From
the beginning of history, the
man was motivated by the desire to represent plastically the
movements, so we can go back to cave paintings, interpreting the
animals with many legs in graffiti as a primitive method of
representing the movement.
Then
there
was the birth of the shadows shows of ancient Egypt as well as of
India and China with the famous "Chinese shadows". Time
passed by and men invented a singular object: the Magic
Lantern
that projected pictures frame by frame. This is the first true form
of cinema. The history of magic lanterns, begins in fact in 1500 with
the studies of Leonardo da Vinci and Leon Battista Alberti.
Through
the overlapping of sheets of glass containing portions of the drawing
to be moved and the aid of ropes or rods, they obtained images of
partially self-propelled.
But
it's
from the nineteenth century that some projector machines were
developed, for example, the Phantasmagoria
by Étienne-Gaspard Robert patented in 1799, the Thaumatrope
by Dr. John Ayrton Paris, the Phenakistoscope
(1833)
by Joseph Antoine Plateau.
The
animation movies start right from the magic lantern and these
mechanical toys, in which the searching
of the movement is closely linked with the design and illustration.
In fact, the impressionists such as Manet, Degas, Monet, Redon,
Rodin, introduced in the visual arts the need of movement and
dynamism.
In
any case we don't have to forget the relationship even closer with
the caricatures
and comics.
The
first persons
to try this new medium will be illustrators, caricaturists and later,
in the new century, the avant-garde painters, and especially the
cartoonists, infact animation and comic born together.
Cinema
was patented in 1895 by Auguste
and Louis Lumière.
THE
PIONEERS: ÈMILE REYNAUD AND GEORGES MÈLIÈS
Émile
Reynaud
worked in a machine shop and simultaneously was interested in
photography and drawing. In 1877 he patented the praxinoscope
and two years later he perfected it inventing the
praxinoscope-theater.
The machine consisted of a rotating
cylinder, on which were drawn figures, at the center of it was placed
a prism formed by small mirrors. In this way the individual images
were reflected in the mirrors and illuminated from above by a lamp,
the images projected mingled each others to form an uninterrupted
succession of the planned movements.
The
scenes were painted on a transparent glass placed in front of the
machine, revealing, for transparency, the image of the animated
character.
The
movement of the characters was limited and repetitive. For this
reason small movements in the form of ballet and
acrobatic exercise were suitable for this type of show.
In
1888 Reynaud patented optical theater that marks the transition to
the popular show, mass. The new invention is based on the same
principle of the praxinoscope but updated and expanded on the basis
of recent scientific discoveries.
The
machine used, in place of the cylinder, a transparent film of
celluloid with holes at the edge to allow it to slide in front of the
light source by means particular sprockets and was able to project
images on a large screen.
The
"light pantomime", the name by which Reynaud called his
shows, were projected on the big screen for the first time in 1892
and had a length varying from five to fifteen minutes and were
accompanied by music played by a special orchestra. It was a simple
story with very few characters that moved in a colorful envirorment
such as in Autour
d'une cabine.
The
invention of cinema in 1895, and the subsequent public screenings of
films by the Lumière brothers, progressively reduced the interest of
the audience for the Reynaud's light pantomime.
Starting
from 1895 there was a multiplication of cinemas in Europe and the
United States.
The
creator of the movie show was Georges
Méliès,
which was opposed to the documentary and reality film by Lumière,
and replaced them with fantasy film by inserting special effects.
He
was the firts who discovered, and certainly used, the technique film
of "one-shot" for the sudden appearance or disappearance of
objects or people.
The
animated films were developed through the contribution of real
pioneers, especially Spanish, French, Americans and British.
James
Stuart Blackton
would have been the caricaturist who first introduced the animation
in a film of 1906 (Humorous
Phases of Funny Faces),
considered the first animated cartoon in the history, and the
following year
he would
have even shocked European audiences with The
Haunted Hotel
where the spectator can see objects transforming into other objects
and objects moving by their own.
Another
one of the recognized pioneers of animation was Segundo
de Chomón.
Among his films we can mention El
Hotel Electrico
(1905), based mostly on the technique of animation, used to move
inanimate objects. He also introduced the technique of animation,
made with the technique of "one - shot", in a short
sequence in the film La Legende
du fantôme
made in Paris in 1907.
Émile
Cohl,
caricaturist for several satirical magazines, (1857 - 1938) is
probably the greatest pioneer of animation.
In
1907, he was incharged by the film company Gaumont in Paris to make
some animated films following the success of The Haunted Hotel. In
1908 in Paris, his film Fantasmagorie
is presented and it can be considered as the first true animated film
in the history of cinema.
At
the first film will follow other ones, longer and with varied
subjects, such as Le
Cauchemar du fantoche
and Un
drame chez le fantoches.
