-
First Ever Animation
French artist Emile Cohl used his imaginative knowledge of stop-motion techniques. He created what historians call the first-ever hand-drawn animation: 1908 Fantasmagorie.
Its simplicity and comedy inspired many artists, like Walt Disney himself, and started a new era in filmmaking. -
The First Animated Feature Film
El Apostal, created by Quirino Cristiani, was the first-ever animated feature film. It was a successful 70-minute satire that utilized cardboard cutouts, with 58,000 frames at 14 frames per second. This film was an evolution of the first animation and utilized the techniques used in that film. -
My Old Kentucky Home
My Old Kentucky Home, a song whose animated music video was released In 1926, was the first ever film to include synchronized lip sync. An early version showed a character, Bimbo, mouthing the words "Follow the ball, and join in, everybody." The character was further developed in other series, including Talkatoons.
This animation opened a doorway to lip-sync animation and was the very beginning of character animation. -
Mickey Mouse Was Created
Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks created an iconic character and the very staple of animation, Mickey Mouse.
Mickey Mouse made his first appearance in the short animation Steamboat Willie, which was an iconic short for character animation. To regular enjoyers, Mickey Mouse is the face of character animation and encapsulates the magic of 2-D animation. -
Fiddlesticks
Created by Ub Iwerks, it was his first project after leaving the Disney Studio. It utilized experimental processes that expressed colors and sound in animation. In England, the film was released in Harris Color, which is a two-color process. It's estimated to be the first theatrically released standalone film that used sound and color.
Being the first film to use sound and color, it started a process that would continue to improve for years to come. -
Silly Symphonies: Flowers and Trees
A series created by Disney in 1929, Silly Symphonies wasn't as popular as he had hoped. Seeing the popularity of colored animation, he thought he ought to do the same. He paired up with the Technicolor company, in which they debuted a three-color technique to create Flowers and Trees. Flowers and Trees, part of the Silly Symphonies series, was the first animation to include full color, and years later became an industry standard. It also inspired many other cartoons to include full color. -
The Stereopticon Process
After the breakthrough of color and sound being used in animation, creators wanted to explore the idea of animating "3-D" spaces. The Feischers created a unique technique, known as the stereopticon process. This process involved three-dimensional sets built and sculpted on a turn table, where the photographed cells were placed within the moveable set. It gave the illusion of characters moving in an open world. This process was used in the first episode of Betty Boop in Poor Cinderella (1934). -
Snow White and the Breakthrough of Animation
At least eight films were released before that of Snow White, but those films were made using cutouts, silhouettes, or stop-motion techniques. All eight films were lost to time and unsuccessful. Because of the failure of recent films that attempted hand-drawn animation, when word got out of Disney's feature-length project, it was known as "Disney's Folly". Though, when it premiered, it immediately became a worldwide success. The film continued Disney's tradition of animating fairytales. -
The Rise of Anime
After a small setback in animation due to World War II, Japan became successful with its animation style. Initially known as Japanimation, anime focused more on aesthetics rather than movement compared to Western animation. Camera zooms, dynamic shots, and other techniques gave it a "cinematic" approach. Anime was first domestically broadcasted on television in 1960. In 1969 Sazae-san would start broadcasting, eventually becoming the longest-running anime with more than 7,700 episodes. -
Breakthrough of Adult-Oriented Feature Animation
Ralph Bakshi thought that it was a ridiculous idea for people to animate idealized fantasy instead of the reality of war and other grim topics. Therefore, he created a more sociopolitical type of animation, starting with Fritz the Cat (1972) and followed by Heavy Traffic (1973). Fritz the Cat was the first animated film to receive an X-rating, which heavily promoted the film and made it a worldwide success. Heavy Traffic made Bakshi the first person after Disney to have two hit films in a row. -
The Rise of Animated Music Videos
While music videos and animation were already a thing for years, they did not become popular until the mid-1970s. One of the earliest and most popular music videos was Roger Glover's Love is All (1974) and Pink Floyd's Welcome to the Machine (1977). The popularity of the two videos created a boom in animated music videos and spiked the inspiration for making more. A cartoon for Linda McCartney's Seaside Woman, made by Oscar Grillo, won a Palme d'Or for Best Short Film at the Cannes Festival. -
Short-Animation Shout Outs
Short animated films became a way to highlight specific artists and their animation abilities. As a result, big studios stayed away from short animations, and relatively unknown artists used short film festivals as a way to get their name out there and to be noticed. This opened up a wider availability of an ever-growing demand for animation and allowed more and more people to get into the industry themselves. -
US Animation Explosion
While animation had been evolving and growing in popularity over the years, it hadn't exploded nationwide until the 1980s with the release of new animated shows based on childhood favorite comics. Cartoons reflecting action, fantasy, and science fiction were common, with a more complex narrative than previous films. These shows were present during the childhood of many and sparked an appreciation for animation that is present in adults now. -
Studio Ghibli
As TV anime became ever-growingly popular, it inspired artists Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. The two, with a team of following artists, created Studio Ghibli. Studio Ghibli has a strong presence in the animation industry and explores topics that no other studio has. The studio's first film, Castle in the Sky, would establish their success. They would then release a WWII film called Grave of the Fireflies. Miyazaki later released two iconic films, My Neighbor Totoro and Kiki's Delivery Service. -
Disney Renaissance
The period between 1989-1999 is known as the Disney Renaissance, as the company started releasing films that reached heights that were last seen in the 60s. It began with the release of The Little Mermaid. Their success led other major film studios to establish new animation divisions such as Ablimation and Fox Animation Studios. These studios would imitate Disney's style to make 2-D animated musicals, and an explosion of movies and shows appeared due to the popularity of the films. -
Rise of Computer Animation
During the 1990s, 3D animation became increasingly mainstream, especially in video games. The true breakthrough was with Pixar's feature film Toy Story (1995). Studios used CGI for commercials and live-action films, like Jurassic Park, though after the release of Toy Story, 3D animation started to take over. Due to this rise, many movies in the 2000s and 2010s were animated with computer animation. Nowadays, it's rare to find films that are traditionally or 2D animated.