The
past 150 years has seen tremendous strides in technological
and scientific research and invention. Who would have
ever imagined that men would walk on the moon or that
open heart surgery could be performed with robotic assistance?
Still, with all of these advances man has consistently
failed in one field of research: the creation of life
from inanimate material.
This desire, coupled with an inborn need to find creative
expression, has lead to some interesting discoveries.
Man has developed the illusion of creating life from nothing.
Spectators of this illusion are at times amazed and often
carried away from reality, even if just for a few hours.
We are talking about the art of cartoon animation. Using
various methods an artist has the ability to make his
drawings move and speak. With modern computer technology,
the artist?s drawings may even appear to interact with
with the observer. Walt Disney, a monumental figure in
the history of animated film once said, "Animation can
explain whatever the mind of man can conceive."
What is the history of this art form? What advances has
it made in recent years?
A Brief History of Theatrical Animation
On December 28, 1895, the world of art and entertainment
took a drastic turn. Upon invitation Georges Méliès, a
well known Paris magician, attended the first public showing
of the Cinématographe. Méliès never forgot that evening.
"The other guests and I found ourselves in front of a
small screen...after a few minutes, a stationary photograph
showing the Place Bellecour in Lyon was projected. A little
surprised, I scarcely had time to say to my neighbor:
Is it just to have us see projections that he has brought
us here? Ive been doing them for ten years.
"No sooner had I stopped speaking when a horse pulling
a cart started to walk toward us, followed by other vehicles,
then passerby - in short, the whole vitality of a street.
We were open-mouthed, dumfounded, astonished beyond words
in the face of this spectacle."
How exciting it must have been for early pioneers of motion
picture to learn and develop their art! Within a very
short period of time, these individuals began experimenting
with different forms of expression through this new and
mysterious medium.
In 1896 J. Stuart Blackton, a native Englishman who emigrated
to the United States, walked into a studio that would
change his life and launch a new industry in the motion
picture field. Blackton was a journalist and illustrator
for the New York Evening World. He was sent to interview
the inventor of the Vitascope, Thomas Edison.
Blackton immediately fell in love with the cinema. That
same year he founded a production house called Vitagraph.
Within a very short period, he discovered that by exposing
film frame by frame and manipulating a scene between exposures,
the illusion of motion could be produced with inanimate
objects. At the time, a standard movie camera would expose
eight frames per turn of a crank. Camera operators learned
how to alter the camera to expose only one frame per crank,
and the technique of animation became known as "one turn,
one picture."
In time, Blackton realized that he could bring drawings
to life using this method. In 1906, Vitagraph released
a short film entitled "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces."
Blackton?s hand draws a man and a woman on a blackboard.
When his hand leaves the frame, the faces roll their eyes.
The hand appears again and erases the emboldened animated
characters.
In 1905, Winsor McCay, a cartoon illustrator for the New
York Herald, created a strip called "Little Nemo in Slumberland."
This cartoon became so popular that it was developed into
a Broadway musical. In 1911, McCay left the paper and
began working for the New York American. During this time,
he began experimenting with the idea of using animated
pictures as part of a vaudeville act. His first project
was a film adaptation of "Little Nemo." With no story
line, "Little Nemo" was a beautiful study in movement.
McCay?s second film was entitled "The Story of a Mosquito."
The film, a story of a mosquito?s encounter with a drunken
man, was a hit. Some theatergoers felt that McCay was
performing a trick with wires, not understanding the the
nature of drawn animation.
To prove that his drawings were actually moving McCay
responded by producing the film "Gertie the Dinosaur."
Ten thousand drawings inked on rice paper were used in
creating this masterpiece. Gertie debuted February 1914
in Chicago as part of a vaudeville act. As the film was
projected on screen McCay stood nearby and interacted
with the animated dinosaur. Gertie laughed and cried.
Audiences loved it. The film had a storyline and a star
- the first of its kind in animation history.
As time passed, other artists became involved in the animation
industry. In 1923, Walt and Roy Disney formed the Disney
Brothers Studio and signed a contract with Margaret J.
Winkler, a New York film distributor, to produce six short
films based on the Lewis Carroll book "Alices Adventures
in Wonderland." These films featured a mix of live action
and drawn animation. The fifty-sixth and last Alice Comedy
film was released on July 15, 1927.
In 1928, the Walt Disney Studio released "Steamboat Willie,"
the first cartoon built around a soundtrack. This film
featured Disney?s latest character, Mickey Mouse. It was
a sensation.
In the years following "Steamboat Willie" Disney?s studio
developed the novelty of animated film into an art form
that could express emotion and personality. In December
1937, the studio released "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,"
the first full length animation feature. Skeptics called
this project "Disney?s Folly," stating that the public
would not sit through a lengthy animated feature. They
were wrong. Snow White was a smash hit and maintains an
audience today.
Over a sixty-three year period, the Walt Disney Studio
has produced 38 animated features and countless animated
shorts. Other companies such as Warner Brothers, MGM and
DreamWorks have also produced notable animated theatrical
works.
Animation and the Television
Animation (usually made-for-theatre cartoons) hit the
small screen as early as 1930, but due to high production
costs and the fact that the television audience was minute,
it was relegated to a non-commercial, experimental novelty.
On July 1, 1941 the U.S. Government allowed the National
Broadcasting Company (NBC) to become a commercial entity.
