History of animation
While the history of animation began much earlier, this article is concerned with the development of the medium after the emergence of celluloid film in 1888, as produced for theatrical screenings, television and (non-interactive) home video.
Between 1895 and 1920, during the rise of the cinematic industry, several different animation techniques were re-invented or newly developed, including
Around the turn of the millennium, computer animation became the dominant animation technique in most regions (while hand-drawn animation continued to be very popular all around the world; for example, Japanese anime and European hand-drawn productions). Computer animation is mostly associated with a three-dimensional appearance with detailed shading, although many different animation styles have been generated or simulated with computers. Some productions may be recognized as Flash animation, but in practice, computer animation with a relatively two-dimensional appearance, stark outlines and little shading, will generally be considered "traditional animation". For instance, the first feature movie made on computers, without a camera, is The Rescuers Down Under (1990), but its style can hardly be distinguished from cel animation.
Influence of predecessors
Animated movies are part of ancient traditions in
The technical principles of modern animation are based on the stroboscopic illusion of motion that was introduced in 1833 with stroboscopic discs (better known as the phenakistiscope). These animated discs with an average of about 8 to 16 images were usually designed as endless loops (like many GIF animations), for home use as a hand-operated "philosophical toy". Although several pioneers hoped it could be applied to longer scenes for theatrical use, throughout the 19th century further development of the technique mostly concentrated on combinations with the stereoscope (introduced in 1838) and photography (introduced in 1839). The breakthrough of cinematography partly depended on the novelty of a technique that was able to record and reproduce reality in life-like motion pictures. During the first years, drawing animated pictures seemed an archaic technique in comparison, until some artists produced popular and influential animated shorts and producers embraced cheap techniques to turn popular comic strips into animated cartoons.
1888–1909: Earliest animations on film
Théâtre Optique
Charles-Émile Reynaud developed his projection praxinoscope into the Théâtre Optique with transparent hand-painted colorful pictures in a long perforated strip wound between two spools, patented in December 1888. From 28 October 1892 to March 1900 Reynaud gave over 12,800 shows to a total of over 500,000 visitors at the Musée Grévin in Paris. His Pantomimes Lumineuses series of animated films each contained 300 to 700 frames manipulated back and forth to last 10 to 15 minutes per film. A background scene was projected separately. Piano music, song and some dialogue were performed live, while some sound effects were synchronized with an electromagnet. The first program included three cartoons: Pauvre Pierrot (created in 1892), Un bon bock (created in 1892, now lost), and Le Clown et ses chiens (created in 1892, now lost). Later on the titles Autour d'une cabine (created in 1894) and A rêve au coin du feu (created in 1894) would be part of the performances.
Standard picture film
Despite the success of Reynaud's films, it took some time before animation was adapted in the film industry that came about after the introduction of Lumiere's
Printed animation film
By 1897, German toy manufacturer Gebrüder Bing had a first prototype of their toy "kinematograph",[2] which they eventually presented at a toy convention in Leipzig in November 1898. Soon after, other toy manufacturers in Germany and France, including Ernst Plank, Georges Carette, and Lapierre, started selling similar devices. The toy cinematographs were basically traditional toy magic lanterns, adapted with one or two small spools that used standard "Edison perforation" 35mm film, a crank, and a shutter. These projectors were intended for the same type of "home entertainment" toy market that most of the manufacturers already provided with praxinoscopes and magic lanterns. Apart from relatively expensive live-action films, the manufacturers produced many cheaper films by printing lithographed drawings. These animations were probably made in black-and-white from around 1898 or 1899, but at the latest by 1902 they were made in color. The pictures were often traced from live-action films (much like the later rotoscoping technique). These very short films typically depicted a simple repetitive action and most were designed to be projected as a loop - playing endlessly with the film ends put together. The lithograph process and the loop format follow the tradition that was set by the stroboscopic disc, zoetrope and praxinoscope.[3][4]
Katsudō Shashin (between 1907 and 1912), speculated to be the oldest work of animation in Japan, was probably made in imitation of similar Western printed film strips.[5]
J. Stuart Blackton
Blackton's 1906 film Humorous Phases of Funny Faces is often regarded as the oldest known hand-drawn animation on standard film. It features a sequence made with blackboard drawings that are changed between frames to show two faces changing expressions and some billowing cigar smoke, as well as two sequences that feature cutout animation with a similar look for more fluid motion.
Alexander Shiryaev
Alexander Shiryaev was a Russian ballet dancer, ballet master and choreographer who served at the Mariinsky Theatre who is credited with the independent invention of stop motion animation. From 1906 to 1909, created the earliest known animated films made in Russia, using puppet animation, drawn animation, and mixed techniques. While some were made as experiments (for example, a 20-minute drawn animation showing the flight of birds in a continuous line), most of them were made for educational purpose of showing the ballet dancers what their choreography should look like. The puppet animations ranged in length from just over a minute to 10 minutes long. Shiryaev's films were only screened within the Mariinsky Theatre for the performers, not publicly, and were generally unknown until 2003, when Russian documentarist and ballet historian Viktor Bocharov released a one-hour movie titled A Belated Premiere which included fragments of the various films.
Segundo de Chomón
Spanish filmmaker
Émile Cohl
In 1907, the French artist
1910s: From original artists to "assembly-line" production studios
During the 1910s larger-scale animation studios began to come into being. From then onwards, solo artists faded from the public eye.[11] The first known professional female animator, Bessie Mae Kelley, began her career in 1917.[12]
Winsor McCay
Starting with a short 1911 film of his most popular character Little Nemo, successful newspaper cartoonist Winsor McCay gave much more detail to his hand-drawn animations than any animation previously seen in cinemas. His 1914 film Gertie the Dinosaur featured an early example of character development in drawn animation.[13] It was also the first film to combine live-action footage with animation. Originally, McCay used the film in his vaudeville act: he would stand next to the screen and speak to Gertie who would respond with a series of gestures. At the end of the film McCay would walk behind the projection screen, seamlessly being replaced with a prerecorded image of himself entering the screen, getting on the cartoon dinosaur's back and riding out of frame.[14][15] McCay personally hand-drew almost every one of the thousands of drawings for his films.[11] Other noteworthy titles by McCay are How a Mosquito Operates (1912) and The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918).
