History of Animation

Definition

• Animation: sequence of images (drawn, painted, or produced artistically) changing over time to create an illusion of motion.
• Early motion depiction in static art dates back to the Paleolithic period.
• 19th century: devices depicted motion in animated images.

Early Approaches to Motion in Art

• Egyptian Burial Chamber Mural: 4000-year-old mural of wrestlers.
• Burnt City in Iran: minimal different sequences from late 3rd millennium B.C.
• Pottery Bowl from Shahr-e Sukhteh, Iran: 5200-year-old bowl with images of a goat leaping.
• Ancient Chinese Records: mention devices giving the impression of movement.
• Leonardo da Vinci Drawings: anatomical studies implying movement through small changes in sequence drawings.

Animation Before Film

• Devices displayed animated images before motion pictures, considered toys.

Magic Lantern (c. 1650)

• Early projector using translucent oil paintings, lenses, and lamps.
• Used for projecting demonic images, creating supernatural illusions.
• Credited to Christiaan Huygens or Athanasius Kircher.

Thaumatrope (1824)

• A disk with different pictures on each side; spins to show combined images.
• Demonstrates persistence of vision.

Phenakistoscope (1831)

• Disk with images and slots creating illusion of motion when spun in front of a mirror.

Zoetrope (1834)

• Cylindrical device; images inside viewable through slits as it spins.
• Allows multiple viewers without a mirror.

Flip Book (1868)

• Series of images creating motion as pages flip.
• Inspired early film animators.

Praxinoscope (1877)

• Created by Charles-Émile Reynaud; first public animation projections using mirrors.

Traditional Animation

• 1900 Enchanted Drawing: first film with animated sequences.
• Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906): by J. Stuart Blackton, first entirely animated film.
• Fantasmagorie (1908): by Émile Cohl, first film using traditional animation methods.
• Winsor McCay: detailed animations like Little Nemo (1911), Gertie the Dinosaur (1914).

The Silent Era

• Reynaud's Théâtre Optique: first projected animations.
• Katsudō Shashin: oldest known Japanese animation.
• Wladyslaw Starewicz: pioneer in puppet animation.
• Gertie the Dinosaur: first combination of live action and animation.

Walt Disney & Warner Bros.

• Laugh-O-Grams (1923): precursor to Walt Disney Studios.
• Steamboat Willie (1928): Mickey Mouse’s debut with sound.
• Technicolor Animation: Flowers and Trees (1932) by Disney, first full-color animation.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

• First successful full-length hand-drawn animated film.
• Set the standard for future animated features.

Television Era

• Huckleberry Hound Show (1958): first half-hour animated TV program.
• The Flintstones (1960): first animated series on prime time TV.

Animation Techniques

Stop Motion

• Uses puppets or objects to create motion frame by frame.

CGI Animation

• Revolutionized animation using computer graphics, starting with Toy Story (1995).
• Challenges in realistic human animation, e.g., uncanny valley.

Cel-Shading

• Non-photorealistic rendering technique mimicking hand-drawn style.

Machinima

• Uses real-time 3D computer graphics, often from video games, for cinematic production.