THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMATION By Ben Fletcher 1603

THE EVOLUTION OF ANIMATION By Ben Fletcher

1603 -1877 In 1603 until 1877 animation was a series of drawings or photographs being shown in synchronized motion to show movement. The Phenakitoscope – This device worked with two discs. The bottom disc would have images on and the top would have a series of splits. The discs would rotate and s the slits passed the images it gave the illusion of movement.

1914 - Gertie the Dinosaur https: //www. youtube. com/watch ? v=-_c 15 o. S 5 i 5 I Gertie the Dinosaur, an animation created by Winsor Mc. Cay in 1914. Winsor claims to be the first person to create animation. He created a handful of cartoon strips and then was inspired by his sons flip book to create moving image out of his cartoons. One of Winsor's cartoons featured a dinosaur, He over heard two boys talking about someone called Bertie. He thought this was a good name but wanted a female name so he changed it to Gertie. Winsor created these drawings on small pieces of rice paper and for the characters breathing he would time his filming to sync with Gerties. Winsor used over ten thousand drawings to complete this film yet only four thousand still exist to this day.

1919 - Felix the cat comes from the golden age of the silent era. Felix was created by the Australian cartoonist Pat Sullivan and was co-created by the American Otto Messmer and has become the longest running animation. https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v= 7 Hsk. WL 82 Ge. Q Felix has become of the most famous face in animation history. This character in the 80 s became the first to be implemented into movies. Felix even has the most famous cat food names after him. Felix the cat has gone on to having a game based on him in the mid 90’s Felix the cat was used with the process of rotoscope. At the time this was one of the originals to do this process. Rotoscope is a process for animation where the cartoonist will trace an already motion picture and copy this for every frame to produce the effect of motion in a steady format. This would keep the character straight and to exact proportions.

1901 – 1966 Walt Disney, one of the most famous men in the world, for his creation of Disney studios and their revolutionary films. Walt was scared of mice but in a way felt sorry for them which is why he created a main character of a mouse. To give them a small piece of power in the world. Walt was from Chicago and has many roamers about him saying he was Pro-Nazi and a sexist man. Putting this aside he was an incredible animator and business man.

1928 - Steamboat Willie https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v= 7 NQyzc. Dn. Md. E The start of the ‘Golden age in Hollywood’ Founded in 1923 by Walt Disney we saw the birth of now the billion dollar company DISNEY. 1928 they released their first animation names Steamboat Willie. This was a black and white animation which revolutionized animation forever when Disney brought in synchronized sound for the first time. This was shown when Mickey Mouse is whistling on the boat and the horns are sounding. This was the biggest landmark in animation for many reasons. Mostly it threw silent era films out the window as no one was interested anymore so it put Disney miles ahead of their competitors. This famous animation is a parody to the silent Buster Keaton film titled Steamboat Bill Jr. Although this film was hugely popular and changed the animation world forever, it wasn’t recognized truly until 1998, 70 years later when it won its first and only award at the US National Film Registry. Saving private Ryan portrayed just how famous and important this film is to America when they name their world war two platoon “Steamboat Willie”

1930 - Merrie Melodies https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v= wu. Kx. Kbtx. CV 0&list=PL 46 F 4068 ED DF 51051 In 1927 the world famous Warner Bros was founded and started planning their animation to compete with their rivals. In 1931 Warner Bros released their series called Merrie Melodies. This comedy short began the golden age of animation in Hollywood. Bringing in characters we have all had throughout our lives such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd. From 1932 – 1961 this hilarious comedy was nominated for twelve academy awards and deservedly won three. Which the episodes were Tweetie pig in 1947 Speedy Gonzales in 1955 Birds Anonymous in 1957 Throughout the years warner bros have released over twenty DVDs and boxsets which are still selling out to this day. THIS was the birth of warner bros studios

1937 - snow white and the seven dwarfs Founded in 1923 by Walt Disney we saw the birth of now the multi - billion dollar company DISNEY. In 1937 we got the first feature length film, Snow White and the seven Dwarfs. The 10 th highest grossing film of all time at $484, 000 Disney changed the animation world with steamboat willow in 1928 but with Warner Bros changing even more Disney knew they had to do something huge. They released Snow White, the first feature length animation to hit the world. With synchronized sound, vibrant colours Disney saw their 1. 4 million dollar film take the world by storm. Gustaf Tenggren was the lead concept artist on this production and Hardie Gramatky became lead animator in 1932.

Codes and Conventions In short, the codes and conventions of animation. The main character will 80% of the time be the hero/nice guy, This is portrayed in the films very early on. The main character will usually get up to mischief within the film to fuel the anger of the villain. E. G. Tom and jerry, Looney toones The bad guy (villain) will be angered into being the bad guy but will always come across worse off. E. G. Roadrunner – The fox is always angered into chasing roadrunner but will eventually be blown up, falls off a cliff or is hit by a car. The ‘nice guy’ isn’t always as nice as we believe for these reasons but we are made to feel sorry for them because they are usually smaller in physical ability and stature. In some rare occasions, the guy believed to be the bad guy will sometimes come out as the good guy later on and a new villain will be formed. E. G. Shrek, Shrek comes across as an angry ogre who wont let anyone into his life or house but as the film goes on Shrek becomes the good guy who falls in love, becomes donkeys best friend. The villains turn out to be Lord Farquart and the fairy god mother. Although this is the case Shrek still has moments of looking bad as he goes back to his frustrated, angry self when donkey goes too far.

Refrences History of animation – Available from https: //history-of-animation. webflow. io (accessed on 8 th December) Snow white Wikipedia – Available from https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Snow_White_and_the_Seven_Dwarfs_(1937_film)#Animation (accessed on 7 th January) Steamboat willie – available from https: //www. moma. org/collection/works/89284 (accessed on 7 th January Felix the cat – Available from https: //www. britannica. com/topic/Felix-the-Cat https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Felix_the_Cat (accessed from 18 th December)