Cartoon Film Company – Buxton and Dyer
Between 1915 and 1916 Dudley Buxton, and Anson Dyer produced a series of 26 topical cartoons, during WWI, utilising mainly cutout animation, released as the John Bull's animated sketchbook,[16] The episodes included the shelling of Scarborough by German battleships,[17] and The Sinking of the Lusitania, No.4 (June 1915).[18]
Barré Studio
Around 1913 Raoul Barré developed the peg system that made it easier to align drawings by perforating two holes below each drawing and placing them on two fixed pins. He also used a "slash and tear" technique to not have to draw the complete background or other motionless parts for every frame. The parts where something needed to be changed for the next frame were carefully cut away from the drawing and filled in with the required change on the sheet below.[19] After Barré had started his career in animation at Edison Studios, he founded one of the first film studios dedicated to animation in 1914 (initially together with Bill Nolan). Barré Studio had success with the production of the adaptation of the popular comic strip Mutt and Jeff (1916–1926). The studio employed several animators who would have notable careers in animation, including Frank Moser, Gregory La Cava, Vernon Stallings, Tom Norton and Pat Sullivan.
Bray Productions
In 1914,
Hearst's International Film Service
Newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst founded International Film Service in 1916. Hearst lured away most of Barré Studio's animators, with Gregory La Cava becoming the head of the studio. They produced adaptations of many comic strips from Heart's newspapers in a rather limited fashion, giving just a little motion to the characters while mainly using the dialog balloons to deliver the story. The most notable series is Krazy Kat, probably the first of many anthropomorphic cartoon cat characters and other talking animals. Before the studio stopped in 1918, it had employed some new talents, including Vernon Stallings, Ben Sharpsteen, Jack King, John Foster, Grim Natwick, Burt Gillett and Isadore Klein.
Rotoscoping
In 1915, Max Fleischer applied for a patent (granted in 1917)[25] for a technique which became known as rotoscoping: the process of using live-action film recordings as a reference point to more easily create realistic animated movements. The technique was often used in the Out of the Inkwell series (1918–1929) for John Bray Productions (and others). The series resulted from experimental rotoscoped images of Dave Fleischer performing as a clown, evolving into a character who became known as Koko the Clown.
Felix the Cat
In 1919,
Quirino Cristiani: the first animated features
The first known animated
1920s: Absolute film, synchronized sound and the rise of Disney
A number of key events occurred in the 1920s, including the development of the first animations with
Absolute film
In the early 1920s, the absolute film movement with artists such as Walter Ruttmann, Hans Richter, Viking Eggeling and Oskar Fischinger made short abstract animations which proved influential. Although some later abstract animation works by, for instance, Len Lye and Norman McLaren would be widely appreciated, the genre largely remained a relatively obscure avant-garde art form, while direct influences or similar ideas would occasionally pop up in mainstream animation (for instance in Disney's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor in Fantasia (1940) – on which Fischinger originally collaborated until his work was scrapped, and partly inspired by the works of Lye – and in The Dot and the Line (1965) by Chuck Jones).
Early synchronized sound: Song Car-Tunes and Aesop's Sound Fables
From May 1924 to September 1926, Dave and Max Fleischer's
Paul Terry's Dinner Time, from his Aesop's Fables (1921–1936) series, premiered on 1 September 1928 with a synchronized soundtrack with dialogue. Terry was urged to add the novelty against his wishes by the new studio owner Van Beuren. Although the series and its main character Farmer Al Falfa had been popular, audiences were not impressed by this first episode with sound.
Lotte Reiniger
The earliest surviving animated feature film is the 1926 silhouette-animated
Early Disney: Laugh-O-Grams, Alice, Oswald and Mickey
Between 1920 and 1922, cartoonists
Disney and Iwerks developed
Bosko
1930s: Color, depth, cartoon superstars and Snow White
While the global economy suffered under the Great Depression through the 1930s, animation continued to flourish. Early color processes came into use, along with the use of the multiplane camera. In 1937, Snow White debuted in theatres—the first full-length traditionally animated feature film.
Two-strip color
The multi-colored lithograph technique of the early European animated film loops for home use seems not to have been applied to theatrically release animated films. While the original prints of The Adventures of Prince Achmed featured film tinting, most theatrically released animated films before 1930 were plain black and white. Effective color processes thus were a welcome innovation in Hollywood and seemed especially suitable for cartoons.
A cartoon segment in the feature film King of Jazz (April 1930), made by Walter Lantz and Bill Nolan, was the first animation presented in two-strip Technicolor.
Disney's Silly Symphonies in Technicolor
When the
Silly Symphonies inspired many cartoon series that boasted various other color systems until Technicolor was not exclusive to Disney anymore, including Ub Iwerks'
Multiplane cameras and the stereopticon process
To create an impression of depth, several techniques were developed. The most common technique was to have characters move between several backgrounds and/or foreground layers that could be moved independently, corresponding to the laws of perspective (e.g. the further away from the camera, the slower the speed).
Lotte Reiniger had already designed a type of multiplane camera for Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed[35] and her collaborator Berthold Bartosch used a similar setup for his intricately detailed 25-minute film L'Idée (1932).
In 1933, Ub Iwerks developed a multiplane camera and used it for several Willie Whopper (1933–1934) and ComiColor Cartoons episodes.
The Fleischers developed the very different stereopticon process in 1933[36] for their Color Classics. It was used in the first episode Betty Boop in Poor Cinderella (1934) and most of the following episodes. The process involved three-dimensional sets built and sculpted on a large turntable. The photographed cells were placed within the movable set so that the animated characters would appear to move in front and behind the 3D elements within the scene when the turntable was made to rotate.
Disney employee William Garity developed a multiplane camera that could have up to seven layers of artwork. It was tested in the Academy Award-winning Silly Symphony The Old Mill (1937) and used prominently in Snow White and later features.
New colorful cartoon superstars
After the additions of sound and color were a huge success for Disney, other studios followed. By the end of the decade, almost all the theatrical cartoons were produced in full color.
Initially, music and songs were the focus of many series, as indicated by series titles such as Song Car-Tunes, Silly Symphonies, Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes, but it was the recognizable characters that stuck with audiences. Mickey Mouse had been the first cartoon superstar who surpassed Felix the Cat's popularity, but soon dozens more cartoon superstars followed, many remaining popular for decades.
