as Nick Jr.'s production executive since

3920-490: Is a fantasy for children or for their parents," commending the show's animation and storytelling. Common Sense Media 's Emily Ashby wrote, "It's not always easy to find a show you like as much as your youngsters do, but The Backyardigans definitely has the potential to fit that bill." Journalist Virginia Heffernan wrote, "with each episode devoted not just to a separate quest but also to a different musical genre...the show blows you away with its artistic exactitude." In 2021,

4060-551: Is a labor-saving technique for animating repetitive motions, such as a character walking or a breeze blowing through the trees. In the case of walking, the character is animated taking a step with its right foot, then a step with its left foot. The loop is created so that, when the sequence repeats, the motion is seamless. In general, they are used only sparingly by productions with moderate or high budgets. Ryan Larkin 's 1969 Academy Award -nominated National Film Board of Canada short Walking makes creative use of loops. In addition,

4200-432: Is a shot by shot breakdown of the staging, acting and any camera moves that will be present in the film. The images allow the animation team to plan the flow of the plot and the composition of the imagery. Storyboard artists will have regular meetings with the director and may redraw or "re-board" a sequence many times before it meets final approval. Before animation begins, a preliminary soundtrack or scratch track

4340-421: Is a technique primarily used to give a sense of depth or parallax to two-dimensional animated films. To use this technique in traditional animation, the artwork is painted or placed onto separate layers called planes. These planes, typically constructed of planes of transparent glass or plexiglass, are then aligned and placed with specific distances between each plane. The order in which the planes are placed, and

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4480-549: Is also common in anime , where fluidity is sacrificed in lieu of a shift towards complexity in the designs and shading (in contrast with the more functional and optimized designs in the Western tradition); even high-budget theatrical features such as Studio Ghibli 's employ the full range: from smooth animation "on ones" in selected shots (usually quick action accents) to common animation "on threes" for regular dialogue and slow-paced shots. Creating animation loops or animation cycles

4620-471: Is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there was a shift to computer animation in the industry, such as digital ink and paint and 3D computer animation . Animation production usually begins after a story is converted into an animation film script, from which a storyboard is derived. A storyboard has an appearance somewhat similar to comic book panels, and

4760-428: Is based more strongly in music, a bar sheet may be prepared in addition to or instead of an X-sheet. Bar sheets show the relationship between the on-screen action, the dialogue, and the actual musical notation used in the score. Layout begins after the designs are completed and approved by the director. It is here that the background layout artists determine the camera angles, camera paths, lighting, and shading of

4900-399: Is being done, the background artists will paint the sets over which the action of each animated sequence will take place. These backgrounds are generally done in gouache or acrylic paint , although some animated productions have used backgrounds done in watercolor or oil paint . Background artists follow very closely the work of the background layout artists and color stylists (which

5040-472: Is generally credited with being the first TV programme specifically for children. Some authors posit television for children tended to originate from similar programs on radio. For example, the BBC's Children's Hour was launched as a radio broadcast in 1922, with BBC School Radio commencing live broadcasts in 1924. In the early 1930s, radio adventure serials such as Little Orphan Annie began to emerge in

5180-414: Is generally more overtly educational. In a number of cases, such shows are produced in consultation with educators and child psychologists in an effort to teach age-appropriate lessons (the series Sesame Street pioneered this approach when it debuted in 1969). A format that has increased in popularity since the 1990s is the " pseudo-interactive " program, in which the action of the show stops and breaks

5320-402: Is inexpensive to produce, and therefore allows cartoons to be made on small television budgets. Moving characters are often shot "on twos". One drawing is shown for every two frames of film (which usually runs at 24 frames per second), meaning there are only 12 drawings per second. Even though the image update rate is low, the fluidity is satisfactory for most subjects. However, when a character

5460-462: Is laid on top of each other, with the background at the bottom of the stack. A piece of glass is lowered onto the artwork in order to flatten any irregularities, and the composite image is then photographed in stop motion by a special animation camera , also called rostrum camera . The cels are removed, and the process repeats for the next frame until each frame in the sequence has been photographed. Each cel has registration holes, small holes along

5600-617: Is mainly to entertain or educate children, with each series targeting a certain age of child: some are aimed at infants and toddlers, some are aimed at those aged 6 to 11 years old, and others are aimed at all children. Children's television is nearly as old as television itself. In the United Kingdom, the BBC 's For the Children was first broadcast in 1946, and in English-speaking circles,

5740-477: Is recorded so that the animation may be more precisely synchronized to the soundtrack. Given the slow manner in which traditional animation is produced, it is almost always easier to synchronize animation to a preexisting soundtrack than it is to synchronize a soundtrack to pre-existing animation. A completed cartoon soundtrack will feature music , sound effects , and dialogue performed by voice actors . The scratch track used during animation typically contains only

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5880-442: Is required to perform a quick movement, it is usually necessary to revert to animating "on ones", as "twos" are too slow to convey the motion adequately. A blend of the two techniques keeps the eye fooled without unnecessary production costs. Academy Award –nominated animator Bill Plympton is noted for his style of animation that uses very few in-betweens and sequences that are done "on threes" or "on fours", holding each drawing on

