Animation from the 20’s to the 80’s, and Video Game beginnings

With the advent of sound technology, animation was becoming less of a dying novelty, and the industry becoming far more prominent in Hollywood.

The Golden Age of Animation lasted from 1920’s up till the 1950’s/1960’s when theatrical animation began to be overshadowed by the new medium of television animation. During this era, many memorable characters emerged, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Popeye the Sailor, Betty Boop, and Tom and Jerry.

In 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves was released to commercial and critical acclaim. Though the idea of a feature-length animated film wasn’t new to foreign countries, or to the Fleischer Brothers who made a 20-minute Popeye the Sailor film in 1936, Snow White was the first to have sound, colour, and high-quality animation that holds up even to this day.

The Golden Era of Animation lasted up till the late 50’s/early 60’s, due to the growing pressure that television had on the Hollywood film industry as a whole. This resulted in less theatrical shorts being made, cartoons began to move to television with a much more limited budget. This began the era known as The Dark Age of Animation, and has left a lasting impression on American culture, especially concerning the preconception of cartoon’s target audience being children.

“Candle Cove was the best kids show”

During this era, video games began their own “Golden Age” lasting from 1978 – 1983. Video games incorporate their own animation, though in the early developments the animations were very limited. This started to change as the video game industry grew after the Great Video Game Crash of 1983, and certain video games started to experiment with high quality animation.

The Silent Era of Animation

The Silent Era of Animation lasted from the 1900’s to the 1920’s (with the advent of sound technology). This era is generally considered to be the earliest era of mainstream animation. Although animation had existed in various forms throughout history pre-dating the 1900’s, The Silent Era of Animation is when larger groups of society started to take notice of the medium.

The two earliest examples of silent animation are Fantasmagorie (Emil Cohl, 1908) and Gertie the Dinosaur (Windsor McCay, 1914). Gertie the Dinosaur was the first animation to show a cartoon character with distinct personality traits, something which would influence and inspire later animators such as Otto Messmer and Walt Disney.

This era’s most famous cartoon characters include: Felix the Cat, Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Luck Rabbit, and Koko the Clown.

The Silent Era Stars

Max and Dave Fleischer (creators of Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye the Sailor, and Superman Theatrical Cartoons) got their start during the Silent Era, as well as Walt Disney with his Laff-O-Grams, The Alice Comedies, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, and eventually Mickey Mouse shorts.

Mickey Mouse short: Steamboat Willie (1928)

Contrary to popular belief, Steamboat Willie was not the first animated cartoon featuring sound. The Fleischer brothers pioneered sound cartoons during the mid-1920’s, with their film Mother Mother Pin a Rose on Me.

Despite this, Steamboat Willie changed the way audiences saw animated cartoons, as by that time animation had become something of a novelty. As quoted by Shamus Culhane talking of Steamboat Willie‘s importance:

 “By 1927 – 1928, audiences would groan when a cartoon came on. Animation had worn out its welcome. The novelty was gone. If sound hadn’t come in, the cartoon would have vanished.”

Eadweard Muybridge – Early Animation

An early prominent example of animation comes from 1800’s English photographer Eadweard Muybridge.

The Horse in Motion – Eadweard Muybridge

The Horse in Motion – Eadweard Muybridge Gif animation

Muybridge was best known for instigating photographic works portraying motion.

These works consisted mainly of human and animal  movement, which Muybridge managed to capture using multiple cameras.

His studies of human movement included the movement of dance, and the choreography and movement of fencing.

This gif animation show when these photographs, when put in order, gives the illusion of movement.

Phenakistoscope of a couple dancing – Eadweard Muybridge

 

Though Muybridge was not the first to develop animation techniques, his work influenced future artists such as Marcel Duchamp (inspired Nude Descending a Staircase), Francis Bacon (who painted from Muybridge’s photographs), and even Thomas Edison (who developed and owned patents for motion picture cameras).