The design is of a great simplicity, and there aren't sceneries.
During the First World
War,
Cohl was devoted more specifically to cartoon animation realising
some propaganda films, as well as documentary films with educational
purposes.
Between
1912 and 1914 he moved to the United States where he was in charged
of animating the strip drawn by George MacManus called The Newlyweds.
In
1917 he dedicated to the production of animated films drawn from
other successful comics with a series of short films entitled Les
aventures des Pieds Nickelés
based on the strips drawn by Louis Forton.
In 1921, he returned to
his favorite character in a Fantouche
cerche un logement,
in which relives his magical and naive world before the war. But now
we are in a phase of decadence and creative involution. After the
war, the situation in Europe was also dramatic with regard to the
animation that has to deal with the American production more and more
impressive and massive, the Cohl's cinema, naive and childish, was no
longer understood by an audience attracted by other novelty.
The
initiator and principal investigator of the lodging of the film made
with puppets was the Russian Vladislav
Starevitch (1882 - 1965). His films have mainly insects as
protagonists of adventure and humorous stories. Like Cohl also
Starevitch is an artist-craftsman who must do almost everything by
himself, in fact he is at the same time director, cameraman, set
designer, as well as the creator of the puppets, mostly made in wood.
He moved to France in 1919 where he dedicated to the production of
films of puppets geared mainly to childhood (Le rat de ville et le
rat des champs, La Cigale et la fourmi). In 1933 Starevitch invented
a character suitable to interpret numerous stories, this is the
puppet Fètiche, starring in numerous films. The films in the series
were Fètiche
mascotte
(1933), Fetish prestidigitateur (1934), Fetish se marie (1935),
Fetiche
en voyage de noces
(1936) and Fetish chez le sirènes (1937).
AMERICAN
CINEMA ANIMATION
Winsor
McCay
(1871 - 1934) known as the most brilliant and poetic artist of the
first strips, emerged in 1905 with the adventures of Little
Nemo
published in serial form in the "New York Herald".
In
a film in 1914 called Gertie
the Dinosaur
there is the mixing of the techniques of animation and recording
"from live". In the first part of the film appears McCay
himself dressed as a trainer who present to a group of friends
Gertie's character that appears in a white screen on the back of the
room - a screen in screen - presenting it to the public. Gertie
follows the orders given from McCay.
McCay
also tried to import in animation his most successful cartoon
character, Little Nemo, but the operation failed due to the
complexity of the design that couldn't be reproduced with the
techniques of that time.
In
the following years he realised two films of great interest: The
Story of a Mosquito, the story of a mosquito surrealistic character
in a like – Kafkaesque style, and The
Sinking of the Lusitania
in 1918. In this case the sinking of the English ocean liner in 1915
by a German submarine, is the excuse for a dramatic representation
transfigured by the graphic sign. Around the first decade a vast
production of animated series was born in the United States that took
inspiration from the world of comics. The reasons for this success
were different: the ability to get into a boundless panorama of
comics, the ease of implementation of the "stripes" into
animation, with a very low cost, the invention of Earl Hurd who
helped enormously into the lowering of the costs and reducing the
work required to do an animation using the cel consisting of a
transparent sheet of acetate, that allowed to maintain the background
on which, for transparency, were filmed the movements of the
characters drawn. Edison began to produce in 1914 the series Buster
Brown Cartoons
and the following year produced Animated
Grouch Chaser
composed of a dozen films. In the years 1916/1917 appear on the
screen the series of Krazy
Kat,
Mutt
and Jeff,
the
Katzenjammer Kids,
Happy
Hooligan
(Fortunate), Bringing
up Father,
all derived from previous comics of great success.
Earl
Hurd
realizes for Universal the series of Bobby
Bumps
and for Paramount produces a serie of Farmer
Al Falfa
by Paul Terry, Earl Hurd and others.
Felix
the
Cat
(Mio Mao) by Pat
Sullivan
(1887 - 1933) has Felix as protagonist, a witty and cute cat, who
always manages every situation, with thousands of ideas represented
by the tail, which is shaped like a question mark, that comes off
from its body. The series is one of the most successful works of the
twenties.
Paul
Terry
(1887 – 1971) designer and cartoonist for several newspapers, in
San Francisco around 1914 approaches the film and begins with Little
Herman
(1915). Terry moved to film his drawings and small characters of his
fantasy world. He is the author in 1916 of a series devoted to the
farmer Al Falfa which will be distributed by Paramount until the
'30s.
In
the twenties he realized independent films and some popular series as
Paul Terry-Toons and Terrytoons.