Warner Bros. had a vast music library that could be popularized through cartoons based on the available tunes. While Disney needed to create the music for every cartoon, the readily available sheet music and songs at Warner Bros. inspired many cartoons. Leon Schlesinger sold Warner Bros. a second series called Merrie Melodies, which until 1939 contractually needed to contain at least one refrain from the music catalog. Unlike Looney Tunes with Bosko, Merrie Melodies featured only a few recurring characters like Foxy, Piggy and Goopy Geer before Harman and Ising left in 1933. Bosko was replaced with Buddy for the Looney Tunes series, but lasted only two years, while Merrie Melodies initially continued without recurring characters. Eventually, the two series became indistinguishable and produced many new characters that became popular. Animator/director Bob Clampett designed Porky Pig (1935) and Daffy Duck (1937) and was responsible for much of the energetic animation and irreverent humor associated with the series. The 1930s also saw early anonymous incarnations of characters who would later become the superstars Elmer Fudd (1937/1940) and Bugs Bunny (1938/1940). Since 1937, Mel Blanc would perform most of the characters' voices.
Disney introduced new characters to the Mickey Mouse universe who would become very popular, including Minnie Mouse (1928), Pluto (1930), Goofy (1932), and a character who would soon become the public's new favorite: Donald Duck (1934). Disney also realized that the success of animated films depended upon telling emotionally gripping stories; he developed a "story department" where storyboard artists separate from the animators would focus on story development alone, which proved its worth when Disney studio released, in 1933, the first animated short to feature well-developed characters: Three Little Pigs.[37][38][39] Disney would keep on expanding his studio and would start more and more production activities, including comics, merchandise, and theme parks. Most projects were based on the characters developed for theatrical short films.
Fleischer Studios introduced an unnamed dog character as Bimbo's girlfriend in Dizzy Dishes (1930), who evolved into the human female Betty Boop (1930–1939) and became Fleischer's best-known creation. In the 1930s they also added Hunky and Spunky (1938) and the popular animated adaptation of Popeye (1933) to their repertoire.
Hays code and Betty Boop
Snow White and the breakthrough of the animated feature
At least eight animated feature films were released before Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, while at least another two earlier animated feature projects remained unfinished. Most of these films (of which only four survive) were made using cutout, silhouette or stop-motion techniques. Among the lost animated features were three features by Quirino Cristiani, who had premiered his third feature Peludópolis on 18 September 1931 in Buenos Aires[40] with a Vitaphone sound-on-disc synchronized soundtrack. It was received quite positively by critics, but did not become a hit and was an economic fiasco for the filmmaker. Cristiani soon realized that he could no longer make a career with animation in Argentina.[28] Only Academy Award Review of Walt Disney Cartoons—also by Disney—was hand-drawn. It was released seven months before Snow White to promote that movie's upcoming release. [citation needed] Many do not consider the Review a genuine feature film, because it is a package film and lasts only 41 minutes. It does meet the official definitions of a feature film by the British Film Institute, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the American Film Institute, which require that the film has to be over 40 minutes long.
When it became known that Disney was working on a feature-length animation, critics regularly referred to the project as "Disney's folly", not believing that audiences could stand the expected bright colors and jokes for such a long time. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs premiered on 21 December 1937 and became a worldwide success. The film continued Disney's tradition to appropriate old fairy tales and other stories, as would most of the Disney features that followed.
The Fleischer studios followed Disney's example with Gulliver's Travels in 1939, which was a minor success at the box office.
Early TV animation
In April 1938, when about 50 television sets were connected,
1940s
Wartime propaganda
Several governments had already used animation in public information films, like those by the GPO Film Unit in the U.K. and Japanese educational films. During World War II, animation became a common medium for propaganda. The US had its best studios working for the war effort.
To instruct service personnel about all kinds of military subjects and to boost morale, Warner Bros. was contracted for several shorts and the special animated series Private Snafu. The character was created by the famous movie director Frank Capra, Dr. Seuss was involved in screenwriting and the series was directed by Chuck Jones. Disney also produced several instructive shorts and even personally financed the feature-length Victory Through Air Power (1943) that promoted the idea of long-range bombing.
Many popular characters promoted
Such wartime films were much appreciated. Bugs Bunny became something of a national icon and Disney's propaganda short Der Fuehrer's Face (starring Donald Duck) won the company its tenth Academy Award for cartoon short subjects.
Japan's first feature anime
Feature animation in the 1940s
High ambitions, setbacks, and cutbacks in US feature animation
Disney's next two features (Pinocchio and the very ambitious concert film Fantasia, both released in 1940) and Fleischer Studios' second animated feature Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941/1942) were all received favorably by critics, but failed at the box office during their initial theatrical runs. The primary cause was that World War II had cut off most foreign markets. These setbacks discouraged most companies that had plans for animated features.
Disney cut back on the costs for the next features and first released The Reluctant Dragon, mostly consisting of a live-action tour of the new studio in Burbank, partly in black and white, with four short cartoons. It was a mild success at the worldwide box office and was followed only a few months later by Dumbo (1941), animated in a relatively simple style and only 64 minutes long. The limited length and economically efficient techniques helped secure a profit at the box office, and critics and audiences reacted positively. Disney's next feature Bambi (1942) returned to a larger budget and a lavish style, but the more dramatic story, darker mood, and lack of fantasy elements were not well-received during its initial run and the movie lost money at the box office.
Although all the other eight Disney features of the 1940s were package films, and/or combinations with live-action (for instance Saludos Amigos (1943) and The Three Caballeros (1944)), Disney kept faith in animated feature animation. Only a few other American animation studios also managed to release more than a handful of features before the beginning of the 1990s.
Non-US animation forces
American cel-animated films dominated the worldwide production and consumption of theatrical animated releases since the 1920s. Especially Disney's work proved to be very popular and influential around the world. Studios from other countries could hardly compete with American productions. Relatively many animation producers outside the US chose to work with other techniques than "traditional" or cel animation, such as puppet animation or cut-out animation. However, several countries (most notably Russia, China, and Japan) developed their own relatively large "traditional" animation industries. Russia's
Successful theatrical short cartoons of the 1940s
During the "
Disney continued their cartoon successes, adding
Other new popular characters and series were Terrytoons' Mighty Mouse (1942–1961) and Heckle and Jeckle (1946–1966), and Screen Gems' The Fox and the Crow (1941–1950).
