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The Kinetoscope
Developed by Thomas Edison, William Kennedy, and Laurie Dickenson and based on the early concepts developed from the magic lantern, the kinetoscope was an early motion picture device, designed for a single viewer. The viewer would look into the peephole at the top of the device as a series of animated images was projected. This device was the very first step in the development of modern cinematic projection. -
Windsor McCay
Windsor McCay created “Gertie the Dinosaur,” an astonishing animated short film for its time. Gertie was intended to illustrate the fact that MnCay’s drawings were creating movement. With over 10,000 drawings executed, Gertie the Dinosaur came to life and blew audiences away. While it may not hold the notoriety of being the first ever animated film, Gertie is considered the first ever cartoon “star”, making McCay’s animated short a groundbreaking work. -
El Apostol
Argentine film El Apostol is widely considered to be the first animated film ever made. The film, which uses cutout animation was over an hour long and featured 58,000 drawings. Unfortunately, all of the copies of the film were lost in a fire in 1926. -
Walt and Roy Disney
The Walt Disney Company has made enormous contributions to animation throughout its epic 92-year existence. This landmark company, which is responsible for some of the most innovative animated films in the world, began in the back of a small office, rented by brothers Walt and Roy Disney. Their most famous creation, “Mickey Mouse,” was actually developed as a replacement character after the brothers lost the rights to their first hit character “Oswald the lucky rabbit”. -
Steamboat Willie
A benchmark of traditional American animation, Steamboat Willie was created, produced, and directed by Walt Disney and featured the very first animated film synchronized with sound recording. Walt Disney himself provided voices. The immediate and widespread success of Steamboat Willie led to worldwide fame for Disney as well as spawned a massive franchise featuring the lead character, Mickey Mouse. This film was the turning point for Disney and cemented his animation empire. -
World War 2
World War 2 was a major historical event that resulted in implications in some form or another for almost every country on the planet. Even though the war itself did not directly impact the animation industry, the cultural impact of this event shaped the perception of war and showed the world the evil that humans were capable of through the horrors of the holocaust. -
John & James Whitney
In the early 40’s, John Whitney and his brother James experimented with computer generated art and created several of the special effects sequences for leading films of the day. One very famous film, Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, featured special effects designed by John Whitney and company. The brothers created a series of first-ever abstract short films. These short abstract films featured very rudimentary analogue graphics that were animated and synchronized with a synthesized soundtrack. -
Chuck Jones
With a career spanning over 6 decades, Chuck Jones is responsible for the creation of over 300 animated films. Jones was a major contributor to the golden age of American animation. He assisted in animating such famous cartoon characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and Elmer Fudd. Jones is most famous for the development and creation of Wilie E. Coyotee and The Roadrunner, which he created himself. Other characters he is credited with are Marvin Martian and Pepe le Pew. -
Sketchpad
Sketchpad was a breakthrough software program, published by Ivan Sutherland as a PhD thesis. This is one of the first steps in human to computer interaction that took major steps forward in the digital graphics medium. Sketchpad was a program, along with specialized hardware, that would let the user draw directly on the computer screen. This was essentially the world's first graphics tablet. -
Superman (Film)
The teaser and opening title sequence for Richard Donner’s Superman is the first-ever computer generated opening title sequence. The sequence is dated by today’s standards, but it was the first of its kind. -
Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan (film)
In Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, there’s a short sequence in the middle of the film that shows the destruction and creation of a planet. This scene is called the “Genises Effect”, mainly because that was the name of the device used in the story. The scene is important because it’s the first-ever film sequence to use particle effects, which would eventually become a major technique used in the 3D graphics and animation industry. -
James Cameron
James Cameron is a film director, writer, producer, and graphic artist that has created some of the most financially and critically successful films in the history of Hollywood. One of Cameron’s less known films, “The Abyss”, may not have been as successful as his first two blockbuster films, Terminator and Aliens, but on a technical level it was groundbreaking. The Abyss features the first-ever digital water effects, which were a tremendous undertaking at the time. -
Toy Story (film)
Besides being a blockbuster sensation that launched the Pixar division of Disney into the giant that it is today, Toy Story also holds the distinction of being the first animated CGI film in history. -
The Matrix (film)
The Matrix featured the first ever “Bullet Time” effects. The creators of the Matrix series, The Wachowski brothers, developed a new photography technique designed to capture the movies fight scenes in slow motion. This technique allowed the filmmakers to control the speed of the slow-motion shots, which in turn allowed them to visually style the fight scenes in a very unique way. Coined by the brothers, “bullet time”, this new style of filmmaking would lead to future breakthroughs. -
September 11 Terrorist Attacks
The September 11 terror attacks are considered to be the most televised and documented catastrophe in human history. Looking back almost 14 years, the events of a single day drastically changed the world. Almost every industry was affected in some way or another by this event. -
Avatar (film)
Avatar is another film from James Cameron, which is just as much of a technical achievement as his previous films. In Avatar, performance capture techniques that were previously pioneered in earlier films such as Lord of the Rings and the early Harry Potter films were improved upon. An entire world was created digitally for Avatar and a new type of performance capturing rig was invented specifically for the film. Avatar is just as much an artistic achievement as it is a technical one.
