The World of Animation Early 1900s to 1950 Nicholas Villeneuve & Brett LeBlanc

History ( ) The beginnings of traditional animation was built upon the successes of the film medium, which had begun to emerge in the 1900s throughout the world. The first fully animated film was Humorous Phases of Funny Faces by J. Stuart Blackton in The animation made use of single-frame animation where the images were not drawn but rather physically set up and repositioned between each frame of film. The first animated cartoon that made use of traditional animation (i.e. hand-drawn) was Fantasmagorie by Émile Cohl in However, single-frame animation would become the norm until 1911 when Max and Dave Fleischer invented the rotoscope, which projected a single frame of film onto a transparent layer as a reference point and the animator then tracing each frame. This innovated the art form and plunged animation into the public eye for years to come.

History ( ) Animation began coming into the public light in 1920, when Otto Messmer created Felix the Cat and was distributed by Paramount Studios, becoming the first cartoon to be merchandized. This trend would continue when in 1923, the animation company Laugh-O-Grams went bankrupt and its owner, Walt Disney sought to create a new company in his name. His trademark character, Mickey Mouse, starred in 1928’s Steamboat Willie which was the first to feature a full- produced soundtrack and synchronized sound. This launched Disney into popularity and success and led to Disney becoming the face of animation during its Golden Age. Whereas Disney was restrictive on the creative freedom of their animators, Warner Bros. Cartoons in 1933 allowed their animators free reign in their work which created distinctive personalities for cartoons and cartoonists. The popularity of cartoons in film eventually led to the first animated TV show Crusader Rabbit in 1949 and contributed to the emergence of Saturday-morning cartoons in the 1960s.

Notable Examples ●Albert Smith & J. Stuart Blackton’s The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1908) ●Émile Cohl’s Fantasmagorie (1908) ●Winsor McCay’s Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) o This was the first film to combine live action with animation. ●Max and Dave Fleischer’s Ko-Ko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye and Superman (1915) o These were the first to use rotoscope. ●Pinto Colvig’s Creation (1915) o This was the first animated feature film, but only a few frames remain. ●Quirino Cristini’s El Apóstol (1917) o This was the second animated feature film and has been lost in time. ●Pat Sullivan’s Felix the Cat (1920) ●Lotte Reiniger and Berthold Bartosch’s Adventures of Prince Achmed (1923) o This is the oldest, surviving animated feature film.

Walt Disney first entered the animation business with his company Laugh-O-Grams in 1923, but they went bankrupt and Disney started a new studio in Los Angeles. In his new studio, he developed the character Mickey Mouse which would become the indisputable icon of Disney and starred in their first synchronized sound film Steamboat Willie in Disney understood early on that synchronized sound was the future of film and would become the norm for years to come. The combined successes of synchronized sound and Silly Symphonies led to the release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in The film was a smash hit and expanded the company into a fully-fledged production company that would continue to make animated films, TV shows, and shorts.

Warner Brothers Cartoons started in 1930 by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising and was called Harman-Ising Productions. Harman and Ising left the company and it was taken over by Leon Schlesinger who renamed it to Leon Schlesinger Productions and under his watch some of the most well known characters were created. In 1944, Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. who then renamed it to Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc.

References animatormag.com- The Lost Art of Rotoscoping (Rotoscope) Ariana Feller Art Portfolio- History of Animation (Gertie the Dinosaur) awn.com- Dr. Toon: When Toons Hate (Bugs Bunny) BrokenTV- BrokenTV: April 2010 (Bosko/Looney Tunes) es.looneytunes.wikia.com- Porky (Porky Pig) imgarcade.com- Felix the Cat (Felix the Cat) logos.wikia.com- Walt Disney Pictures (Disney Logo) moma.org- Steamboat Willie (Steamboat Willie) Rotoscopers- Princess Profiles: Snow White (Snow White) The Daily Seni- The Surprising History Of The Warner Bros. Logo (Warner Bros. Logo) Wikipedia- Fantasmagorie (Fantasmagorie) Wikipedia- Harman and Ising Wikipedia- History of Animation Wikipedia- Laugh-O-Gram Studio (Laugh-O-grams) Wikipedia- Leon Schlesinger Wikipedia- Warner Bros. Cartoons

· Provide a brief history or overview of the time period. This can be done in paragraph, point or timeline format. ( 7/7 possible marks) · List the influences and importance of the style of animation. In other words, how did this style of animation move the industry forward or contribute significantly. ( 4/4 marks) · Provide images or links to YouTube for important examples of the various types of animations within that period. ( 1/4 marks) Total 12/15 = 80%