The Fascinating History of Animation

The animation that we all know and love today is made on computers. Software and technology have made movies like Despicable Me, Frozen, and Toy Story come to life. But where did it all begin? Was Walt Disney the first to animate a cartoon? Today, let’s look at the evolution of animation.

Early Animation

The Zoetrope

The history of animation started long before cinematography when animation was created without the intention of entertainment. The very first animation device developed in the 1800s, the Zoetrope was a spinning cylinder with a ring of pictures that showed a clip of animation when spun.

Later in 1906, British-American filmmaker J Stuart Blackton made a film the Humorous Phases of Funny Faces which is often regarded as the oldest drawn animation on film. However, the first-ever signs of traditional animation was created by French artist Émile Cohl in her film Fantasmagorie in 1908.

Ever wondered what was the first animated character?......... It’s Gertie the Dinosaur. This 1914 film by American artist Winsor McCay featured a dinosaur who performed gestures at the command of the artist and was the first-ever fully thought-out character with a personality.

The rise of Disney

Animation really started to develop in the year 1928 when Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks developed Mickey Mouse in the short film Steamboat Willie. It was the very first animation with sound featuring Mickey making music using livestock aboard the boat. The film was a huge success and Mickey Mouse went on to become the most popular cartoon character in history.

Although Steamboat Willie was the first to have sound, it was still black and white. So which was the first cartoon with sound and color? It was in 1932 that Disney worked with Technicolor Company to create the first full-color animation in Flowers and Trees.

The breakthrough of animated films

All the animated films until now were made using silhouette or stop-motion techniques, but the year 1937 was the year of evolution. The first-ever movie of this era, and the first-ever feature film to be created by Disney, was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This film is special because it used a new technique Rotoscoping, in which humans enacted scenes and the animators traced over the footage which gave Snow White real human movements and the use of a multi-depth camera created the illusion of depth of field. Disney even created its own music and sound effects for Snow White with its own orchestra.

Ever wondered what the making of all those crashing and churning sounds looked like?........ here’s a small clip:

This was the first full-length feature film by Disney and Technicolour, which is still famous to this very day. It generated over $ 3.8 million, shooting the roof of the box office.

The American television era

All of us might have heard of the show Flintstones by Hanna and Barbera, but did you know that it was actually the first-ever animated TV show?……………no right? From the 1960s to the 1980s, television became the medium of entertainment for families and soon channels such as The Disney Channel and Nickelodeon were ubiquitous on TV.

Pixar

Steve Jobs in 1986, purchased the Computer Division of George Lucas Films and established it as “Pixar”. If you’ve ever been curious about the iconic Pixar lamp, here’s the story: In 1986, Pixar released Luxo Jr, a two-minute computer-animated film featuring lamps – Luxo Sr. and the playful Luxo Jr. which went on to become the source for Pixar’s mascot: Luxo Jr.

In 1995, Pixar and Disney together released the award-winning Toy Story, which was the world’s first fully computer-animated film. This film was made using Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) in which a character is made out of really small triangles pieced together in an animation software, essentially making the entire movie on the computer. After this point, computer animation assumed dominance in the world of animation and Pixar went on to become the pioneer of CGI films.

Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) in Toy Story

Disney acquired Pixar in 2006 and together they produced many iconic films like Cars, Monsters, Inc., and others which are loved by children and adults alike.

The story of how animation came to be is extremely fascinating. Technology is truly advancing with each passing day. Today’s animation is something that would be unimaginable a few decades ago, and who knows, something that we might not even dream of today will be a common household name in a few more years. Only time will tell.

---

Hope you had a great time reading this article and see you in the next article of Pixels In Motion!