6020-621: Is the most expensive children's show of all time. In 1995, Cartoon Network became the first children's channel to be launched in India. Subsequently, Disney Channel and Nickelodeon arrived. Hungama TV (2004) was the first children's channel that had local content. Pogo and BabyTV came later in 2006. By 2018, 23 channels have aired in India. Nickelodeon was the first children's channel in Romania, launched in December 1998. Afterwards, Minimax became

6160-455: Is the same for both character animation and special effects animation , which on most high-budget productions are done in separate departments. Often, each major character will have an animator or group of animators solely dedicated to drawing that character. The group will be made up of one supervising animator, a small group of key animators, and a larger group of assistant animators. Effects animators animate anything that moves and are not

6300-414: Is typically integrated with cel animation in Disney films and in many television shows, such as Fox 's Futurama , Family Guy , and American Dad! and both Nickelodeon animated series Invader Zim and The Fairly OddParents . In one scene of the 2007 Pixar movie Ratatouille , an illustration of Gusteau (in his cookbook), speaks to Remy (who, in that scene, was lost in the sewers of Paris) as

6440-422: Is usually compiled into a workbook for their use) so that the resulting backgrounds are harmonious in tone with the character designs. Usually, an animatic or story reel is created after the soundtrack is recorded and before full animation begins. The term "animatic" was originally coined by Walt Disney Animation Studios . An animatic typically consists of pictures of the storyboard timed and cut together with

6580-506: The Cartoon Network , Disney Channel , Disney Junior , Disney XD , and Nickelodeon brands. WildBrain operates Family Channel , as well as the spin-off services WildBrainTV and Family Jr. it has been majority owned and operated by British Columbia's public broadcaster Knowledge Network . In French, Corus operates Télétoon and La chaîne Disney , WildBrain operates Télémagino (a French version of Family Jr.), TVA Group operates

6720-604: The FCC mandates. (The rule for digital subchannels was repealed in July 2019; in practice, most still carry educational programs anyway.) In 2017, there was a programming block that aired on syndication called KidsClick ; it was notable as a concerted effort to program children's shows on television without regard to their educational content, one of the first such efforts since the E/I rule took effect. The transition to digital television has allowed for

6860-482: The Philippines ). As the cost of both inking and painting new cels for animated films and TV programs and the repeated usage of older cels for newer animated TV programs and films went up and the cost of doing the same thing digitally went down , eventually, the digital ink-and-paint process became the standard for future animated movies and TV programs. Hanna-Barbera was the first American animation studio to implement

7000-405: The fourth wall to give a young viewer the opportunity to answer a question or dilemma put forth on the show, with the action continuing as if the viewer answered correctly. Shows that target the demographic of persons 6 to 11 years old focus primarily on entertainment and can range from comedic cartoons to action series. Most children's television series targeting this age range are animated (with

7140-476: The 1930s, which allowed for the presence of the "muttered ad-libs" present in many Popeye the Sailor and Betty Boop cartoons. When storyboards are sent to the design departments, character designers prepare model sheets for any characters and props that appear in the film; and these are used to help standardize appearance, poses, and gestures. The model sheets will often include "turnarounds" which show how

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7280-631: The 1990s, more children's television series such as Barney & Friends , Blue's Clues , SpongeBob SquarePants , Bear in the Big Blue House , and The Big Comfy Couch were created. A voluminous range of children's television programming now exists in the 2020s. Notable successes outside the US include shows like Play School , Noggin the Nog , Clangers , Bagpuss , Teletubbies , Thunderbirds , Danger Mouse , Count Duckula , Mr. Men and Thomas & Friends originating from

7420-586: The APT process. This technique was used in Disney films such as Oliver and Company (1988) and The Little Mermaid (1989). This process has more or less been superseded by the use of cel-shading. Related to rotoscoping are the methods of vectorizing live-action footage, in order to achieve a very graphical look, like in Richard Linklater 's film A Scanner Darkly . Similar to the computer animation and traditional animation hybrids described above, occasionally

7560-404: The BBC runs CBBC as well as the preschool-oriented CBeebies , while ITV runs CITV as well as the preschool-oriented LittleBe , as a programming block on ITVBe . Both channels were spun off from children's television strands on their respective flagship channels ( BBC One , BBC Two , and ITV ). The BBC and ITV have largely phased out children's programming from their main channels to focus on

7700-480: The Dinosaur (1914), the entire frame, including the background and all characters and items, were drawn on a single sheet of paper, then photographed. Everything had to be redrawn for each frame containing movements. This led to a "jittery" appearance; imagine seeing a sequence of drawings of a mountain, each one slightly different from the one preceding it. The pre-cel animation was later improved by using techniques like

7840-642: The Disney artists to make use of colored ink-line techniques mostly lost during the xerography era, as well as multiplane effects, blended shading, and easier integration with 3D CGI backgrounds (as in the ballroom sequence in the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast ), props, and characters. Rival studios in the 1990s also adapted to digipaint processes, using softwares like Animo , USAnimation , Toonz , and Pixibox . Over time, many studios switched over to digital ink and paint, though many television projects took longer. Many filmmakers and studios did not want to shift to

