{"id":1160,"date":"2018-11-06T01:00:13","date_gmt":"2018-11-06T01:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/?page_id=1160"},"modified":"2026-04-09T16:57:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T16:57:27","slug":"animation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/animation\/","title":{"rendered":"Animation"},"content":{"rendered":"<strong>Animation is<\/strong> a group of pictures projected in rapid succession. We see a &#8220;moving&#8221; picture because, at anywhere from 12 to 30 frames per second, the &#8220;persistence of vision&#8221; effect gives a viewer the illusion of motion.\r\n\r\nThese pages show some of the greatest animations, from the drawings of Windsor McCay to the claymation of Nick Park.\r\n\r\n<strong>Gertie the Dinosaur, 1914<\/strong> &#8212; Windsor McCay\u2019s animated cartoons were among the earliest on screen. But McCay had to redraw every background scene in every frame of the five-minute cartoon\u2014a tedious process that made the film look jittery.\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/3z_YaA20bk8\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n<p> \r\n<strong>Felix the Cat, 1919<\/strong> &#8212; Cel animation was a way to get around the jitters. Invented at the John Bray studios in 1914, celluloid (\u201ccel\u201d) animation allowed backgrounds to remain stable while moving characters were inked on transparent sheets. Another innovation was the introduction of cartoon \u201cstars\u201d like Felix the Cat by Otto Mesmer and Mickey Mouse by Walt Disney. \r\n<p>\r\n\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7HskWL82GeQ\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Steamboat Willie, 1928<\/strong> &#8212; The innovation that catapulted Disney to success was the marriage of sound with animation in 1928. Only a year after The Jazz Singer amazed audiences with synchronized dialogue and music, Disney produced a Mickey Mouse cartoon with tightly synchronized sound effects and orchestrated background music called \u201cSteamboat Willie.\u201d The cartoon was a takeoff on Buster Keaton\u2019s silent classic,\u00a0 Steamboat Bill, released earlier that year.\r\n\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PeZ3r1T65a0?si=vJXluXqkHm1VjpbM\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Skeleton Dance<\/strong> &#8212; Building on the success of Steamboat Willie, Disney released Skeleton Dance on Aug. 22, 1929, in time for theaters before Halloween that year. It was the first of 75 &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Silly_Symphony\">Silly Symphonies<\/a>&#8221; produced through 1939. <p><p>\r\n\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h03QBNVwX8Q\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<strong> How Disney Makes Cartoons <\/strong> <p> \r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mhfp6Z8z1cI\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>\u00a0Snow White, 1938<\/strong> &#8212; When you went to the movies in the 1930s, you could expect to see a newsreel and a cartoon. But a full-length animated feature was unknown until 1938, when Disney released <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=5kWr9e4JN5I\">Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.<\/a> One of the big achievements in this film was naturalistic figure drawing &#8212; as opposed to the unrealistic\u00a0 animation with &#8220;rubber hose&#8221; arm and leg movements. It also was the first to use full color. Despite early doubters (even Disney\u2019s wife Lillian said no one would ever pay to see a dwarf picture) the film premiered to wildly enthusiastic audiences. Snow White was followed by animation classics like Pinocchio in 1940, Dumbo in 1941, Bambi in 1942, Cinderella in 1950, and many others.\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/w0rj2uyWdpU\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>\u00a0Roots of Japanese Anime, 1930s<\/strong> &#8212; This is a trailer for a set of eight classic works of Japanese anime, from pioneers such as Noburo Ofuji, Kenzo Masaoka, and Mitsuyo Seo, released by<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UC5bfncm9IFz8oSdYBoGeLOA\"> Zakka Films<\/a>. They include Momotaro&#8217;s Sea Eagle, billed as Japan&#8217;s first feature length anime. It is a wartime propaganda film showing cute animals bombing Pearl Harbor, which is interesting, given the virulence and racism found in Western propaganda cartoons of the same era.\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n7UtX80rJ1Q\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Peace on Earth, 1939<\/strong> &#8212; Hugh Harman\u2019s animated short\u00a0 was a break from the Disney tradition. The cartoon was a serious plea for peace just as World War II was starting. It depicted never-ending wars and the last people on earth killing each other, followed by animals rebuilding society using the helmets of the soldiers. The cartoon was nominated for an Academy Award\u2014and the Nobel Peace Prize.\r\n\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XN97JmVTzVM\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ray_Harryhausen\"><strong>Ray Harryhausen<\/strong> <\/a>was one of the great clay animators who helped make fantastic beasts come alive in movies during the 1950s &#8211; 80s. Although his early technique seems a little crude, at the time it was widely admired. <p><p> \r\n\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/U9kmjW73-v4\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n<p><hr> \r\n<strong>Some animators <\/strong> departed from Disney\u2019s naturalistic storytelling techniques to create physics-defying characters. Tex Avery, for instance, created a large <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=21NZ_ZQfarA\">cast of exaggerated characters<\/a>.<p> \r\n \r\n <iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wYNXqwuD1no\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe> <p>\r\n \u201cThat is the most wonderfully liberating spectacle,\u201d said Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam in a review of his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/film\/2001\/apr\/27\/culture.features1\">ten favorite animations<\/a>.  <p> \r\n\r\n<hr \/> \r\nHere&#8217;s an Indian video from Christmas 2000, showing how close we have all become, across this shrinking world. The dance is the Bharatanatyam from Tamilnadu India.  \r\n<p>\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AyhGIhfUoWk\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n \r\n<p>\r\n<strong>Other animators <\/strong> departed from Disney\u2019s naturalistic storytelling techniques to create physics-defying characters. Tex Avery, for instance, created a large <a href=\"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=21NZ_ZQfarA\">cast of exaggerated characters<\/a>. \u201cThat is the most wonderfully liberating spectacle,\u201d said Monty Python animator Terry Gilliam in a review of his <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/film\/2001\/apr\/27\/culture.features1\">ten favorite animations<\/a>.\r\n<p> <hr \/>\r\n<strong>Claymation <\/strong>\r\n<p>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.wallaceandgromit.com\/\">Wallace &amp; Gromit,<\/a> favorite claymations of recent years, are animated by Nick Park.\r\n<p>\r\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/T0qagA4_eVQ\" width=\"460\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe>\r\n\r\n<!-- \/wp:post-content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Animation is a group of pictures projected in rapid succession. We see a &#8220;moving&#8221; picture because, at anywhere from 12 to 30 frames per second, the &#8220;persistence of vision&#8221; effect gives a viewer the illusion of motion. These pages show &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/animation\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"full-width-page.php","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1160","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1160"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4414,"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1160\/revisions\/4414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/revolutionsincommunication.com\/viscomm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}