AniVision Animation in Ephemeral Films from Austria, East & West Germany between
1945 and 1989: A Combined Film Analysis and Computer Vision Approach
Dr. Franziska Bruckner Dr. Erwin Feyersinger Dr. Matthias Zeppelzauer
Guided by the motto "We make animation visible!", the digital humanities project
AniVision uses machine learning and computer vision to explore a hitherto marginalized area
of the stylistic history of animation. The project, funded by FWF and DFG as part of the Weave
Lead Agency Procedure, focuses on ephemeral films, i.e., nonfiction films that are produced
for a specific, usually short-term purpose, such as educational films, commercials, or public
service announcements. Animation is used in various ways in these films, e.g., to advertise a
product memorably, to vividly show a process inside the human body, or to address the
audience emotionally with the help of an animated character.
AniVision investigates these different uses and stylistic patterns of animation by
analyzing a large corpus of ephemeral films produced during the Cold War period in Austria,
West Germany, and East Germany. The project follows an interactive, computer-assisted
approach that closely integrates animation research and computer science. AniVision is a
transnational collaboration of Dr. Franziska Bruckner and Dr. Matthias Zeppelzauer
(University of Applied Sciences St. Pölten, Austria) with Dr. Erwin Feyersinger (University of
Tübingen, Germany).