7980-454: The Seven Seas . Many video games such as Viewtiful Joe , The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker , Ico , Ōkami , Mirror's Edge , and others use " cel-shading " animation filters or lighting systems to make their full 3D animation appear as though it were drawn in a traditional cel-style. This technique was also used in the animated movie Appleseed , and cel-shaded 3D animation

8120-507: The Shell , Neon Genesis Evangelion , and Cowboy Bebop , have applied both animation techniques. DreamWorks executive Jeffrey Katzenberg coined the term "tradigital animation" to describe animated films produced by his studio which incorporated elements of traditional and computer animation equally, such as The Road to El Dorado , Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron , and Sinbad: Legend of

8260-407: The UK, Paw Patrol from Canada, Le Manege Enchantè from France, The Singing Ringing Tree from Germany, and Marine Boy and Pokémon from Japan. Canadian studio Nelvana is a particularly prolific producer of children's programming. Much of Nelvana's product is broadcast worldwide, especially in the US, where the similarities in dialect do not require any dubbing or localization. In

8400-466: The United States and became a staple of children's afternoon radio listening. Early children's shows included Kukla, Fran and Ollie (1947), Howdy Doody , and Captain Kangaroo . Another show, Ding Dong School , aired from 1952 to 1965. Its creator and host, Frances Horwich , would sit in front of the camera and simulate small talk with the viewing audience at home, demonstrating basic skills for

8540-445: The United States, early children's television was often co-opted as a platform to market products and it rarely contained any educational elements (for instance, The Magic Clown , a popular early children's program, was primarily an advertisement for Bonomo's Turkish taffy .) In the early years of television, advertising to children posed a dilemma as most children have no disposable income of their own. As such, children's television

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8680-458: The United States. Under current mandates, all broadcast television stations in the United States must show a minimum of three hours per week of educational children's programming , regardless of format. Until 2019, this rule also applied to digital subchannels ; as a result, digital multicast networks whose formats should not fit children's programming, such as Live Well Network and TheCoolTV , were required to carry educational programs to fit

8820-462: The Universe , the 1980s saw a dramatic rise in television programs featuring characters of whom toy characters were being sold to retail consumers in bricks and mortar stores, underscoring the value potential of manufacturing merchandise for fans of children's programs. This practice remains firmly embedded in the broadcast sector's business case broadly in the 2020s. Commercial-free children television

8960-441: The animatic or leica reel, taking the place of the pencil animation. Once every sequence in the production has been photographed, the final film is sent for development and processing, while the final music and sound effects are added to the soundtrack. The current process, termed "digital ink and paint", is the same as traditional ink and paint until after the animation drawings are completed; instead of being transferred to cels,

9100-511: The animation, in general, a distinct visual appearance. Today special effects are mostly done with computers, but earlier they had to be done by hand. To produce these effects, the animators used different techniques, such as drybrush , airbrush , charcoal, grease pencil , backlit animation, diffusing screens, filters , or gels . For instance, the Nutcracker Suite segment in Fantasia has

9240-407: The animation. Once the clean-ups and in-between drawings for a sequence are completed, they are prepared for a process known as ink and paint. Each drawing is transferred from paper to a thin, clear sheet of plastic called a cel , a contraction of the material name celluloid . (The original flammable cellulose nitrate was later replaced with the more stable cellulose acetate .) The outline of

9380-407: The animators' drawings are either scanned into a computer or drawn directly onto a computer monitor via graphics tablets , where they are colored and processed using one or more of a variety of software packages. The resulting drawings are composited in the computer over their respective backgrounds, which have also been scanned into the computer (if not digitally painted), and the computer outputs

9520-404: The art style and color schemes to be used. A timing director (who in many cases will be the main director) will take the animatic and analyze exactly what poses, drawings, and lip movements will be needed on what frames. An exposure sheet (or X-sheet ) is created; this is a printed table that breaks down the action, dialogue, and sound frame-by-frame as a guide for the animators. If a film

9660-1084: The audience in a fantasy world where humans and cartoons co-exist. Early examples include the silent Out of the Inkwell (begun in 1919) cartoons by Max Fleischer and Walt Disney 's Alice Comedies (begun in 1923). Live-action and animation were later combined in features such as Song of the South (1946), The Incredible Mr. Limpet , Mary Poppins (both in 1964), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Cool World (1992), Space Jam (1996), Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), and Enchanted (2007), among many others. The technique has also seen significant use in television commercials, especially for breakfast cereals marketed to children to interest them and boost sales. Besides traditionally animated characters, objects, and backgrounds, many other techniques are used to create special elements such as smoke, lightning and "magic", and to give

9800-455: The audience, then walk inside the house that belongs to the snack inviter and close the door. As the episode ends, at least one character reopens the door and shouts a phrase related to the adventure. The show follows the format of a stage musical . Each episode is set to a different genre of music and features four songs. The characters sing and dance to the songs with original choreography. The song and dance routines are often used to introduce

9940-412: The camera. This practice lives on in contemporary children's broadcasting as a genre in of itself, with Australia's ongoing program Play School one example. At one time, a program called Winky Dink and You took a more interactive approach, prompting its viewers to affix a clear vinyl sheet to their television and draw pictures to match what was going on on-screen. This format did not persist, nor

