ACCAD 3350 - History of Animation - OSU - Exam 1

J.S. Blackton

- 1875-1941
- Started career as lecturer/illustrator, then a reporter/artist at the New York World
- Pioneer, produced "trick films"
- Took interest after visiting edisons black maria studio.
- Formed vitagraph in 1897 which merged with warner borthers studios.

J.S. Blackton Films

The Enchanted Drawing 1900,
Princess Nicotine 1909
Humorous Phases of Funny Faces 1906 Lightning Sketches 1907

Edwin S. Porter

- 1875 - 1941
- Was a traveling projectionist; later worked for Edison Company in charge of film production
- Developed numerous innovations in film (intertitles, crosscutting)
- Most well-known film is "The Great Train Robbery" (1903)

Edwin S. Porter Films

- The Great Train Robbery 1903
- Animated Painting 1904

Georges Melies

- 1861 - 1938
- French, early career on the stage with focus on magic, illusions
- Became interested in the potential of cinema after seeing a Lumiere presentation; they rebuffed his offer to buy their equipment
- Melies directed more than 500 films between 1896 and 1913, mostly short films
- He was associated with spectacle and fantasy films combining early film techniques including stop-camera, stop-motion, double-exposure, hand-colored frames, dissolves
- Scorsese's 2011 film Hugo includes him as a main character

Georges Melies Films

A Trip to the Moon 1902

Emile Cohl

- 1857 - 1938
- was well-known as an illustrator & political caricaturist before becoming an animator later in life
- belonged to an artistic/political group called "The Incoherents" that celebrated absurdity, insanity and irrationality in art and culture, and this is reflected in Cohl's work
- use of "metamorphic" sequences in work
- his Fantasmagorie is considered the first fully animated film, consists of 700 drawings

Emile Cohl Film

Fantasmagorie 1908

John Bray

- Established newspaper cartoonist who became interested in animation
- Major contributions:
A: Moved from multiple drawing animation to system where only moving parts were recreated
B: Established the division-of-labor style of production still used today
C: Patented his processes
D: Employed better marketing and distribution than other animation producers
-responsible for the first "instructional film" for use in World War I which led to him creating filmstrips and filmstrip projectors

John Bray Films

Colonel Heeza Liar in the Trenches 1915

Earl Hurd

Bray's eventual partner/employee, actually held the patent on the cel animation technique which Bray incorporated into his patents.

Raoul Barre

- Developed "peg and perf system" for holding individual drawings in place while photographing to minimize shakiness upon projection.
- Developed "slash and tear" approach to animation production as an alternative to cel animation. Not as efficient as cel animation, but, for the most part, only moving portions had to be redrawn.

Ladislaw Starewicz

- 1892 - 1965
- displayed interest in photography and entomology
- attempted documentary on stag beetles at early age only to be frustrated by their constant movement
- made many films in Russia, best known for The Cameraman's Revenge, classic example of "stop-motion" animation
- Left Russia upon Soviet Revolution in 1918; settled in France where he continued to make films

Ladislaw Starewicz Films

The Cameraman's Revenge 1912

Windsor McCay

- in 1898 was a cartoonist-reporter for various Cincinnati newspapers
- in NYC he became a celebrity comic strip artist with his popular "Dreams of a Rarebit Fiend" and "Little Nemo in Slumberland" strips for the New York Herald
- McCay used the laborious nature of animation as a selling point for his films; he also made use of his fame as a comic artist
- he had the unique ability to translate his graphic style from the printed page to an animated film
- he had the ability to infuse his characters with distinct personalities

Windsor McCay Films

Little Nemo 1911
Gertie the Dinosaur 1914
The Sinking of the Lusitania 1918

Lotte Reiniger

- German filmmaker Lotte Reiniger is recognized as the major pioneer in silhouette animation
- this involves the use of movable, cut-out silhouette figures as another animation process (it is a variation on stop-motion animation)
- Reiniger's career spanned seven decades (1916-1979)
- Reiniger's career began in the theatre and it is believed by many that this experience and observation of human performance helped her create more life-like, nuanced movements in her silhouettes
- Fantasy was the major genre in which Reiniger worked

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

- Lotte Reiniger, 1926
- Prince Achmed is the earliest extant animated feature
- Prince Achmed is made up of characters and story fragments from a collection of the Arabian Nights tales

Felix the Cat

- The importance of a popular or "iconic" character in cinema.
- Pat Sullivan as "owner" of Felix and Otto Messmer as "animator" of Felix.
- Analyzing the Felix "character" and its appeal.
- Recurring themes in Felix films.
- Margaret Winkler, 1st woman to distribute cartoons.

The Appeal of Felix

- Felix had a unique personality which was consistent throughout the run of the series through the 1920s.
- Thought to reflect Messmer's personality; partly inspired by Chaplin's "Tramp" character
- Felix was the first animated character to be widely merchandised in the US and around the world.
- Felix spawned many imitators throughout the 1920s.

