A SHORT HISTORY OF CINEMATOGRAPHY Grade 7 Visual Arts Unit 2

EARLIEST FORMS OF ANIMATION Part One

SHADOW PLAYS  Also known as shadow puppetry, this is an ancient form of storytelling that uses flat figures with articulated (movable) parts. The performance happens behind a white screen, with a light projected behind the puppets, creating a shadowed silhouette of the puppet. These have been made from many different materials such as leather, paper, wood, etc.

ASIAN SHADOW PUPPETS  Shadow puppetry originated in ancient China, and spread to Europe during the 18 th century because of the European’s travels to Asia where some of the puppets were brought back. They were very popular in Paris France, especially in the Montmartre district.  Shadow puppet plays are still very popular today in countries like Indonesia. Even though the audience usually only sees a black and white design, the puppets are often very colourful. Artists also make great use of cut out designs to create visually stunning puppets. Click image for video

 A toy that was very popular during Victorian times, this was a disk or card with a picture on each side attached to two pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image. THAUMATROPE  Popular designs were combinations of bird and bird cage, a vase with flowers and usually had a quote or riddle printed around the edge, with the response on the opposing side.  A prehistoric thaumatrope was discovered in France in 2012! Click image for video

 A flip book or flick book is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to be animated.  These are sometimes included in books in the corner of the page. FLIP BOOKS  The first flip book appeared in September, 1868, when it was patented by John Barnes Linnett. Click image for video

PHENAKISTOSCOPE  In 1831 Dr. Joseph Antoine Plateau (a Belgian scientist) and Dr. Simon Rittrer constructed a machine called a phenakitstoscope. This machine produced an illusion of movement by using a rotating disk containing small windows. Behind that disk was another with a sequence of pictures, so when the disks were rotated, and the windows lined up it created an animated effect.  Want to learn to make one? Click herehere Click image for video

ENTER THE CAMERA 1800 S TO PRESENT Part 2

SALLIE GARDNER AT A GALLOP This was one of the earliest silent films and was originally an experiment by the photographer Eadweard Muybridge in He took a consecutive series of 24 shots of a horse galloping, using cameras set up with trip wire that the horse would activate as she passed the camera. He wanted to know if all of a horse’s hooves left the ground when they gallop. Shown in succession, this eventually led to the development of motion pictures. Click image for video

GEORGE EASTMAN  In 1889, Eastman – who founded the Eastman Kodak Company - began manufacturing photo graphic film strips, or rolls of film, using a nitro-cellulose base (flexible and plastic). This made film more available to the mainstream photographer, and also became the basis for the invention of motion picture film. Before this, early motion picture experiments, such as Muybridge’s galloping horse were done using fragile paper roll film.

KINETOSCOPE  In 1889 Thomas Edison created the kinetoscope, a machine where only one person at a time could look into to see a 50 foot length of photograph film in about 13 seconds. The pictures on the film were taken in succession, not unlike using the sports setting on your digital camera. Click image for video

VITASCOPE  In 1896 Thomas Armat designed the vitascope which projected Thomas Edison’s films so many people could view them at once.

“HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY FACES”  In 1906 J. Stuart Blackton made the very first animated film. His method was to draw comical faces on a blackboard and film them. He would stop the film, erase one face to draw another, and then film the newly drawn one. Click image for video

FIRST CUTOUT ANIMATION  Emile Cohl produced the first paper cutout animation, “En Route” in Click image for video

“GERTIE THE TRAINED DINOSAUR”  In 1914 Winsor McCay produced a cartoon which amazingly consisted of 10,000 drawings! Click image for video

ROTOSCOPE  In 1915 Max Fleisher patented the rotoscope process which allowed live action footage to be traced. This was one of the first forms of cell animation. Click image for video

CEL ANIMATION  Each frame is drawn by hand on a transparent plastic sheet. Characters could be easily animated over the same background by layering multiple cells with different parts.  This technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until computer animation was invented.

FELIX  Created in 1920 by Sullivan Studios, Felix the Cat was the most popular character and series from this period; his silent films were the first popular cartoons, big enough to draw a crowd at the local theaters. He starred in the Feline Follies as Master Tom, and was later renamed Felix. Click image for video

DISNEY  In 1923 Walt and Roy Disney founded Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. In 1928 Steamboat Willie became the first successful sound animated film, making Mickey Mouse an international star. Click image for video

TECHNICOLOR  This two-strip process using red and green light filters was first developed in the 1920s, but was perfected to a 3-strip process by the 1930s and was widely used in Hollywood. Before this, any coloured films were entirely hand painted on black and white film.  Made in 1932, “Flowers and Trees” was the first animated film to use the 3-strip Technicolor process Click image for video

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS  Created in 1937 by Walt Disney, it was the first full- length cel animated feature film, and the earliest animated movie in the Disney Classics.  Animated trailer Animated trailer Click image for video

SKETCHPAD  In 1963 Ivan Sutherland developed Sketchpad, the first computer animation program, at MIT/Lincoln Labs.

TOY STORY  Premiering in 1995, This was the first full-length computer animated movie. 27 animators worked on the film using 400 computer models to animate the characters. Of all the characters, Woody was the most complex as he required 723 motion controls, including 212 for his face and 58 for his mouth