10080-430: The cels or backgrounds 1 step at a time over a succession of frames (the camera does not pan; it only zooms in and out). Dope sheets are created by the animators and used by the camera operator to transfer each animation drawing into the number of film frames specified by the animators, typically 1 (1s, ones) or 2 (2s, twos) and sometimes 3 (3s, threes). As the scenes come out of final photography, they are spliced into

10220-403: The cels. Disney experienced a setback to its ink-and-paint department due to World War II . When peacetime resumed, much of the original equipment went to waste as more economic solutions were sought, leading to the xerography process pioneered by Ub Iwerks . When an entire sequence has been transferred to cels, the photography process begins. Each cel involved in a frame of a sequence

10360-438: The characters' outlines are gray. White and blue toners were used for special effects, such as snow and water. Invented by Dave Spencer for the 1985 Disney film The Black Cauldron , the APT (Animation Photo Transfer) process was a technique for transferring the animators' art onto cels. Basically, the process was a modification of a repro-photographic process; the artists' work was photographed on high-contrast "litho" film, and

10500-514: The cultural similarities between Canada and the US, along with film credits and subsidies available from the Canadian government, a large number of animated children's series have been made in Canada with the intention of exporting them to the United States. Such programs carry a prominent Government of Canada wordmark in their closing credits. The BBC and ITV plc both operate children's oriented television networks on digital terrestrial television:

10640-408: The dancing on the show, and their movements were later transported to animation. The choreographer, Beth Bogush, described the process: "What we do is we film the live footage in the studio, send that off, and they do a Leica , and then they send it to the animators. The animators watch and were pretty precise. What we film for that day is pretty close to what you see in the character." I really enjoy

10780-498: The debut of whole subchannels that air children's programming 24/7; examples include BabyFirst , PBS Kids , Smile , and Universal Kids . The country's only directly nationally operated TV service for public consumption, NASA TV , also includes educational programs in its schedule for use in schools. English-language children's specialty channels in Canada are primarily owned by Corus Entertainment and WildBrain . Corus operates YTV and Treehouse , as well as localized versions of

10920-629: The dedicated services; in 2012, as part of the "Delivering Quality First" initiative, the BBC announced that it would end the broadcast of CBBC programmes on BBC One following the completion of the transition to digital terrestrial television, citing low viewership in comparison to broadcasts of the programmes on the CBBC channel. Channel 5 also broadcasts a preschool-oriented block known as Milkshake! , while its owner, Paramount Networks International , also runs versions of Nickelodeon and its sister networks Nicktoons and Nick Jr. Narrative Capital operate

11060-534: The demographic has had some tangential educational value in regard to social issues, such as the now-defunct TNBC block of sitcoms, which often tackled issues such as underage drinking or drug use. According to at least one journalist, for years, Broadcast Standards and Practices departments of networks, Parental Guidelines , and campaigns by social conservatives limited "efforts to make kids animation more inclusive." One former executive of Disney, David Levine, said that "a lot of conservative opinion" drove what

11200-492: The digital ink-and-paint process because they felt that the digitally colored animation would look too synthetic and would lose the aesthetic appeal of the non-computerized cel for their projects. Many animated television series were still animated in other countries by using the traditionally inked-and-painted cel process as late as 2004, though most of them switched over to the digital process at some point during their run. The last major feature film to use traditional ink and paint

11340-418: The director and have their scene sweatboxed . Once the key animation is approved, the lead animator forwards the scene on to the clean-up department , made up of the clean-up animators and the inbetweeners . The clean-up animators take the lead and assistant animators' drawings and trace them onto a new sheet of paper, making sure to include all of the details present on the original model sheets, so that

11480-435: The distance between them, is determined by what element of the scene is on the plane as well as the entire scene's intended depth. A camera, mounted above or in front of the planes, moves its focus toward or away from the planes during the capture of the individual animation frames. In some devices, the individual planes can be moved toward or away from the camera. This gives the viewer the impression that they are moving through

11620-426: The drawing is inked or photocopied onto the cel, and gouache , acrylic or a similar type of paint is used on the reverse sides of the cels to add colors in the appropriate shades. The transparent quality of the cel allows for each character or object in a frame to be animated on different cels, as the cel of one character can be seen underneath the cel of another; and the opaque background will be seen beneath all of

11760-473: The drawings in place. A key animator or lead animator will draw the key frames or key drawings in a scene, using the character layouts as a guide. The key animator draws enough of the frames to get across the major poses within a character performance. While working on a scene, a key animator will usually prepare a pencil test of the scene. A pencil test is a much rougher version of the final animated scene (often devoid of many character details and color);

11900-403: The early days of animation, washed clean and reused for the next film. In some cases, some of the cels were put into the "archive" to be used again and again for future purposes in order to save money. Some studios saved a portion of the cels and either sold them in studio stores or presented them as gifts to visitors. A cel overlay is a cel with inanimate objects used to give the impression of

12040-402: The episode's imaginary setting, such as detectives, knights, or scientists. From the second season onward, many episodes are parodies of action-adventure films such as James Bond , Star Trek , Indiana Jones , and Ghostbusters . The openings and endings of the episodes follow a similar pattern. The stories begin with the characters in the backyard, introducing themselves and explaining