Recurring Themes in Felix

- Often portrayed as an outsider, threatened, starved for food, a good Samaritan, an insurrectionist, a philanderer, and experiencing hallucinations

Felix the Cat Films

Felix Revolts 1923
Felix the Cat Dines and Pines 1927

Disney Beginning

- Disney's achievement at the end of the 1920s was financial independence
- Ubbe Iwerks was the key creative figure for Disney at the end of the 1920s
- Disney ushers cartoons into a new era with Steamboat Willie(1928) and more sophisticated use of sound
- By 1930, Mickey Mouse was an international star
- Disney animators became remarkably skilled at creating well-rounded characters
- Disney spared no expense to give his company all necessary state-of-the-art production equipment (or to invent said equipment)
- Approach to form & motion; in-betweeners

Disney Production Innovations

- More sophisticated use of sound in cartoons
- Systemized use of storyboards
- Use of Technicolor
- Systemized use of filmed pencil sketches
- Even greater division of labor
- The multi-plane camera
- The creation of a separate special effects department

Notable Disney Films

Alice gets in Dutch 1924
- Virginia Davis as Alice
Plane Crazy 1928
Steamboat Willie 1928
A Trip Through the Walt Disney Studio 1938
Pinocchio 1940
Dumbo 1941
Bambi 1942
Sleeping Beauty 1959

Hollywood Studio Animation

- Much of the Disney Studio's experiments were designed to prepare the studio for feature production
- Disney was a product of the Midwest: Kansas City, MO

Dumbo

Note the "Pink Elephants" sequence and what a stylistic departure it is from the rest of the film (think 'incoherent cinema')

Sleeping Beauty

- Released in widescreen technirama with six-channel stereophonic sound
- Emphasizes design over characterization; very unusual for Disney features up to this point
- Painter Eyvind Earle was responsible for the striking backgrounds and overall highly graphic nature of the film's design
- The look of the film was inspired by medieval art through the lens of contemporary design of the 1950s
- The last film to use hand-inked cels; with One Hundred and One Dalmatians, Disney Studios would use Xerox technology to transfer drawings from paper to cels

Margaret Winkler

First woman to distribute cartoons. Worked with Sullivan, the Fleischers, and Walt Disney. Called herself M.J. Winkler to disguise that she was a woman.
Married to Charles Mintz who worked for Universal and stole Oswald the Lucky Rabbit

Fleischer Studios

- Max Fleischer was interested in technology and wondered how it could be applied to the production of animation.
- Mechanically-inspired gags are common in his films
- Brother Dave was responsible for stories, gags, direction

Fleischer Studios Innovations

- Innovations: Rotoscope (device for tracing over live-action footage; more realistic movement; better detail)
- Rotograph (device for combining live-action and celanimation one frame at a time)
- Stereoptic process - added sense of depth

The Fleischers and Paramount

- Paramount Studios distributed Fleischer cartoons in the 1930s and early 40s
- Content of pre-code cartoons often aimed at adults rather than children

Fleischer studios characters and talent

Characters: Koko, Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman
Voice Talent: Mae Questel (Betty Boop, Olive Oyl); Billy Costello, replaced by Jack Mercer (Popeye)

Fleischer Studios Notable Films

Bedtime (Out of the Inkwell Series) 1923
- Koko the Clown
Is My Palm Red 1933
- Betty Boop
Minnie the Moocher 1932
- Betty Boop and Jazz
For Better or Worser 1935
- Popeye
Mechanical Monsters 1941
- Superman

Lillian Friedman

First woman to work as an animator in the American studio system. Worked at Fleischer Studios in 1930s on Betty Boop, Popeye and others
Only received a screen credit on six films

Popeye Film Formula

Popeye was the most popular animated character for a period in the 1930s. The formula used in the Popeye films would go on to influence many other series
- Tom vs. Jerry
- Bugs Bunny vs. Elmer Fudd
- Popeye vs. Bluto

Fleischer Studios and Superman

Superman was an unusually expensive series to produce: rotoscoping, use of technicolor, modeling on the characters, few repeated backgrounds

Persistence of Vision

Refers to the way our eyes retain images for a split second longer than they actually appear, making a series of quick flashes appear as one continuous picture.

Multiscope

Peep show on a pedestal, flipped through the images

Rotoscope

device for tracing over live action footage.

-more realistic movement, better detail

Rotograph

device for combining live action film and cel animation.

Edwin Porter's Motion Studies

Black man on a horse

Squash and Stretch

Gives a feeling of weight & flexibility to objects. Squash when an object hits the ground, and stretch on the objects way to its full height before falling again.

Rubber Hose Animation

an early style of animation with "rubber hose limbs." Arms, and sometimes legs, are simple mobile tubes, bending at any point, without articulation (no hinged wrists or elbows or knees).

The Importance of a Iconic Character in Cinema

- Already relationship and expectations associated with this character
- Marketing Opportunities
- Once a character becomes instantly recognizable, markets itself

Pat Sullivan

"Owner" of Felix the Cat. Didn't create the character, just distributed the films.
Approached by Earl Hurd (Cel animation) at Paramount to create a character for "Feline Follies"

Mae Questel

voice actress for Olive oyl and Betty Boop

Otto Messmer

Creator of Felix the Cat

Challenges of Creating a Feature Film

- Cost of production
- Recognizable story
- New Techniques
- Synchronous sound

Fleischer Studios in the late 1930s

Thin Ice
Moved studios down to Florida to break Union after strike
Gearing toward Gulliver's Travels

implications of cell animation

• squash and stretch

• moving background tracks

• perspective cues of live action films

• encourages use of freezes

• speed indicators