A
very important place in the history of animated cinema is occupied by
Max (1883 - 1972) and Dave (1894 - 1979) Fleischer
brothers whose debut
dates back to 1921 when the two brothers founded the Out of the
Inkwell Films Inc. Between 1921 and 1927 they produced about eighty
films in the series Out
of the Inkwell
and the Inkwell
Imps,
based on the animation of characters and objects that arose directly
from the ink. The characters, among which stood out the clown Ko-Ko,
came to life little by little.
In
1923 he built a film, long about an hour, entitled The
Einstein's Theory of Relativity,
under the direct supervision of Einstein with educational and
scientific purposes.
Then
the activity of the two brothers will be marked by the films of
Popeye
the Sailor
and Betty
Boop.
Fleischer brothers also tried to do feature film, with some films
including Gulliver's Travels in 1939, but without much success, as
they were crushed by the increasingly competition of Disney.
In
the thirties with the advent of sound before and with that one of the
color few years later, we have a real revolution in animation, in
the fields of technology and in the arts. The United States were the
first to develop new technologies. New figures emerged in animation
field like that one of Walter
Lantz (1899 - 1994),
author of several fortunate series such as that one of Oswald
the Lucky Rabbit,
created in collaboration with Walt Diney in 1927, and that one of
Woody
Woodpecker
and
others such as Gregory La Cava (1892 - 1952) director of numerous
animated series, William C. Nolan, Frank Tashlin, etc.
Since
the thirties in America and in the rest of the world, born
the myth of Walt
Disney.
In 1922 he founded the Laugh-O-Gram Films producing 7 films including
Little
Red Riding Hood
and Cinderella.
In 1923 he also produced the first episode of the series Alice
in Cartoonland,
but his company failed. After he moved to Hollywood, the series Alice
Comedies
was distributed by Winkler Pictures Inc., until 1927. The series
consisted of thirty episodes in which the protagonist - a real baby -
faced with a reality that was designed to represent, in a naive and
simplistic manner, the world of dreams and fantasy.
In
the years between 1928 and 1942 all the characters and the most
significant series emerged: Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Pluto, Goofy.
Other
studios, however, carried out a speech that deviates markedly from
the Disney style, among them we can mention the Metro Goldwyn Mayer
with series such as Tom
and Jerry
(Tom and Jerry Cartoons) and Droopy,
and thanks mainly to the Fred Quimby (1886 - 1965) and Warner Bros
that relying on the figure of Leon Schlesinger created several series
including the Looney Tunes and Merrie
Melodies.
There were also other "minor" houses such as the Vitagraph,
RKO and Screen Gems, all united by following the school of cartoon
anti - disney.
Through
the series of Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and especially Bugs Bunny they
developed those anti – disney characters that can be characherised
by a greater "evil" temperament in a more aggressive
graphic, in a fast rythm of the story and in the absence of
moralistic aspects.
Is
also important to remember the role of the UPA (United Productions of
America) detached by Disney in 1941 by Stephen Bosustow and other
artists, which passed in history for series such as Mister
Magoo
and feature films such as The
Princess and the sorcerer.
In the production of Hanna-Barbera
company we can remember the series of Hucleberry
Hound,
Yogi Bear, Quick
Draw McGraw,
The Flintstones, etc..
We
don't have to forget the role played in the history of American
animation, by many independent artists like Ralph
Bakshi that realised
the film Fritz the Cat and Heavy
Traffic,
the year after. Subsequently Bakshi has produced the feature films
The Lord of the Rings (1978) from GRR Tolkien, American Pop (1981)
and Cool Word (1992).
We must also mention the importance
covered in the history of animated films by the American war
propaganda. All great authors, and Disney in particular, compete in
the creation of educational and military documentaries, also in
propaganda film, and it is very unusual to see, for example, the
funny and syrupy Disney characters in "military version"
ready to defend the cause of the United States.
EUROPEAN
CINEMA ANIMATION
The
animation was developed in Europe around the second decade of
twentieth century and thanks to the work of pioneers such as Chomón,
Blackton, Cohl and Starevitch and other artists, even if it is
discontinuous and predominantly experimental.
In
the
years during the First World War, the production became more abundant
and several films of political propaganda appeared.
The
entire production of the Old Continent from the beginning of the
century until the mid-twenties is linked to the name and to
the activity of few authors and studios. In those years the animated
film had found its development on the commercial and industrial
fields almost exclusively in the United States.
The
United States industries will impose themself
in Europe for decades and will have the monopoly of the cartoon
world, nipping in the bud the European production.
However,
the European animation from the twenties to the forties was able to
experiment with new techniques and new ways of expression thanks to
the work of some avant-garde artists. Painters such as Viking
Eggeling and Hans Richter, Walter Ruttmann, Man Ray, Fernand Léger,
approach the
animated films with the intention of using it as a means to give to
their paintings that real movement that could not be obtained by
other means. Thus the animation abstract was created.