12180-426: The extra layer of cel added between the image and the camera; in this example, the still plate would be painted slightly brighter to compensate for being moved one layer down. In TV and other low-budget productions, cels were often "cycled" (i.e., a sequence of cels was repeated several times), and even archived and reused in other episodes. After the film was completed, the cels were either thrown out or, especially in

12320-404: The film maintains a cohesiveness and consistency in art style. The inbetweeners will draw in whatever frames are still missing in-between the other animators' drawings. This procedure is called tweening . The resulting drawings are again pencil-tested and sweatboxed until they meet approval. At each stage during pencil animation, approved artwork is spliced into the leica reel. This process

12460-407: The film. Creating scenes that will eventually be edited out of the completed cartoon is avoided. In the traditional animation process, animators will begin by drawing sequences of animation on sheets of transparent paper perforated to fit the peg bars in their desks, often using colored pencils , one picture or "frame" at a time. A peg bar is an animation tool used in traditional animation to keep

12600-498: The final film by either exporting a digital video file, using a video cassette recorder or printing to film using a high-resolution output device. Use of computers allows for easier exchange of artwork between departments, studios, and even countries and continents (in most low-budget American animated productions, the bulk of the animation is actually done by animators working in other countries , including South Korea , Taiwan , Japan , China , Singapore , Mexico , India , and

12740-487: The first Romanian children's channel to air locally produced content, launched on Children's Day in 2001. Since then, channels like BabyTV and Disney Channel have arrived. Children's channels that exist in Turkey are Cartoon Network , TRT Çocuk , MinikaÇOCUK , Minika GO and Zarok TV . Traditional animation#Layout Traditional animation (or classical animation , cel animation , or hand-drawn animation )

12880-435: The first multiplane animation structures, a device called a Tricktisch . Its top-down, vertical design allowed for overhead adjusting of individual, stationary planes. The Tricktisch was used in the filming of The Adventures of Prince Achmed , one of Reiniger's most well-known works. Future multiplane animation devices would generally use the same vertical design as Reiniger's device. One notable exception to this trend

13020-981: The highest number of LGBTQ characters they ever recorded up to that point. In 2017, some said that LGBTQ+ characters in animated television were somewhat rare, despite the fact that GLAAD praised the number of characters in broadcast and primetime television. From 2017 to 2019, Insider noted that there was a "more than 200% spike in queer and gender-minority characters in children's animated TV shows." In 2018 and 2019, GLAAD stated that Amazon , Hulu , and Netflix, had increased LGBTQ representation in "daytime kids and family television." In their January 2021 report, GLAAD praised LGBTQ representation in episodes of DuckTales , The Owl House and Adventure Time: Distant Lands . Despite this, some industry practitioners state that more than 90% of LGBTQ characters in kid's animated shows within Insider 's database of characters in children's animated television shows "require either

13160-553: The iTunes Store. Released on July 12, 2005, under Nick Records ' label. This is the first album sold in stores. It debuted at #32 on the Billboard 200, selling 46,000 copies its first week. It contains nineteen tracks from the first season, including the opening theme. The CD also contains a bonus video track titled "Go, Go, Go!" This second CD was released on July 11, 2006, under Nick Records' label. It contains eighteen tracks from Seasons 1 and 2. The third and final Backyardigans CD

13300-475: The image on the resulting negative was then transferred to a cel covered with a layer of light-sensitive dye. The cel was exposed through the negative. Chemicals were then used to remove the unexposed portion. Small and delicate details were still inked by hand if needed. Spencer received an Academy Award for Technical Achievement for developing this process. Rotoscoping is a method of traditional animation invented by Max Fleischer in 1915, in which animation

13440-548: The mid-1990s. The Backyardigans originated as a live-action pilot episode titled "Me and My Friends", filmed at Nickelodeon Studios Florida and completed in September 1998. The characters were played by full-body puppets on an indoor stage. The pilot was rejected by Nickelodeon, and Burgess decided to rework the concept into an animated series. In 2002, a second pilot was animated at Nickelodeon Digital in New York. The second pilot

13580-529: The multiplane camera used for the film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs utilized artwork painted on up to seven separate, movable planes, as well as a vertical, top-down camera. Predecessors of this technique and the equipment used to implement it began appearing in the late 19th century. Painted glass panes were often used in matte shots and glass shots, as seen in the work of Norman Dawn . In 1923, Lotte Reiniger and her animation team constructed one of

13720-492: The music videos for A-ha 's song " Take On Me " and Kanye West 's " Heartless ". In most cases, rotoscoping is mainly used to aid the animation of realistically rendered human beings, as in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , Peter Pan , and Sleeping Beauty . A method related to conventional rotoscoping was later invented for the animation of solid inanimate objects, such as cars, boats, or doors. A small live-action model of

13860-513: The networks turned to affiliated cable cartoon channels or outside programmers for their blocks. On September 27, 2014, the last traditional Saturday network morning cartoon block, Vortexx , ended and was replaced the following week by the syndicated One Magnificent Morning on The CW . Children's television series can target a wide variety of key demographics based on age and gender. Few television networks target infants and toddlers under two years of age. Preschool-oriented programming

14000-503: The object not present in the live-action photography of the model, it was xeroxed onto cels. A notable example is Cruella de Vil's car in Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians . The process of transferring 3D objects to cels was greatly improved in the 1980s when computer graphics advanced enough to allow the creation of 3D computer-generated objects that could be manipulated in any way the animators wanted, and then printed as outlines on paper before being copied onto cels using Xerography or

