History of Animation

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.