Fleischer/Famous Studios
Fleischer launched its spectacular
Walter Lantz Productions
Walter Lantz started his animation career at Hearst's studio at the age of 16. He had also worked for the Bray Studios and Universal Pictures, where he had gained control over the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons in 1929 (reportedly by winning the character and control of the studio in a poker bet with Universal president Carl Laemmle). In 1935, the Universal studio was turned into the independent Walter Lantz Productions, but remained on the Universal lot and continued to produce cartoons for Universal to distribute. When Oswald's popularity dwindled and the character was eventually retired in 1938, Lantz's productions went without successful characters until he developed Andy Panda in 1939. The anthropomorphic panda starred in over two dozen cartoons until 1949, but he was soon overshadowed by the iconic Woody Woodpecker, who debuted in the Andy Panda cartoon Knock Knock in 1940. Other popular Lantz characters include Wally Walrus (1944), Buzz Buzzard (1948), Chilly Willy (1953), Hickory, Dickory, and Doc (1959).
MGM
After distributing Ub Iwerks' Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper cartoons and Happy Harmonies by Harman and Ising, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer founded its own cartoon studio in 1937. The studio had much success with Barney Bear (1939–1954), Hanna and Joseph Barbera's Tom and Jerry (1940) and Spike and Tyke (1942).
In 1941, Tex Avery left Warner Bros. for MGM and would there create Droopy (1943), Screwy Squirrel (1944) and George and Junior (1944).
UPA
While Disney and most of the other studios sought a sense of depth and realism in animation,
TV animation in the 1940s
The back catalog of animated cartoons from many studios, originally produced for a short theatrical run, proved very valuable for television broadcasting. Movies for Small Fry (1947), presented by "big brother" Bob Emery on Tuesday evenings on the New York WABD-TV channel, was one of the first TV series for children and featured many classic Van Beuren Studios cartoons. It was continued on the DuMont Television Network as the daily show Small Fry Club (1948–1951) with a live audience in a studio setting.
Many classical series from
The earliest American animated series specifically produced for TV came about in 1949, with Adventures of Pow Wow (43 five-minute episodes broadcast on Sunday mornings from January to November) and Jim and Judy in Teleland (52 episodes, later also sold to Venezuela and Japan).
1950s: Shift from classic theatrical cartoons to limited animation in TV series for children
Most theatrical cartoons had been produced for non-specific audiences. Dynamic action and gags with talking animals in clear drawing styles and bright colors were naturally appealing to young children, but the cartoons regularly contained violence and sexual innuendo and were often screened together with newsreels and feature films that were not for children. On US television, cartoons were mainly programmed for children, in convenient time slots on weekend mornings, weekday afternoons, or early evenings.
The scheduling constraints of the 1950s American TV animation process, and notable issues of resource management (higher quantity needed to be made in less time for a lower budget compared to theatrical animation), led to the development of various techniques now known as limited animation. The sparser type of animation which originally had been an artistic choice of style for UPA was embraced as a means to cut back production time and costs. Full-frame animation ("on ones") became rare in the United States, outside its use for a decreasing amount of theatrical productions. Chuck Jones coined the term "illustrated radio" to refer to the shoddy style of most television cartoons that depended more on their soundtracks than visuals.[43] Some producers also found that limited animation looked better than lavish styles on the small black-and-white TV screens of the time.[44]
Animated TV series of the 1950s
Jay Ward produced the popular Crusader Rabbit (tested in 1948, original broadcasts in 1949–1952 and 1957–1959), with successful use of a limited-animation style.
At the end of the 1950s, several studios dedicated to TV animation production started competing. While the focus for competition in theatrical animation had been on quality and innovation, it now shifted to delivering animation fast and cheaply. Critics noted how the quality of many shows was often poor in comparison to the classic cartoons, with rushed animation and run-of-the-mill stories. Network executives were satisfied as long as there were enough viewers,[45] and the huge amounts of young viewers were not bothered with the lack of quality that the critics perceived. Watching Saturday-morning cartoon programming, up to four hours long, became a favorite pastime of most American children since the mid-1960s, and was a mainstay for decades.
Disney had entered into TV production relatively early, but for a long time refrained from creating new animated series. Instead, Disney had
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (the creators of Tom and Jerry) continued as
Other notable programs include UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing (1956–1957), Soundac's Colonel Bleep (1957–1960, the first animated TV series in color), Terrytoons's Tom Terrific (1958), and Jay Ward's The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (1959–1964).
In contrast to the international film market (developed during the silent era when language problems were limited to title cards), TV-pioneering in most countries (often connected to radio broadcasting) focused on the domestic production of live programs. Rather than importing animated series that usually would have to be dubbed, children's programming could more easily and more cheaply be produced in other ways (for instance, featuring puppetry). One notable method was the real-time "animation" of cutout figures in
Theatrical short cartoons in the 1950s
Warner Bros. introduced new characters Granny, Sylvester Jr. (both in 1950), Speedy Gonzales, Ralph Wolf and Sam Sheepdog (all three in 1953), and Tasmanian Devil (1954).
Theatrical feature animation in the 1950s
Disney
After a string of package features and live-action/animation combos, Disney returned to fully animated feature films with Cinderella in 1950 (the first since Bambi). Its success practically saved the company from bankruptcy. It was followed by Alice in Wonderland (1951), which flopped at the box office and initially received negative reviews. Peter Pan (1953) and Lady and the Tramp (1955) were hits. The ambitious, much delayed, and more expensive Sleeping Beauty (1959) lost money at the box office and caused doubts about the future of Walt Disney's animation department. Like "Alice in Wonderland" and most of Disney's flops, it would later be commercially successful through re-releases and would eventually be regarded as a true classic.
Non-US
- Jeannot l'intrépide (Johnny the Giant Killer) (France, 1950 feature)
- Érase una vez... (Spain, 1950 feature)
- Le Roi et l'Oiseau (The King and the Mockingbird) (France, 1952 unfinished feature release, 1980 finished release, influential for Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata)
- Animal Farm (U.K./U.S.A., 1954 feature)
- 乌鸦为什么是黑的 (Why Is the Crow Black-Coated) (China, 1956 short film, Venice Film Festival)
- Снежная королева (The Snow Queen) (Soviet Union, 1957 feature)
- Krtek (Mole)(Czechoslovakia, 1956 short film series)
- 白蛇伝 (Panda and the Magic Serpent)(Japan, 1958 feature)
- 少年猿飛佐助 (Magic Boy) (Japan, 1959 feature, first anime released in the U.S. in 1961)
1960s
US animated TV series and specials in the 1960s
Total Television was founded in 1959 to promote General Mills products with original cartoon characters in Cocoa Puffs commercials (1960–1969) and the General Mills-sponsored TV series King Leonardo and His Short Subjects (1960–1963, repackaged shows until 1969), Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales (1963–1966, repackaged shows until 1972), The Underdog Show (1964–1967, repackaged shows until 1973) and The Beagles (1966–1967). Animation for all series was produced at Gamma Studios in Mexico. Total Television stopped producing after 1969 when General Mills no longer wanted to sponsor them.