14140-789: The paperless technology available today. Some of the advantages are the possibility and potential of controlling the size of the drawings while working on them, drawing directly on a multiplane background and eliminating the need for photographing line tests and scanning. Though traditional animation is now commonly done with computers, it is distinct from 3D computer animation , such as Toy Story , Shrek , Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius , and Ice Age . Traditional animation and 3D computer animation can be used together, as in Don Bluth 's Titan A.E. and Disney 's Hercules , Tarzan , Atlantis: The Lost Empire , and Treasure Planet . Some recent anime and western animated series, such as Ghost in

14280-406: The pencil drawings are quickly photographed or scanned and synced with the necessary soundtracks. This allows the animation to be reviewed and improved upon before passing the work on to their assistant animators , who will add details and some of the missing frames in the scene. The work of the assistant animators is reviewed, pencil-tested, and corrected until the lead animator is ready to meet with

14420-420: The plate. In this example, after the person puts the plate down, the plate can then be drawn on a separate cel from them. Further frames feature new cels of the person, but the plate does not have to be redrawn as it is not moving; the same cel of the plate can be used in each remaining frame that it is still upon the table. The cel paints were actually manufactured in shaded versions of each color to compensate for

14560-695: The preschool-oriented Yoopa , and Bell Media runs the teen-oriented Vrak . Via its majority-owned subsidiary Telelatino , Corus also operates two children and family-oriented networks in Spanish and Italian, TeleNiños and Telebimbi respectively. On broadcast television and satellite to cable undertakings, children's television content is relegated to the country's public and designated provincial educational broadcasters, including CBC Television and Ici Radio-Canada Télé , as well as City Saskatchewan , CTV Two Alberta (formerly Access), Knowledge Network , Télé-Québec , TFO , and TVOntario ( TVOKids ). Aided by

14700-414: The required object was built and painted white, while the edges of the model were painted with thin black lines. The object was then filmed as required for the animated scene by moving the model, the camera, or a combination of both, in real-time or using stop-motion animation. The film frames were then printed on paper, showing a model made up of the painted black lines. After the artists had added details to

14840-430: The scenario they are about to imagine, which causes the backyard to transform into an environment fitting the scenario they are imagining. When the Backyardigans finish their adventure, their stomachs begin to growl, leading to them deciding to have a snack at one of their houses. As they return home, the fantasy sequence fades, restoring the original backyard setting. The characters sing a closing song, say their goodbyes to

14980-410: The scene. Character layout artists will determine the major poses for the characters in the scene and will make a drawing to indicate each pose. For short films, character layouts are often the responsibility of the director. The layout drawings and storyboards are then spliced, along with the audio and an animatic is formed (not to be confused with its predecessor, the leica reel ). While the animation

15120-454: The screen from 1 ⁄ 8 to 1 ⁄ 6 of a second. While Plympton uses near-constant three-frame holds, sometimes animation that simply averages eight drawings per second is also termed "on threes" and is usually done to meet budget constraints, along with other cost-cutting measures, like holding the same drawing of a character for a prolonged time or panning over a still image, techniques often used in low-budget TV productions. It

15260-564: The separate layers of art as though in a three-dimensional space. The most famous device used for multiplane animation was the multiplane camera . This device, originally designed by former Walt Disney Studios animator / director Ub Iwerks , is a vertical, top-down camera crane that shot scenes painted on multiple, individually adjustable glass planes. The movable planes allowed for changeable depth within individual animated scenes. In later years Disney Studios would adopt this technology for their own uses. Designed in 1937 by William Garity ,

15400-422: The series worldwide, except in the United States, where it was handled by co-producer Nickelodeon. In the United States, the show's 80 episodes were released across a series of 21 DVD releases. Ten episodes of the first season were also released to VHS across five volumes. Viacom's Paramount Home Media Distribution published all of the show's video releases. Outside North America, Paramount released DVDs under

15540-421: The series' run. Most of these were released in both Canada and the United States; however, a 2006 series of educational books were exclusively sold in Canada under the license of Treehouse TV . Fisher-Price produced numerous plush toys and interactive character toys (mostly Uniqua, Pablo, and Tyrone). There are also Beanie Babies of the main characters available. Nelvana handled distribution and marketing of

15680-753: The service was renamed TRTÉ and RTÉjr in 2010. Irish-language service TG4 provide two strands of children's programming Cúla 4 Na nÓg and Cúla 4 during the day. Commercial broadcaster TV3 broadcast a children's strand called Gimme 3 from 1998 to 1999. And then broadcast a new strand called 3Kids . Children's channels that exist in Australia are ABC Family , ABC Kids , and its spin-off CBeebies , Nickelodeon and its spin-off Nick Jr. , and Cartoon Network and its spin-off Boomerang . Children's channels that exist in Japan are NHK Educational TV , Kids Station , Disney Channel , Disney XD , Nickelodeon (also under