This meant that NBC could now charge for commercial advertising
between and during broadcast entertainment. Botany Mills
was the first company to produce animated commercials.
These commercials (seven in all) featured the Botany Lamb
plugging the company?s line of wool ties.
The production of "TVs" came to a stop at the end of 1941,
when aluminum (required in TV production at the time)
was rationed for war purposes. After the war, the TV manufacturing
business exploded. In 1946, eight thousand TVs were produced.
In the next year, over 38 million sets were sold in the
United States.
The early days of commercial television created a problem
for the advertising and publishing industry. Large corporations
were not spending their money on print advertising, but
opting instead to experiment with TV.
Animation lended itself to this new medium. A live person
talking about a product worked, but a cute little animated
character bouncing around the screen commanded attention!
In 1949, Television Magazine indicated that four of the
six most popular television ads were animated.
In 1957, MGM decided to get out of the animation business.
Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera, creators of the successful
Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoons, found themselves out
of work. The two formed their own company and immediately
began work on a made-for-television animated series called
Ruff and Reddy. This series remained on the air until
1964, one hundred episodes later.
With the release of The Flintstones in 1960, the Hanna-Barbera
studio became the premier production house for television
animation. Acquired by cable mogul Ted Turner (founder
of the Cartoon Network) in 1991 and then merged into Time-Warner
in 1996, Hanna-Barbera cartoons are experiencing a new-found
popularity.
Many other animation companies have produced television
programming over the years. The Walt Disney Company, for
example, has produced several programs, from animated
segments of the Mickey Mouse Club (1955-59) to series
such as PB&J Otter on the Disney cable network. The
Nickelodeon network regularly produces several animated
programs for children. The Fox and Comedy Central networks
have promoted animated cartoons geared toward an adult
demographic, such as The Simpsons, The Critic and South
Park.
Animation and the Internet
The Internet, as it is currently known, is still a new
medium. In 1993, a group of students at the National Center
for Supercomputer Applications (NCSA) developed a computer
program called "Mosaic." This program, known as a "browser,"
allowed text and graphics to be transferred via telephone
lines from one computer to another and be assembled in
a predesigned layout on a computer monitor. Mosaic?s page
layout ability was very limited and was not a forum for
any type of animation, however. Recognizing the limitations,
the team of graduate students and trainee programmers
who created the software left NSCA to form a new company:
Netscape Communications.
In October 1995, Netscape released a new browser known
as "Netscape Navigator 2.0." This new browser had the
ability to display small animated graphics known as "animated
gif files." These animations could be inserted on a Web
page easily, but were limited in scope. Slow data transfer
over telephone lines made it impossible to animate anything
other than a few seconds of looped motion.
In 1996, Macromedia, Inc. developed a program called Flash.
Macromedia Flash created animations based on vector information
- mathematical instructions that are much smaller in file
size than animated gif files, allowing longer animations.
This program has revolutionized the art form. Flash is
generally accepted as the only truly effective way of
delivering animated entertainment online. Many companies
are now producing made-for-Internet cartoons.
One notable Internet cartoon series is "The Pink Donkey
and The Fly," by a New York based design house called
Funny Garbage. The Pink Donkey series features the artwork
of Gary Panter, best known for creating the designs and
characters for the children?s television program Pee-Wee?s
Playhouse. Some of Funny Garbage?s work can be viewed
at www.cartoonnetwork.com/wpt.
Other notable series include the Bulbo Toons by MishMash
Media (http://www.bulbo.com)
and Capital Ill by JibJab (http://www.jibjab.com).
Macromedia Flash animation is also being used to enhance
e-business Web sites. One Long Island based Internet design
and marketing firm, Exploded View, is dedicated to the
integration of new technologies in the Internet marketplace.
"No matter what technology is used in a Web site, there
are basic psychological design principles that must be
adhered to," said Jake Gorst, Exploded View President.
"Animation can be a great enhancement to an e-business
site if it does not distract from the customer buying
experience."
These "psychological principles" include the proper use
of color and vocabulary, object placement and navigation.
For example, a Web site that features a large corporate
logo and predominantly displays corporate news information
could be frustrating to a customer looking for products.
If the products are not clearly visible, sales will be
low. If the Web site features a color that is not popular
with the target audience (due to religious, political
or other reasons), viewer attention will be minimal.
"Once these principles are in place, animations can be
added that compliment the overall message of the site,"
says Gorst. "Care must be given not to create a distraction,
however."
Richie Saccente of Troll Studios (http:/ rollstudios.com),
an Exploded View customer, is very excited about the integration
of animation in his company?s Web site. "We are using
a small troll-like character to guide viewers through
our site," says Saccente. "To my knowledge this is the
first time Internet animation has been used in conjunction
with psychology in this manner. I love our site."
In this day and age, the animation industry is so vast
that a synopsis of every possible application could not
be made in a single article. In addition to Internet applications,
experiments in animation are also taking place in video
games and virtual reality technology. What does the future
hold for this art form? Only time will tell, but for the
artist involved in the animation world, this is a good
time to be alive.
Jake
Gorst is a writer, film maker, and president of Exploded
View (http://www.explodedview.tv), a new media advertising
and design company. He also is a frequent contributor
to various trade publications on topics related to Web
site and architectural design psychology and trends. Previously,
Gorst served as Vice President and Chief Creative Officer
for E-Media Publishing, Ltd. and as an Internet content
developer for Citibank and other Long Island based corporations.
