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A Brief History of Animation
A Brief History of Animation
A Brief Pre-History
18,000 BC Cave paintings are the earliest example of man using
illustrations to tell a story. Paleolithic cave paintings
discovered in the Altamira caves in northern Spain in 1868
depict boars drawn with six legs. Historians believe that
these images were made to look like they were moving by
the flickering shadows cast on them from the fire.
1600 BC Egyptian Pharaoh Rameses II built a temple to the
goddess Isis which had 110 columns. Each column had a
figure of the goddess in a progressively changed position.
To horsemen riding past, Isis appeared to move.
The ancient Greeks sometimes decorated pots with
figures in successive stages of action - spinning the pot
would create a sense of motion.
1640 Athanasius Kircher, a German Jesuit priest, develops the
‘Magic Lantern’ - the first attempt to project drawings
onto a wall using sunlight or candlelight and a convex
lens to focus the images.
1824 Peter Mark Roget discovers the principle of ‘The
persistence of vision’. His principle led to the invention of
numerous optical devices:
The Thaumatrope: A cardboard disc held between two
pieces of string with a drawing of a bird on one side and
a cage on the other. When the disc is spun, the images
merge and the bird appears to be in the cage.
The Phenakistoscope: A disc mounted on a spindle and
viewed through a series of slits with the images on the
disc facing a mirror. A person looking through the slits
from the back of the disc would see a moving image
reflected in the mirror.
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1867 William F Lincoln develops the ‘Zoetrope’ or ‘Wheel of
Life’ from the Greek word ‘zoo’ meaning ‘animal life’ and
‘trope’ for ‘things that turn’. A hand drawn sequence of
pictures on a strip of paper positioned inside a drum would
be spun on a central axis. The spinning images could be
viewed through a series of slits in the drum giving the
illusion of movement.
1877 Charles Emile Reynaud develops the Praxinoscope. This
was based on the Zoetrope but it produced a sharper image
through the addition of an inner set of faceted mirrors.
When the outer cylinder rotates, the quick succession of
reflected images gives the illusion of movement.
1892 Reynaud combines the Praxinoscope with ‘Magic Lantern’
technology to project moving images onto a screen at his
Theatre Optique in Paris
1906 James Stuart Blackton makes ‘Humorous Phases of Funny
Faces’ - considered to be the first known example of
animation as it was shot frame by frame.
The Start of Animation
1911 Winsor McCay makes his first animated film, ‘Little Nemo’
based on his popular comic strip.
1914 McCay produces ‘Gertie the Dinosaur’, the first example
of ‘personality’ animation. It was shown as a film in
theatres and also as a multi-media stage event with
McCay interacting with the animated Gertie.
1918 McCay completes ‘The Sinking of the Lusitania’, the first
example of animation being used as a serious media
- in this case a propaganda tool expressing outrage at
the sinking of the liner ‘Lusitania’ by a German U-boat
in 1915. The animation consisted of 25,000 individual
drawings and took two years to complete.
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1920 ‘Felix the Cat’ is the most popular character and animated
series in theatres.
1928 Walt Disney produces ‘Steamboat Willie’ - the first
animation with synchronised sound.
1930 Warner Bros. produce their first cartoon ‘Sinking in the
Bathtub’. Warner Bros. was started by Hugh Harman,
Rudolph Ising and Friz Freling - all former Disney
employees.
1932 Disney wins it’s first Academy Award for ‘Flowers and
Trees’ - the first animation to use colour.
1937 Walt Disney produces ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’
- the first feature length animation at 83 minutes.
1940 MGM produces ‘Puss Gets the Boot’, the first Tom and
Jerry cartoon.
Walter Lantz’s Woody Woodpecker is introduced in ‘Knock,
Knock’.
1942 Terrytoons introduces ‘Mighty Mouse’.
1943 Tex Avery directs ‘Dumb Hounded’, the first Droopy
cartoon for MGM.
1944 ‘Hell Bent for Election’ - an independent short done for
the Democrats in the 1944 presidential election.
Warner Bros. introduce Yosemite Sam in ‘Hare Trigger’.
1945 Warner Bros. introduce ‘Pepe le Pew’ in ‘Odor-Kitt’.
1946 Warner Bros’ character ‘Foghorn Leghorn’ is introduced in
‘Walky Talky Hawk’.
1947 Warner Bros. win their first Academy Award for ‘Tweetie
Pie’ - their first short featuring Tweetie and Sylvester.
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1950 Animation in TV commercials becomes an important part
of the animation industry.
1957 William Hannah and Joseph Barbera leave MGM and start
Hannah Barbera studios.
1958 Hannah Barbera introduces ‘Huckleberry Hound’ - the
first half-hour all cartoon TV program.
1960 Hannah Barbera introduces ‘The Flintstones’ - an homage
to ‘The Honeymooners’ - and becomes the first prime
time animated TV series.
1964 Halas and Batchelor create the first British animated
feature ‘Animal Farm’.
1971 Ralph Bakshi directs ‘Fritz the Cat’ - the first X-rated
animated feature.
1974 Peter Foldes’ ‘Hunger’ is the first computer assisted
animation nominated for an Academy Award.
1982 Disney’s ‘Tron’ is released with 15 minutes of computer
animation at a cost of $1,200 per second.
1985 ‘Young Sherlock Holmes’ is the first live action film to
feature a complete computer animated character.
1987 ‘The Simpsons’ makes its first appearance as a series of
shorts on the Tracey Ullman Show.
In Japan, 24 anime feature films are produced as well as
72 features for video release.
1989 ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ is released and proved that
animation (at least when combined with live action) was
not limited to a children’s audience.
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1991 Ren and Stimpy premiere.
Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ becomes the first
animated feature to be nominated for the Academy Award
for Best Picture.
1993 Nick Park’s creations Wallace and Grommit star in their
first film, ‘The Wrong Trousers’, winning the Academy
Award.
Mike Judge’s ‘Beavis and Butthead’ airs on MTV.
1995 ‘Toy Story’ - the first computer animated film is released
and tops the box office charts for 1995.
1997 Mike Judge’s ‘King of the Hill’ begins on the Fox network.
1999 ‘South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut’ is released.
‘The Princess Mononoke’, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, is
released in the US.
2002 Nine feature animated films were eligible for the 3
nominations in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts &
Science first ever ‘Feature Length Animation’ category:
‘Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within’, ‘Jimmy Neutron: Boy
Genius’, ‘Marco Polo, Return to Xanadu’, ‘Monsters Inc’,
‘Osmosis Jones’, ‘Shrek’, ‘The Trumpet of the Swan’, ‘The
Prince of Light’, and ‘Waking Life’.
Dreamwork’s ‘Shrek’ wins the first ever Oscar for Best
Feature Length Animation.
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