Many of the American animated TV series from the 1960s to 1980s were based on characters and formats that had already proved popular in other media. UPA produced
The Flintstones was the first prime-time animated series and became immensely popular, it remained the longest-running network animated television series until that record was broken three decades later. Hanna-Barbera scored more hits with The Yogi Bear Show (1960–1962), The Jetsons (1962–1963, 1985, 1987), and Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! (1969–1970, later followed by other Scooby-Doo series).
From around 1968, after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., then Robert F. Kennedy's and other violent acts made the public less at ease with violence in entertainment, networks hired censors to ban anything deemed too violent or suggestive from children's programming.[49]
Apart from regular TV series, there were several noteworthy animated television (holiday) specials, starting with UPA's Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962), followed a few years later by other classic examples such as the string of Bill Melendez' Peanuts specials (1965–2011, based on Charles M. Schulz's comic strip), and Chuck Jones's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966, based on the story by Dr. Seuss).
Cambria Productions
Cambria Productions only occasionally used traditional animation and would often resort to camera movements, real-time movements between foreground and background cels, and integration of live-action footage. Creator Clark Haas explained: "We are not making animated cartoons. We are photographing 'motorized movement' and—the biggest trick of all—combining it with live-action... Footage that Disney does for $250,000 we do for $18,000."[50] Their most famous trick was the Syncro-Vox technique of superimposing talking lips on the faces of cartoon characters instead of animating mouths synchronized to dialogue. This optical printing system had been patented in 1952 by Cambria's partner and cameraman Edwin Gillette and was first used for popular "talking animal" commercials. The method would later be widely used for comedic effect, but Cambria used it straight in their series Clutch Cargo (1959–1960), Space Angel (1962), and Captain Fathom (1965). Thanks to imaginative stories, Clutch Cargo was a surprise hit. Their last series The New 3 Stooges (1965–1966) no longer used Syncro-Vox. It contained 40 new live-action segments with the original Three Stooges that was spread and repeated throughout 156 episodes together with new animation (occasionally causing people to turn off their TV when live-action footage was repeated, convinced that they had already seen the episode).
US theatrical animation in the 1960s
For One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961) production costs were restrained, helped by the xerography process that eliminated the inking process. Although the relatively sketchy look was not appreciated by Walt Disney personally, it did not bother critics or audiences and the film was another hit for the studio. The Sword in the Stone (1963) was another financial success, but over the years it has become one of the least-known Disney features. It was followed by the live-action/animation hit Mary Poppins (1964) which received 13 Academy Awards nominations, including Best Picture. Disney's biggest animated feature of the 1960s was The Jungle Book (1967) which was both a critical and commercial success. This was also the final film that was overseen by Walt Disney before his death in 1966. Without Walt's imagination and creative endeavors, the animation teams were unable to produce many successful films during the 1970s and 1980s. This was until the release of The Little Mermaid (1989), 22 years later.
UPA produced their first feature 1001 Arabian Nights (1959) (starring Mr. Magoo as Alladin's uncle) for Columbia Pictures, with little success. They tried again with Gay Purr-ee in 1962, released by Warner Bros. It was well received by critics, but failed at the box office and would be the last feature the studio ever made.
Decline of the theatrical short cartoon
The Supreme Court ruling of the
DePatie–Freleng
Rise of anime
Japan was notably prolific and successful with its style of animation, which became known in the English language initially as Japanimation and eventually as anime. In general, anime was developed with limited-animation techniques that put more emphasis on aesthetic quality than on movement, in comparison to US animation. It also applies a relatively "cinematic" approach with zooming, panning, complex dynamic shots, and much attention to backgrounds that are instrumental to creating an atmosphere.
Anime was first domestically broadcast on TV in 1960. The export of theatrical anime features started around the same time. Within a few years, several anime TV series was made that would also receive varying levels of airplay in the United States and other countries, starting with the highly influential
The domestically popular サザエさん / Sazae-san started in 1969 and is probably the longest-running animated TV show in the world, with more than 7,700 episodes.
Early adult-oriented and counterculture animation
Before the end of the 1960s, hardly any
Arguably, the philosophical, psychological, and sociological overtones of the Peanuts TV specials were relatively adult-oriented, while the specials were also enjoyable for children. In 1969 director Bill Mendelez expanded the success of the series to cinemas with A Boy Named Charlie Brown. The theatrical follow-up Snoopy Come Home (1972) was a box-office flop, despite positive reviews. Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977) and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don't Come Back!!) (1980) were the only other theatrical traditionally animated feature films for Peanuts, while the TV specials continued until 2011.
The anti-establishment
The popularity of psychedelia reportedly made the 1969 re-release of Disney's Fantasia popular among teenagers and college students, and the film started to make a profit. Similarly, Disney's Alice in Wonderland became popular with TV screenings in this period and with its 1974 theatrical re-release.
Also influenced by the psychedelic revolution,
Non-US animation in the 1960s
- わんぱく王子の大蛇退治 (The Little Prince and the Eight-Headed Dragon) (Japan, 1963 feature)
- 大鬧天宮 (Havoc in Heaven) (China, 1963 feature)
- ガリバーの宇宙旅行 (Gulliver's Travels Beyond the Moon) (Japan, 1965 feature)
- Calimero (Italy/Japan 1963–1972, TV series)
- Belvision's Pinocchio in Outer Space (Belgium/USA 1965, feature directed by Ray Goossens)
- West and Soda (Italy 1965, first feature by Bruno Bozzetto)
1970s
Breakthrough of adult-oriented and counterculture feature animation
Bakshi found new success with the fantasy films
The imaginative French/Czech science fiction production
The British production
Anime in Europe
Anime import offered relatively inexpensive animated series, but some European broadcasters thought of animation as something for young children and all too easily programmed anime series accordingly. This led to much criticism when some programs were deemed too violent for children.[56] Child-friendly adaptions of European stories ensured much more success in Europe, with popular titles such as アルプスの少女ハイジ (Heidi, Girl of the Alps) (1974) and みつばちマーヤの冒険 (Maya the Honey Bee) (1975).
