Web project 2

History of Animation

Animation has been around for longer than most of us realize. The first records of animation go back to the early 1800's with the invention of the phenakistoscope which is a cardboard wheel that when viewed in a mirror would produce the illusion of movement. These Victorian parlor objects would be the only form of animation until 1876 when Emile Reynaud, the first animator and inventory, created a system of mirrors to project their hand painted celluloids onto a theater screen. After another 30 more years technology advanced far enough to properly give animation the shot it deserved. J. Stuart Blackton would a small series of short animated films and Emile Cohl in France would put attempt to transfer newspaper comics to the animation scene but would see a many that worked for them would be fatigued by the animation process. Animation would see a big leap again with Winsor McCay and his elegant short animated films like Gertie the Dinosaur which is credited as the first cartoon star. McCay would draw a large following of artists and made a small empire with many cartoon strips being adapted, even gaining a mascot of a wily black cat named Felix. The animation style being used was the rubber ball style which made the animation process more simple and this simple animation style would draw the eye of Walt Disney in Kansas City. Walt Disney's first debut in the animation scene was oswald the rabbit but after a copyright lawsuit that Disney lost the character had to be modified and became what we now know as Mickey Mouse. After a string of success with cartoons Disney decided to take a risk with the first ever animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the rest was history.

Back in New York while Disney was carving a name in animation with its safer approach the Fleischer brothers where investing in a more adult animation. These two would go on to adapt Gulliver's Travels as well as the comic strip of Popeye, and even have their own original character of Betty Boop. With these two carving out there own niche there were a group that These are the american developments but there were plenty of animation being created throughout Europe with vastly different art styles and techniques but many would be short lived studios that would change focus or fade into history. This is just the beginning of the long history of animation but it is good to know where it all started.