History of Animation

I’m not even sure what to say about this stop motion... it has good sets I guess but can’t think of anything else to say.

This is weird. It feels like paper cut animation but there is so much detail. I like the look of it but am not sure what to make of it.

This was a bit odd but I liked the way it showed many different uses of 3D animation, and it is a nice comparison to modern 3D. It’s funny how the characters are so stiff.

This was interesting with its high detail backgrounds with multicolored but comparatively simple characters. Also the animators put a lot of work into none of the characters sitting still for too long in any scene, they always seemed to be moving in some way.

Even in this early example of Anime you can see the drawing style that will become its trademark. There is a noticable jerkiness tuition the cats movement which is a wired combo with the almost lifelike actions.

The idea of a talking bear being adopted into a family was a great idea for a series. I love the sketched style and the use of a puppet for the main character with cut outs for everything else provided an interesting colaberation and dimension.

I thought this was an odd story much like Seuss books. It is a Great example of limited animation but I don’t love the way the backgrounds and character skin all was the same color and the walls and floor had no definition.

I have always loved the early Disney color cartoons this is a perfect example of them. I think Disney taking exclusive rights to Technicolor was unfair but an excellent business plan because it made all his animations one more step above that of his competitors. The artwork of the Old Mill is amazingly detailed and shows a wonderful grasp of perspective especially with the advent of the miltiplane camera. I think if we still used Technicolor and used mostly music instead of dialogue when telling the story, this would be as good as, if not better than, many modern 2D cartoons today. Many people do not like watching old tv shows due to anything from lack of color in the oldest episodes, to low-tech graphics and special effects. However, I feel like starting in 30s animations got to a point where they will never go out of favor (except maybe to the truly picky) because they are all illustrations and are not truly meant to be realistic like you would expect from live action.

This has always been one of my favorite cartoons since I was little. It was fun to see everything Bugs did to manipulate Elmer but at the same time in this episode he does a lot of somewhat nice things like the head massage pictured above.

This one I am uncertain what the point of the - and I call it this loosely - story. For the majority of the cartoon it seams to be telling the viewer that secret societies are going to basically gang press you into joining. Then at the end when they all turn out to be Betty Boop I am not sure what it was supposed to be telling us. Not my cup of tea but fun to watch the continuing improvement of character movement.

I really loved the mischievous animal side kick that to me is an obvious precursor to many of the Disney companions. However in this cartoon he serves as both companion and antagonist since he is the one that wants to pull the levor. And for me the rotoscoping makes this more engaging than earlier less lifelike movements.

Farmer Alfalfa was a cute cartoon but overall I was less engaged in this one than others, however I did enjoy the relatively realistic movements. The music reminds me of an old western and the scenes go along with that some even though it supposedly takes place in New York.

I am not a huge fan of abstract art but abstract animation I find enjoyable. I like the movement of shapes that goes with each of the instrumental sounds of the music. Color, sound and shape all work together making not only animated art but visual music.

It was fun to see the early combination of live action and animation. I like the way Gertie has personality, but the way she keeps repeating the same sway back and forth before completing "commands" is irritating from a dog trainer/children's ministry worker. I do understand it was probably easier however to have the same movement repeated than figure out new moves to fill the time.

The style of animation developed a lot in the thirty or so years since it started. Steamboat Willie shows use of not only line drawing like the early comic reel style shows but much more developed shading adding dimension to the images. In addition to this the movements are very smooth and lifelike (although exaggerated of course). Disney also moved away from the comic style quest such as dotted lines of sight and lines behind an object or character to indicate speed. The biggest change from previous animations was course the sound which is synchronized with the action they indicate. To me the entire cartoon was designed to frame this synchronization; while telling a story of sorts, everything that happens involves some sort of music or drumming which showcases the accompanying sound.