Only a few animation studios were active in Europe and starting a new studio required much time, effort, and money. For European producers interested in animated series, it made sense to collaborate with Japanese studios that could provide affordable animation of relatively high quality. Resulting productions include Barbapapa (The Netherlands/Japan/France 1973–1977), Wickie und die to starken Männer/小さなバイキング ビッケ (Vicky the Viking) (Austria/Germany/Japan 1974), Il était une fois... (Once Upon a Time...) (France/Japan 1978) and Doctor Snuggles (The Netherlands/West Germany/Japan/US 1979).
Artistic short-animation highlights
Short animated films mostly became a medium for film festivals in which independent animators showcased their talents. With the big studios away from the field, the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film and nominations of the 1970s and 1980s were usually for relatively unknown artists.
La Linea (Italy 1971, 1978, 1986) is a popular animation series with the main character that consists of a part of an otherwise straight white line that runs horizontally across the screen.
Soviet/Russian animator Yuri Norstein "is considered by many to be not just the best animator of his era, but the best of all time".[57] He released a handful of award-winning short films in the 1970s:
- The Battle of Kerzhenets (Сеча при Керженце, 1971), in collaboration with Ivan Ivanov-Vano
- The Fox and the Hare (Лиса и заяц, 1973).[58]
- The Heron and the Crane (Цапля и журавль, 1974).
- Hedgehog in the Fog (Ёжик в тумане, 1975).[59]
- Tale of Tales (Сказка сказок, 1979).
Norstein has since 1981 been working on The Overcoat (Шинель) and participated in Winter Days (冬の日, 2003).
Early animated music videos
Although the combination of music and animation had a long tradition, it took some time before animation became part of music videos after the medium became a proper genre in the mid-1970s.
Halas and Batchelor produced an animated video for Roger Glover's
Pink Floyd's 1977 Welcome to the Machine music video, animated by Gerald Scarfe, was initially only used as a backdrop for concert performances.
Elvis Costello's Accidents Will Happen (1979) was made by Annabelle Jackel and Rocky Morton, known for their animated commercials. Despite an initially lukewarm reception,[60] the video has since received acclaim.
Roger Mainwood and John Halas created an animated music video for Kraftwerk's Autobahn in 1979.[61] The short wordless documentary Making it move... showed the production process.[62]
A cartoon for Linda McCartney's Seaside Woman was made by Oscar Grillo and won a Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes festival in 1980.[63]
1980s
US Animation Explosion (the 1980s)
Animation for Saturday morning US TV programming had grown formulaic by the end of the 1970s being based on older cartoons and comic strip characters (Superfriends, Scooby Doo, Popeye)
Mostly in retrospect, Disney feature films have been perceived as going through a dark age in the first decades after Walt Disney died in 1966 (despite a more steady string of box office successes than during the decennia in which Walt was alive). The failure of The Black Cauldron (1985), made on an ambitious budget, was a new low. Tim Burton cited Disney's failure to train new animators during the 1960s and early 1970s as a reason for the decline, with Disney relying instead on an aging group of veterans.[66]
Don Bluth, who had left Disney in 1979 together with nine other animators, started to compete with his former employer in cinemas in 1982 with The Secret of NIMH. The film garnered critical acclaim but was only a modest success at the box office.
Europe
In comparison to the US animation output around the start of the 1980s, international co-productions seemed more imaginative and more promising.
In the U.K.,
Studio Ghibli and TV anime
Anime, together with printed
Hayao Miyazaki's epic theatrical features Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984), based on his manga, and 天空の城ラピュタ (Castle in the Sky) (1986) are regularly praised as some of the greatest animated films of all time. Castle in the Sky was the first feature for Studio Ghibli, founded in 1985 by Miyazaki with Isao Takahata and others. Studio Ghibli continued its success with Takahata's WWII film 火垂るの墓 (Grave of the Fireflies) (1988) and Miyazaki's iconic となりのトトロ (My Neighbor Totoro) (1988) and 魔女の宅急便 (Kiki's Delivery Service) (1989).
Renaissance of US animation
Beginning in the mid-1980s, US animation would see a renaissance. This has been credited to a wave of talent that emerged from the
In cinemas,
Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures (1987–1989) was one of the first animated TV shows to recapture the earlier quality and originality of American cartoons. It was produced by Ralph Bakshi and the first season was supervised by John Kricfalusi, who allowed much artitstic freedom for the animators. Rather than making a nostalgic rehash of the original Terrytoons series, it tried to recreate the quality and the zany humor of the Looney Tunes classics.
While the successes of
Adult-oriented theatrical animation in the 1980s
Bakshi's rock musical American Pop (1981) was another success, mostly made with the rotoscope technique in combination with some watercolors, computer graphics, live-action shots, and archival footage. His next film Fire and Ice (1983) was a collaboration with artist Frank Frazetta. It was one of many films in the sword and sorcery genre released after the success of Conan the Barbarian (1982) and The Beastmaster (1982). Critics appreciated the visuals and action sequences, but not its script and the film flopped at the box office. After failing to get several projects off the ground, Bakshi retired for a few years.
The Canadian anthology hit film Heavy Metal (1981) was based on comics published in the popular Heavy Metal magazine and co-produced by its founder. Mixed reviews thought the film was uneven, juvenile, and sexist. It was eventually followed in 2000 by the poorly received Heavy Metal 2000 and re-imagined as the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots in 2019.
The dark rock opera film
The successful British nuclear disaster film When the Wind Blows (1986) showed hand-drawn characters against real backgrounds, with stop-motion for objects that moved.
The violent post-apocalyptic cyberpunk anime Akira (1988) garnered increased popularity of anime outside Japan and is now widely regarded as a classic.
MTV and animated videos
MTV launched in 1981 and further popularized the music-video medium, which allowed relatively much artistic expression and creative techniques, since all involved wanted their video to stand out. Many of the most celebrated music videos of the 1980s featured animation, often created with techniques that differed from standard cel animation. For instance, the iconic video for Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer (1986) featured claymation, pixilation, and stop motion by Aardman Animations and the Brothers Quay.
Patterson also directed Paula Abdul's Opposites Attract (1989), featuring his animated creation MC Skat Kat.
The Rolling Stones' "The Harlem Shuffle" (1986) featured animated elements directed by Ralph Bakshi and John Kricfalusi, created in a few weeks.
The original Moon landing bumpers on MTV were pulled in early 1986 in the wake of the
From around 1987 MTV had a dedicated Animation department and slowly started introducing more animation in between its music-related programming. Bill Plympton's Microtoons is an early example.
