UNIT 12

MAZ KANCHWALA
19/01/24
 From Dream to Screen: The History of
Animation
According to the Oxford dictionary animation is the technique of photographing
successive drawings or positions of puppets or models to create an illusion of movement
when the film is shown in sequence.

I wanted to investigate how animation developed as a process and form of filmmaking

to better understand what stood the test of time. The people that changed the course
of stop-motion, the films that produced innovative concepts and the techniques that
evolved through the eras all influence the way I will shape my story and produce my
final major project.

A general history
The use of moving images to tell stories has existed since early civilisation but animation
as we know it today really started in the 19th century, evolving via the invention of
gadgets such as the magic lantern and zoetrope. Things really started to develop after
the emergence of cinema, mostly through short films in the silent era. As new
technologies developed, animation could be pushed further and turn into ‘one of the
most artistically and commercially significant genres in all of cinema’.

While stop-motion is a sub-section in animation, the history of both is very intertwined.

the storytelling and even technique is influenced by all types of films, shorts,
filmmakers and countries. That being said, America has a significantly richer history
than most – filled with productions and artists that have influenced the animation
timeline.

It’s disputed what the first documented stop-motion

animated film is however most sources including
‘Britannica’ say J. Stuart Blackton and Albert E.
Smith’s The Humpty Dumpty Circus from 1898 was
the first commercial release. Then in 1907 Blackton’s
film ‘The Haunted Hotel’ demonstrated the basic
technique of object animation.

Winsor McCay created ‘Gertie the Dinosaur in 1914, transforming the

art of animation. He managed to give his animated character a
personality and a life through his fluid sense of movement and great
feeling for character.

With the help of Pat Sullivan, Otto Messemer extended these artistic
discoveries in creating ‘Felix the Cat’. Felix, designed for maximum flexibility
and facial expressiveness with a round head and big eyes, became the
standard model for cartoon characters.
 In 1928 Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks would create Steamboat Willie. It took
the US by storm as it would be the first animation to use synchronised
sound. While the Edinburgh University Press explain that the Fleischer
brothers were working on synchronised sound animation using the process
invented by Lee De Forest years before Disney, Steamboat Willie is the
first cartoon to officially use it.

Willis O’Brien’s work gave stop-motion animation

its first serious entry into the mainstream film
industry and kicked off what is often referred to
as ‘the golden age’ of stop-motion. His work on
King Kong (1933) perfected lots of the techniques
he created for The Lost World (1925) “taking stop-
motion animation to new heights. According to
‘study.com’ King Kong earned O’Brien his place as
the father of modern stop-motion.

In 1937 Disney released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Until this
point the overall cinema experience included animated shorts alongside
newsreels and two longer films as no commercial studios wanted to take
on the expense and risk of making a feature-length film. Snow White
proved to Hollywood that there’s profit in full length animations. The
film also got Walt Disney’s massive empire officially running.

Born in Hungary, George Pal moved to the US in 1939 where he

contracted with Paramount Pictures to produce the ‘Puppetoons’
series, perhaps the most popular and accomplished puppet animations
to be created in America.

Before Ray Harryhausen became Willis O’Brien’s

greatest protege hew would work solo in his garage
animating dinosaurs, building puppets and exploring
the medium. His short demo reel landed him a job on
‘Puppetoons’ where after a while O’Brien invited him
to work on ‘Mighty Joe Young’ (1949) which kicked of
Harryhausen’s astounding career. He made a selection
of films that moved the art of stop-motion forward. A notable mention is Jason and the
Argonaughts (1963), considered to be the best example of his work; celebrated for its
outstanding battle involving multiple skeleton figures.

Another pioneer of stop-motion was Art Clokey. His career began on

‘Gumbasia’ (1955) which then him and his wife subsequently created
American household favourite ‘Gumby’. He began the popularisation of using
entirely stop-motion animation in films.
The 1980s was dubbed the Golden Age of stop-motion animation as so many feature films,
television series, music videos and highly profitably commercials were produced in the
decade. Clay and puppet animation seemed to be everywhere at that time, tv networks
like Mtv would hire animators to make their station ID’s and artists were making music
videos with stop-motion, commercials were animated etc.

Will Vinton coined the term Claymation as his animations

continued achieved critical and commercial success. One of his
employees, Travis Knight, went on to create LAIKA Studios.

The early 90s saw the stop-motion

industry begin to fall apart.
Desktop computers and their growing capabilities
meant the preference of handmade animations for
commercials, vfx and movies was diminishing. ‘Jurassic
Park’ (1993) was the final blow to the industry. While
it was technically a type of cgi rendered stop-motion, it’s never considered as such. The
use of metal armature puppets connected to computers to control onscreen characters
was an expensive technique but had a much cleaner and less jumpy look. Producers began
to leave handmade things behind; from hand puppets and stop-motions to
environments and matte paintings the digital age was taking over.

Television seemed to be the only place traditional animators could stay for more than
10 years. Shows like ‘Pingu’ and ‘Bump in the Night’ kept stop-motion in business while
the rest of the world used more efficient technologies.

Despite the success of films like ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’, ‘Chicken
Run’, and ‘James and the Giant Peach’, PIXAR’S massive hit with ‘Toy
Story’ (1995) meant the handmade flame was near dead. ‘Toy Story’ was
the first fully computer animated feature, revolutionising the way
animation was produced. This groundbreaking achievement paved the way
for the CGI-dominated era of animation (with PIXAR at the lead).