15820-586: The show a "hearty recommendation," citing its "enjoyable (and varied) music score, the character voices (both spoken and singing) and the impressive visual presentation." Slate named the Backyardigans episode "The Swamp Creature" one of the best episodes of children's television. Critics noted that the series held broad appeal to older viewers, due to its high-quality music and focus on character-driven, non-educational stories. Susan Stewart of The New York Times said "it's hard to say whether The Backyardigans

15960-480: The size of the xeroxed objects and characters. At first, it resulted in a more sketchy look, but the technique was improved upon over time. Disney animator and engineer Bill Justice had patented a forerunner of the Xerox process in 1944, where drawings made with a special pencil would be transferred to a cel by pressure, and then fixing it. It is not known if the process was ever used in animation. The xerographic method

16100-403: The slash and tear system invented by Raoul Barré ; the background and the animated objects were drawn on separate papers. A frame was made by removing all the blank parts of the papers where the objects were drawn before being placed on top of the backgrounds and finally photographed. In lower-budget productions, shortcuts available through the cel technique are used extensively. For example, in

16240-503: The songs "Castaways" and "Into the Thick of It" went viral on TikTok , with the former appearing in more than 745,000 videos and the latter appearing in more than 46,000 videos as of June 2021. Due to their success on TikTok, "Castaways" and "Into the Thick of It" reached number 5 and 13 respectively on the Spotify viral 50 chart in the US for the week beginning on June 10, 2021. The Backyardigans

16380-413: The soundtrack. This allows the animators and directors to work out any script and timing issues that may exist with the current storyboard. The storyboard and soundtrack are amended if necessary, and a new animatic may be created and reviewed with the director until the storyboard meets the users' requirements. Editing the film at the animatic stage prevents the animation of scenes that would be edited out of

16520-440: The speaking character. For a more complex example, consider a sequence in which a person sets a plate upon a table. The table stays still for the entire sequence, so it can be drawn as part of the background. The plate can be drawn along with the character as the character places it on the table. However, after the plate is on the table, the plate no longer moves, although the person continues to move as they draw their arm away from

16660-439: The top or bottom edge of the cel, which allow the cel to be placed on corresponding peg bars before the camera to ensure that each cel aligns with the one before it; if the cels are not aligned in such a manner, the animation, when played at full speed, will appear "jittery." Sometimes, frames may need to be photographed more than once, in order to implement superimpositions and other camera effects. Pans are created by either moving

16800-486: The use of traditional cels for the main content of each episode. Minor productions, such as Hair High (2004) by Bill Plympton , have used traditional cels long after the introduction of digital techniques. Most studios today use one of a number of other high-end software packages, such as Toon Boom Harmony , Toonz (OpenToonz), Animo, and RETAS , or even consumer-level applications such as Adobe Flash , Toon Boom Technologies and TV Paint . The cel animation process

16940-529: The voices, any songs to which characters must sing-along, and temporary musical score tracks; the final score and sound effects are added during post-production . In the case of Japanese animation and most pre-1930 sound animated cartoons, the sound was post-synched ; the soundtrack was recorded after the film elements were finished by watching the film and performing the dialogue, music, and sound effects required. Some studios, most notably Fleischer Studios , continued to post-synch their cartoons through most of

17080-466: The west, and PBS Kids ' Dragon Tales , all of which switched to digital paint between 2000 and 2004, while the last major animated production overall to abandon cel animation was the television adaptation of Sazae-san , which remained stalwart with the technique until September 29, 2013, when it switched to fully digital animation on October 6, 2013. Prior to this, the series adopted digital animation solely for its opening credits in 2009, but retained

17220-462: Was Satoshi Kon 's Millennium Actress (2001); the last major animation productions in the west to use the traditional process were Nickelodeon 's SpongeBob SquarePants , both Fox 's The Simpsons and King of the Hill , both Cartoon Network 's The Powerpuff Girls , Dexter's Laboratory and Ed, Edd n Eddy , the latter of which is also the last cartoon to switch to Digital Ink and Paint in

17360-407: Was a live-action pilot titled "Me and My Friends," filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in September 1998. The characters were played by full-body puppets who danced on an indoor stage. The pilot was rejected by Nickelodeon, and Burgess decided to rework the concept into an animated show. In 2002, a second pilot was created; it was a computer-animated short produced at Nickelodeon Digital . The second pilot

17500-659: Was adapted into several stage shows. These included 2008's "Tale of the Mighty Knights" and 2010's "Storytime Live!" (an event featuring other Nick Jr. Channel characters from Dora the Explorer , Wonder Pets! , and Ni Hao, Kai-Lan , as well as hosts Moose and Zee ). In Canada, separate live shows called "Quest for the Extra Ordinary Aliens" (2008) and "Sea Deep in Adventure" (2009) were created. Activision released

17640-611: Was an ideal "evergreen" property: a series that would stay in production for a long time through multiple generations. A fifth season was planned in 2009. However, in 2010, Burgess decided to end The Backyardigans to start working on Nickelodeon's newer projects: a revival series of Winx Club . Burgess brought the former Backyardigans crew onto Winx Club as well. This included lyricist McPaul Smith; writers Jeff Borkin, Adam Peltzman , and Carin Greenberg ; line producer Sara Kamen; and script coordinator Jonathan Foss. Burgess worked as