Rise of computer animation
Early experiments with computers to generate (abstract) moving images had been conducted since the 1940s but had not garnered much attention until commercial (coin-operated) video games started to get marketed in the early 1970s. Pong (1972) by Atari, Inc., with very simple two-dimensional black-and-white graphics, and Taito's Space Invaders became huge successes that paved the way for a medium that can be regarded as an interactive branch of computer animation. Since 1974 the annual SIGGRAPH conventions have been organized to demonstrate current developments and new research in the field of computer graphics (including CGI), but computer animation had seldom been seen on TV or in movie theaters (with notable exceptions of some demonstrations of 3D wire-frame models as futuristic technologies seen on screens in a few big Hollywood productions as Futureworld (1976) and Star Wars (1977)).
3D computer animation started to have a much wider cultural impact during the 1980s, demonstrated for instance in the 1982 movie
During the 1980s, computer animation also started to become a relatively common means to create
1990s
Disney Renaissance
The 1990s saw Disney release numerous films that were both critically and commercially successful, returning to heights not seen since their heyday from the
Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991) (the first animated film in history to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture), Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994) successively broke box-office records. Pocahontas (1995) opened to mixed reviews from critics but was a financial success, it received two Academy Awards and was well received by viewers. Mulan (1998) and Tarzan (1999) did not surpass The Lion King as the highest-grossing (traditionally) animated film of all time but the viewer and financial reception of both films were successful and each grossing over $300 million worldwide. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) was a financial success at the time but contained very dark and adult themes and has since become one of Disney's lesser-known films, although now it has a cult following. Only the sequel The Rescuers Down Under (1990) and Hercules (1997) underperformed at box-office expectations, but they were both well received amongst the viewers like the other Disney Renaissance films.
From The Return of Jafar in 1994 to Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast in 2015, Disney continued to produce feature-length sequels to successful titles, but only as direct-to-video releases by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. In many ways, these direct-to-video films were similar to the Live Action Disney Remakes from the 2010 Alice in Wonderland movie onwards.
Television
John Kricfalusi's influential The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991–1996) garnered widespread acclaim. Throughout its initial run, it was the most popular cable TV show in the United States. Although it was programmed as a children's cartoon, it was notoriously controversial for its dark humor, sexual innuendos, adult jokes, and shock value. The Ren & Stimpy Show was the third cartoon that premiered together with Doug (1991–1994, 1996–1999) and Rugrats (1991–1994, 1996–2004) at the Nickelodeon pay television channel. Klasky Csupo, the animation studio behind Rugrats, produced and animated era-defining shows for the children's network, in the 1990s and 2000s, and once they faded into obscurity in 2008, they were succeeded by Frederator Studios, the studio behind The Fairly OddParents (2001–2006, 2009–2017), in the 2000s and the 2010s, before fading into obscurity themselves by 2017.
Before 1991, Nickelodeon would import cartoons from other channels to their network, which is a practice that remains ongoing. Examples of imported cartoons to Nickelodeon are
The early shows paved the way for later Nicktoons, including Rocko's Modern Life (1993–1996, 2019), Hey Arnold! (1996–2004, 2017), The Angry Beavers (1997–2001), CatDog (1998-2000/2005), and in the 21st century are Invader Zim (2001–2006, 2019), Jimmy Neutron (2001, 2002–2006), ChalkZone (2002–2008), Avatar: The Last Airbender (2005–2008), and Catscratch (2005-2007). The latter cartoon is considered by many to be the last classic Nicktoon. Following the channel's prime from 1991-2005, there have been cartoons with cult followings of Nickelodeon's later years from 2005-present, including Avatar's spin-off series The Legend of Korra (2012–2014), Sanjay and Craig (2013–2016), Harvey Beaks (2015–2017), The Loud House (2016–present), the TLH spinoff The Casagrandes (2019-2022, 2024). It's Pony (2020–2022), Glitch Techs (2020), Middlemost Post (2021-2022), Star Trek: Prodigy (2021-2022) Big Nate (2022-2024), and Rock Papper Scissors (2024-present). Initially the long-running Nicktoon Rugrats was the flagship franchise of Nickelodeon before being surpassed by SpongeBob SquarePants (1999–present) in 2004 when the network rebranded itself with the release of the first SpongeBob film.
On September 13, 1993, Fox Kids aired the first episode of Animaniacs (1993–1998, 2020–2023). But then, in 1999, there was a film called "Wakko's Wish". Similar to TRASS, Animaniacs had innuendos, like: "There's Boloney in our slacks!" is an example.
The enormous success of The Simpsons (1989-present) and The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991-1996) prompted more original and relatively daring series, including South Park (1997-present), King of the Hill (1997–2010), Family Guy (1999-present), and Futurama (1999–2003, 2008–2013, 2023–present).
The use of animation on MTV increased when the channel started to make more and more shows that did not fit its "music television" moniker. Liquid Television (1991 to 1995) showcased contributions that were mostly created by independent animators specifically for the show and spawned separate Æon Flux, Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–1997) and Daria (1997–2002). Other 1990s cartoon series on MTV included The Head (1994–1996) and The Maxx (1995), both under the MTV's Oddities banner. By 2001, MTV closed its animation department, began to outsource its animated series, and eventually imported shows from associated networks.
Television animation for children also continued to flourish in the United States on other specialized cable channels like Disney Channel/Disney XD, PBS Kids, and in syndicated afternoon time slots. Examples of animated Disney cartoons in the 90s are TaleSpin (1990–1991), Darkwing Duck (1991–1992), Goof Troop (1992, 1995, 2000), Aladdin (1994–1995, 1996), Gargoyles (1994–1997), Timon & Pumbaa (1995–1999), 101 Dalmatians (1997–1998), Pepper Ann (1997–2000), and Disney's Recess (1997–2001, 2003). Following the Disney Renaissance, they've been Kim Possible (2002–2006, 2007), Phineas and Ferb, (2007–2015), Gravity Falls (2012–2016), Star vs. the Forces of Evil (2015–2019), The Lion Guard (2016–2019), DuckTales (2017–2021), Big City Greens (2018-present), Amphibia (2019–2022), and The Owl House (2020–2023).
Cartoons produced in the 1990s are sometimes referred to as the "Renaissance Age of Animation" for cartoons in general, particularly for American animated children's programs. The Disney Channel (owned by Disney Branded Television), Nickelodeon (owned by Viacom, now known as Paramount Global), and Cartoon Network (owned by Warner Bros. Animation) would dominate the animated television industry. These three channels are considered to be the "Big Three", of children's entertainment, even today, but especially in their heyday of the 1990s.