Digital cameras were everywhere by the mid 2000s. In 2005 the television series ‘Robot
Chicken’ was created with digital cameras for Cartoon Network. The technology had
caught up and this would mark the beginning of stop-motion's new era.

While America has its dense linear history, European animation was taking a slightly
different path.

French artist Émile Cohl created ‘Fantasmagorie’ in 1908. Film historians say it’s one of
the earliest examples of hand-drawn animation but whether it’s the first is greatly
disputed. Nonetheless, it influenced some of the biggest animators in history, including
Walt Disney.
Wladyslaw Starewicz was a genius with stop-motion narrative. His most well-known films
being ‘Lucanus Cervus’ (1910) where he used insects as puppets - this was one of the first
few documented uses of puppets in animation - and ‘The Tale of The Fox’ (1937).

Lottie Reininger was a German animator who created elaborate paper

cutouts inspired by Thailand’s shadow puppet theatre. She’s most famous
for ‘The Adventures of Prince Ahmed’ (1926) to which Henry Selick said “I
was so fascinated by the look, and the design of the character was very
whimsical”.

Oskar Fischinger made a few experimental stop-motions using wax figures through the
1930s. According to ‘Britannica’ Fischinger moved on to more abstract pieces but his wax
figure work went on to inspire many upcoming animators.

Eastern Europe became the centre of puppet animation due to Jiri Trnka
who according to the Harvard Film Archive was the inventor of the ball
and socket armature. Trnka is often called the Walt Disney of Eastern
Europe thanks to his studio’s worldwide success.

More Films That Changed The Game

As well as the historically significant, groundbreaking films that are staples of
animation history the films in this section also have relevance. While they didn’t create
a new concept or bring about a turning point for the industry, they have influenced the
storytelling and mainstreaming of different things.

In an article from ‘/Film’, film critic Audrey Fox explained that from
animation’s beginnings in the silent era to classic fairytale adaptations
from our childhoods to modern groundbreaking films, animation is an
extremely expansive medium. It’s not just children’s entertainment, but a
legitimate art form. ‘The Secret of NIHM’ (1982) was created by former
Disney animator Don Bluth. He broke off from the established Disney
tropes to showcase a more mature, darker storytelling style. According to ‘MovieWeb’ the
success created by “one of the most influential animated movies in history” laid the
foundations for a wave of animated films that “challenge traditional conventions,
sparking a renaissance of creativity within the industry and establishing Bluth's legacy
as a pioneer in the world of animation”. Because of this, films with varied target
audiences or non-cutesy genres could gain the deserved recognition. For example, ‘My life
as a Courgette’ (2016) which tackled difficult topics using colourful visuals and ‘Spider-
man: Into the Spider-Verse' (2018) which used very stylised animation saw massive box
office success.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) is a fantastic twist on film noir set in the golden age
of Hollywood where humans and animated characters co-exist. It was the first feature
to seamlessly blend animation into a live action film. Unlike other previous classics that
had attempted the concept, such as ‘The 7th Voyage of Sinbad’, ‘Mary
Poppins’, and ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’, the film’s technical
sophistication along with great story, character and wit still holds up
today.

‘Corpse Bride’ (2005) is a fantastic example of how

animation is a style not a genre. Tim Burton’s
trademark themes and styles are prominent throughout
demonstrating that a directing style can be translated into any
medium. As well as this stop-motion should be taken seriously as a
valid form of filmmaking as films such as ‘Peter and the Wolf’ (2006)
shows that techniques like quality sound design are considered just as
much as animating skills.

Stop-Motion Animation Studios

While companies such as Studio Ghibli and Disney are considered to dominate the
animation industry Aardman and LAIKA studios are the leading figures in stop-motion
animation.

Aardman was founded by Peter Lord and David Sproxton in 1972.

Their most famous export are the well loved characters ‘Wallace
and Gromit’ created by Nick Park who joined Aardman in 1985.
The adventures Wallace and Gromit got up to in their film series
had dominated children's stop motion since the first release.

According to ‘nofilmschool’ “Laika has slowly emerged as one of the most beautiful and
inventive animations studios”. Founded by Will Vinton's mentee, Travis knight in 2005 they’ve
produced innovative and award winning films such as ‘Coraline’ (2009), and ‘Paranorman’
(2012).

Conclusion
With all this history it’s clear that theres always room for advancements and new technologies
but the art of storytelling is timeless. Animators have proved again and again that animation
has the scope to create anything a person can dream of using what's around you. From
European animators retelling classic children's stories like Hans Christen Anderson’s work to big
corporations like PIXAR profiting off technological advancements looking into the dense history
of animation has shown that using tried and testing techniques or new and experimental ideas
can come together to create stories for any audience and any genre.

Moving into my FMP I’d want to explore the films produced by LAIKA studios more as their
design styles are really fascinating. I’d also want to look at some of PIXAR’s franchises such as
‘Toy Story’ to further examine their narratives and the techniques Jiri Trnka used to create his
armatures in order to build effective characters for my own production.

Bibliography
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• Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (no date) Henry selick: 5 movies
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