17780-529: Was closer in resemblance to real life, which was a prominent goal for many animation studios at the time. Applied to animation by Ub Iwerks at the Walt Disney studio during the late 1950s, the electrostatic copying technique called xerography allowed the drawings to be copied directly onto the cels, eliminating much of the "inking" portion of the ink-and-paint process. This saved time and money, and it also made it possible to put in more details and to control

17920-420: Was depicted on Cartoon Network , Disney Channel , and other alike channels. Some argued that cable television, which began to pick up in the 1990s, "opened the door for more representation" even though various levels of approvals remained. Through the 2000s', advocacy group GLAAD repeatedly highlighted the lack of LGBT representation in children's programming in particular. Two years later, they recorded

18060-481: Was first introduced with Sesame Street on PBS in November 1969. It was produced by what is now known as Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop, known as CTW). In the United States, Saturday mornings were generally scheduled with cartoons from the 1960s to 1980s. In 1992, teen comedies and a "Today" show weekend edition were first to displace the cartoon blocks on NBC. Starting in September 2002,

18200-617: Was first tested by Disney in a few scenes of Sleeping Beauty and was first fully used in the short film Goliath II , while the first feature entirely using this process was One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). The graphic style of this film was strongly influenced by the process. Some hand inking was still used together with xerography in this and subsequent films when distinct colored lines were needed. Later, colored toners became available, and several distinct line colors could be used, even simultaneously. For instance, in The Rescuers

18340-728: Was first tested in the Pac-Man episodes "Nighty Nightmares" and "The Pac-Mummy". In addition to a cost savings compared to traditional cel painting of 5 to 1, the Hanna-Barbera system also allowed for multiplane camera effects evident in H-B productions such as A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (1988). The computer files for these projects were not archived and the shows themselves were printed to videotape, making remastering difficult due to their lack of high resolution. Digital ink and paint has been in use at Walt Disney Animation Studios since 1989, where it

18480-461: Was greenlit by Nickelodeon to become a full-length series. Nickelodeon called the show "a home-grown Nick Jr. property," as "the whole creative team... [had] been part of the Nick Jr. family for years." In December 2009, Nick Jr. president Brown Johnson stated that Nickelodeon intended to keep the show running for "at least another five years. Maybe forever." Nickelodeon believed that The Backyardigans

18620-503: Was invented by Earl Hurd and John Bray in 1915. The cel is an important innovation to traditional animation, as it allows some parts of each frame to be repeated from frame to frame, thus saving labor. A simple example would be a scene with two characters on screen, one of which is talking and the other standing silently. Since the latter character is not moving, it can be displayed in this scene using only one drawing, on one cel, while multiple drawings on multiple cels are used to animate

18760-529: Was it replicated, due to a number of factors unrelated to its popularity: children whose parents did not buy them the vinyl sheet would draw with crayons directly on the television screen itself, potentially causing expensive damage; there were also concerns that having children within arm's length of a television screen of the era could expose them to harmful radiation. Later and more recognisably modern shows for young children include Sesame Street , The Electric Company and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood . In

18900-582: Was not a particularly high priority for the networks. This practice continued in a toned-down manner through the 1980s in the United States after the Federal Communications Commission prohibited tie-in advertising on broadcast television. These regulations did not apply to cable, which remains out of the reach of the FCC's content regulations. Due in part to the success of He-Man and the Masters of

19040-471: Was released on January 22, 2008, under Sony BMG 's label. It contains songs from Seasons 1 and 2, as well as all the songs from "Tale of the Mighty Knights". There is a total of 22 tracks. This album was released in a cardboard foldout case, rather than a jewel case like the previous two releases. Borders carried the jewel case release exclusively, which included a booklet. Children%27s television series The purpose of these shows, aside from profit,

19180-480: Was sophisticated and enjoyable for older viewers. The New York Times and Common Sense Media commended the show for including frequent nods to an older audience, such as references to action-adventure franchises. The quality of the show's music was also well received by critics, and the show received eight Daytime Emmy Award nominations for its music. The show centers around a group of five animal neighbors named Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, and Austin. They share

19320-623: Was successful, and the series entered production. The show ran for four seasons, totaling 80 episodes. Most episodes aired on Nickelodeon on weekday mornings. In 2009, the show was planned to continue beyond the fourth season. However, in 2010, Burgess decided to move onto a different series: Nickelodeon's revival of Winx Club . Burgess worked as a creative director and writer for Winx Club before eventually retiring from Nickelodeon in 2014. The Backyardigans received generally positive reviews from audiences and critics who consider it superior to Nickelodeon's other preschool shows because its writing

19460-647: Was the Setback Camera, developed and used by Fleischer Studios . This device used miniature three-dimensional models of sets, with animated cels placed at various positions within the set. This placement gave the appearance of objects moving in front of and behind the animated characters, and was often referred to as the Tabletop Method. The spread and development of multiplane animation helped animators tackle problems with motion tracking and scene depth, and reduced production times and costs for animated works. In

19600-493: Was used for the final rainbow shot in The Little Mermaid . All subsequent traditional Disney animated features were digitally inked-and-painted (starting with The Rescuers Down Under , which was also the first major feature film to entirely use digital ink and paint), using Disney's proprietary CAPS (Computer Animation Production System) technology, developed primarily by Pixar Animation Studios . The CAPS system allowed

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