Breakthrough of computer animation and new media
During the 1990s, 3D animation became more and more mainstream, especially in video games, and eventually had a big breakthrough in 1995 with Pixar's feature film hit Toy Story.
More or less photo-realistic 3D animation has been used for special effects in some commercials and films since the 1980s before breakthrough effects were seen in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991) and Jurassic Park (1993). Since then, techniques have developed to the stage that the difference between CGI and real-life cinematography is seldom obvious. Filmmakers can blend both types of images seamlessly with virtual cinematography. The Matrix (1999) and its two sequels are usually regarded as breakthrough films in this field.
The creation of
The launch of the World Wide Web increased interest in motion graphics and computer animation, spawning many new applications, techniques, and markets for what became known as new media.
2000s–2010s: traditional techniques overshadowed by computer animation
After the success of
The first decades of the 21st century also saw 3D film turn mainstream in theatres. The production process and visual style of CGI lend themselves perfectly to 3D viewing, much more than traditional animation styles and methods. However, many traditionally animated films can be very effective in 3D. Disney successfully released a 3D version of The Lion King in 2011, followed by Beauty and the Beast in 2012. A planned 3D version of The Little Mermaid was canceled when Beauty and the Beast and two 3D-converted Pixar titles were not successful enough at the box office.[72]
Disney-Pixar
Disney started producing their own 3D-style computer-animated features with Dinosaur and Chicken Little, but continued to make animated features with traditional look: The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001), Lilo & Stitch (2002), Treasure Planet (2002), Brother Bear (2003) and Home on the Range (2004).
Treasure Planet and Home on the Range were big flops on big budgets and it looked like Disney would only continue with 3D computer animation. Financial analysis in 2006 proved that Disney had lost money on their animation productions of the previous ten years.
The theatrical short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater (2007) tested whether new paperless animation processes could be used for a look similar to cartoons of the 1940s and 1950s, with Goofy returning to his "Everyman" role in his first solo appearance in 42 years.
Ron Clements and John Musker's feature The Princess and the Frog (2009) was a moderate commercial and critical success, but not the comeback hit for traditional features that the studio had hoped it would be. Its perceived failure was mostly blamed on the use of "princess" in the title causing potential movie-goers to think it was only for little girls, and old-fashioned.
Anime
Especially worldwide, hand-drawn animation continued to be very popular, most notably in Japan, where traditionally styled anime remained the dominant technique. The popularity of anime continued to rise domestically, with a record-high 340 anime series airing on television in 2015, as well as internationally, with a dedicated Toonami block on Cartoon Network (1997–2008) and Adult Swim (since 2012) and with streaming services like Netflix and Amazon Prime licensing and producing an increasing amount of anime.
Ghibli continued its enormous success with Miyazaki's
Makoto Shinkai directed 君の名は。(Your Name) (2016, highest-grossing anime film of all time internationally) and 天気の子 (Weathering with You) (2019).
Stop motion
After the pioneering work by the likes of
In the hands of influential filmmakers such as
Until largely replaced by computer-animated effects, stop motion was also a popular technique for special effects in live-action films. Pioneer
Cutout animation
Cutout techniques were relatively often used in animated films until cel animation became the standard method (at least in the United States). The earliest animated feature films, by Quirino Cristiani and Lotte Reiniger, were cutout animations.
Before 1934, Japanese animation mostly used cutout techniques rather than cel animation, because celluloid was too expensive.[74][75]
As cutouts often have been hand-drawn and some productions combine several animation techniques, cutout animation can sometimes look very similar to hand-drawn traditional animation.
While sometimes used as a simple and cheap animation method in children's programs (for instance in Ivor the Engine), cutout animation has remained a relatively artistic and experimental medium in the hands of filmmakers like Harry Everett Smith, Terry Gilliam and Jim Blashfield.
Today, cutout-style animation is frequently produced using computers, with scanned images or vector graphics taking the place of physically cut materials. South Park is a notable example of the transition since its pilot episode was made with paper cutouts before switching to computer software. Similar stylistic choices and blends with different techniques in computer animation have made it harder to differentiate between "traditional", cutout, and Flash animation styles.
Other developments per region
Americas
History of Cuban animation
- 1970: Juan Padrón creates the character of Elpidio Valdés, the star of a long-running series of shorts and two motion pictures.
- 1992: An animation category is added to the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano.
History of Mexican animation
- 1935: Alfonso Vergara produces Paco Perico en premier, an animated short film.
- 1974: Fernando Ruiz produces Los tres Reyes Magos, Mexico's first animated feature-length film.
- 1977: Anuar Badin creates the film Los supersabios, based on the comic.
- 1983: Roy del espacio
Europe
History of Italian animation
- 1977: The classic Allegro Non Troppo, a parody/homage to Disney's Fantasia is director Bruno Bozzetto's most ambitious work and his third feature-length animation, after the Spaghetti Western West and Soda and the superhero parody VIP my Brother Superman, and after several notable shorts (including Mr. Rossi and the Oscar-nominated Grasshoppers (Cavallette)).[76]
History of animation in Croatia (in former Yugoslavia)
- 1953: Zagreb Film inaugurates the Zagreb school of animation.
- 1975: Škola Animiranog Filma Čakovec (ŠAF) inaugurates the Čakovec school of animation.
Asia
Media
-
A 1921 sequel to Winsor McCay's "Gertie the Dinosaur", 1914, the first cartoon with personality animation
See also
- Firsts in animation
- History of anime
- History of art
- History of Cartoon Network
- History of comics
- History of Disney Channel
- History of film
- History of manga
- History of Nickelodeon
- History of television
- History of video games
- History of YouTube
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Online sources
- Anime News Network staff (2005-08-07). "Oldest Anime Found". Anime News Network. Retrieved 2014-02-12.
- Cohn, Neil (February 15, 2006). "The Visual Linguist: Burnt City
animationVL". The Visual Linguist. - Ball, Ryan (March 12, 2008). "Oldest Animation Discovered In Iran". Animation Magazine.
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External links
- Llewellyn, Richard (2013). "Chronology of Animation Introduction". Richard's Animated Divots.
- "List of animation films produced in Europe". Animation Europe.
- Herbert, Stephen. "Animation before film". Wheel of Life.
- Chinese Film Classics: Animation and cartoons (manhua): Examples and discussion of animation in the early Chinese film industry, from the scholarly website chinesefilmclassics.org