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The beginning of animation
Early 19th century
mechanical devices such as the thaumatrope,
praxinoscope and zoetrope anticipated motion picture
animation by quickly flashing a calibrated sequence of still stories, it’s also an effective technique for filmmakers dealing with more
complex, adult issues and themes. -
Transparent Celluliod
In 1892, Émile Reynaud opened his popular Théâtre Optique in
Paris, where he projected films that had been drawn directly on
transparent celluloid, a technique that would not be used again until the 1930s -
Drawing movies
By the early 20th century, animators such as J. Stuart
Blackton and Winsor McCay in the U.S. and Émile Cohl in France were making animated films composed entirely of drawings. -
Animation studios
Raoul Barré and Bill Nolan opened the first animation studio in New York in 1914. Soon studios in New York, California and elsewhere were producing short films that screened in theatres before the main feature. -
Rotoscope
Brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, creators of Betty Boop, patented the rotoscope in 1917, enabling animators to copy the movement of live action by tracing filmed live-action images frame by frame. -
Company
In 1923,Walt and Roy Disney, Ub Iwerks, and other animators formed a company that would dominate animation for many years. -
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Steamboat Willie
The Disney studio produced Steamboat Willie (1928), the first cartoon to synchronize sound with movement, and the short three-color Technicolor film Flowers and Trees, which won the first Oscar for animation in 1932. -
Snow White
In 1938, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first American feature-length animated film, received a Special Academy Award for significant screen innovation. -
Bugs Bunny
Bugs Bunny and Wile E. Coyote. In the 1940s, George Pal’s Puppetoons represented one of the few examples of commercial animation using three-dimensional materials. -
Period: to
Walt Disney Company
More than half a century later, the Walt Disney Company was still breaking new ground: 1991’s Beauty and the Beast was nominated for Best Picture alongside four live-action films, a feat that was repeated in 2009, when the
Disney Pixar animated film Up was one of ten Best Picture nominees. -
Toy Story
In 1995, Disney released the Pixar production Toy Story, the first
feature-length computer-animated film, which the Academy honored with a special award to its creator John Lasseter. -
Waltz with Bashir
The 2008 animated feature Waltz with Bashir, for example, uses animation to explore soldiers’ suppressed memories of events in the Middle East.