The field of animation has been one of the most interesting and creative forms of film and its history goes almost all the way back to the beginning of movies.
The first example is a short two-minute film called The Enchanted Drawing from the year 1900. It was not entirely animated as it included live action footage, but it was the first movie with animated sequences as far as I am aware.
It consists of a man (in live-action) drawing a picture of a man's face on an easel, as well as other objects, such as a cigar and a glass of wine. He takes the drawings off the paper and they turn into real items. Also, the man in the drawing magically changes his facial expressions and this is where the stop-action animation part comes in. So it really …show more content…
The short was directed by a man named J. Stuart Blackton (he also starred in the film) who was born in the UK, but came to the US at age 10. He is often referred to as the father of American animation.
He also made the first entirely animated work, a three-minute short film from 1906 called Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. It used stop-motion and cutout animation and depicts a hand drawing images on a blackboard that come to life. Like The Enchanted Drawing, it's a fun little diversion that isn't meant to be taken too seriously. Obviously, it's a bit crude by today's standards, but it's definitely entertaining.
Moving forward a couple years to 1908, we see the first film using "traditional animation" methods, a French film called …show more content…
Stuart Blackton, a stop-motion short called The Humpty Dumpty Circus. Albert E. Smith, who founded Vitagraph Studios with Blackton, was also a producer.
As the title suggests, it portrayed a circus with various animals and performers. The film has historical significance as it's the first American work to use stop-motion animation, according to Wikipedia. Confusingly, some places have this listed as an 1898 work, but IMDB has it at 1908, so I assume that is accurate. Also, I didn't see this uploaded anywhere online.
Three years later in 1911, we see the first film work of American cartoonist Winsor McCay, Little Nemo (alternately titled Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics, which is a mouthful to say the least).
The animated short was based on McCay's newspaper comic Little Nemo, which ran from 1905 to 1914. Little Nemo, along with his other strip Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, brought McCay success and fame. Supposedly he was then inspired to make cartoons by flip books. He also apparently thought of himself as the first to do so (the credits even state this), but we obviously know that wasn't the case. Having said that, he was definitely a very influential figure in the field of
The first example is a short two-minute film called The Enchanted Drawing from the year 1900. It was not entirely animated as it included live action footage, but it was the first movie with animated sequences as far as I am aware.
It consists of a man (in live-action) drawing a picture of a man's face on an easel, as well as other objects, such as a cigar and a glass of wine. He takes the drawings off the paper and they turn into real items. Also, the man in the drawing magically changes his facial expressions and this is where the stop-action animation part comes in. So it really …show more content…
The short was directed by a man named J. Stuart Blackton (he also starred in the film) who was born in the UK, but came to the US at age 10. He is often referred to as the father of American animation.
He also made the first entirely animated work, a three-minute short film from 1906 called Humorous Phases of Funny Faces. It used stop-motion and cutout animation and depicts a hand drawing images on a blackboard that come to life. Like The Enchanted Drawing, it's a fun little diversion that isn't meant to be taken too seriously. Obviously, it's a bit crude by today's standards, but it's definitely entertaining.
Moving forward a couple years to 1908, we see the first film using "traditional animation" methods, a French film called …show more content…
Stuart Blackton, a stop-motion short called The Humpty Dumpty Circus. Albert E. Smith, who founded Vitagraph Studios with Blackton, was also a producer.
As the title suggests, it portrayed a circus with various animals and performers. The film has historical significance as it's the first American work to use stop-motion animation, according to Wikipedia. Confusingly, some places have this listed as an 1898 work, but IMDB has it at 1908, so I assume that is accurate. Also, I didn't see this uploaded anywhere online.
Three years later in 1911, we see the first film work of American cartoonist Winsor McCay, Little Nemo (alternately titled Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics, which is a mouthful to say the least).
The animated short was based on McCay's newspaper comic Little Nemo, which ran from 1905 to 1914. Little Nemo, along with his other strip Dream of a Rarebit Fiend, brought McCay success and fame. Supposedly he was then inspired to make cartoons by flip books. He also apparently thought of himself as the first to do so (the credits even state this), but we obviously know that wasn't the case. Having said that, he was definitely a very influential figure in the field of