Lotte
Reiniger
(1899-1981) deserve a special place. She was born in Berlin, she
approaches the cinema when she was still very young to give movements
to her silhouettes that, referring to the theater of shadows spread
all over the East, she had carefully studied and tested.
In
1918 she
collaborates to the film by Paul Wegener Die
von Rattenfänger Hamelin
(The hunter mice of Hamelin) where she solved with the use of
animated silhouettes, the problem of making the theory of mice that
must follow the piper.
Between
1923 and 1926 she
made her first feature film, which will be for a long time considered
her masterpiece The
Prince Achmed
(Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed), taken from the Thousand and One
Nights.
The
period from 1927 to 1939 is the most fruitful of her activity, in
which she makes films like Die
chinesische Nachtgall
(1928) and the three episodes of the series Das
Abenteuer des Dr. Doolittle
(The Adventures of Dr. Doolittle) based on the tales of H. Lofting.
She moved to England where she continued her activities founded her
own production company.
Berthold
Bartosch
(1893-1968), made a film called L'idée,
shot in France betweee was a painter and architect and he intends to
use the animation to clearly didactic and propagandistic purposes.
L'idée
is the result of a collaboration with the expressionist painter and
graphic artist Franz Masereel. The film tells the story of the
“idea", depicted like a nude young woman rejected by all men
she finds a young militant who defends her and he fights a battle
that unfortunately will end tragically.n 1929 and 1932.
Alexandre
Alexeieff
(1901-1982) was an indirect student of Bartosch, he was a painter,
book illustrator, printmaker and stage designer. In 1932, after a
careful research that occupied him for some time, he realized a
strange and original technical equipment that he will call écran
d'épingles (screen pins). It consisted of a board pierced by
hundreds of thousands of small holes, through which flowed many steel
pins. Being able to vary at will the length of the individual pins
and illuminating the table, he could obtained on the surface of the
table lights and shadows properly arranged to form any image.
After
a year and a half of working, Alexeieff and his wife Claire Parker
completed in 1933, their first work: a kinetic view of the symphonic
poem of Mussorgsky Une
nuit sur le Mont Chauve.
In
1943 in Canada they
produced a short film illustrating a Canadian folk song entitled En
passant.
Respectively
in 1963 and 1972 were
made the movies Le
nez,
based on the story by Gogol, and Tableaux d'une exposition, based on
some of the themes of the homonymous piano works by Mussorgsky.
The
exponent
of animation in the postwar period is Paul Grimault (1905-1994) who
made several movie-themed fairy tale, in which, however, there
was a clear political commitment.
We
can mention also the works of Jean-François Laguionie, a student of
Grimault, where the magic fairy atmoshere turns into a heartfelt
meditation on man, with movies like La
demoiselle et le violoncelliste
(1965) and Une
bombs par hasard
(1968), and of Jacques Colombat with Calaveras
(1969) and La
montagne qui accouche (1973).
The
couple
composed by René
Laloux and Roland Topor,
formed in the sixties, realised Le
temps morts
(1964), made in black and white, it's a collage of different images,
which is nothing more than a series of variations on a single theme:
the death and the horror of death. Les
escargots
made in colors the following year, is a tale set in a surreal
and apocalyptic tragic dimension, and finally The
planète sauvage
of 1972 is a science fiction story with a clear pacifist message.
In
the sixties and seventies in France will be formed a group of artists
gathered around the house of production Cinémation, called the
"Young Turks", including names such as Jacques Leroux and
Manuel Otero, which created
a cinema made of cartoons of "dispute ". In England, the
production is concentrated mainly around the production company Halas
and Batchelor, founded in 1940. It was an industrial production that
was dedicated both to the cinema for children film and consumption.
Among the commercial series we can cite Foo-Foo
and Snipp
Snapp
and, made in the 60s, a movie for the cinema called History
of the Cinema (1956)
and Automania
2000 (1963).
George
Dunning (1920-1979)
also starts an activity that led him to create some of the most
interesting films of British animation. Like The
Wardrobe (1960), and
absurd Kafkaesque story of two men and a mysterious box. Other films
worth to be mentioned are The
Apple (1962) and The
Flying Man (1962).
In 1968 Dunning directed the film feature, based on the drawings by
Heinz Edelmann, The
Yellow Submarine,
with lyrics and songs by Beatles.
In
Belgium, the studio Belvision in 1959 gave rise to the television
series Tintin. Ray Goossens began to produce at the end of the
sixties the film Asterix
the Gaul
and the film Lucky
Luke
(1971). In the same years (1960-66) the series of adventures of the
Smurfs
was produced.
In
the Federal Republic of Germany, the animated film was closely
related to the advertising and television. An animation industry
didn't exist as in the other European countries, which would allow a
regular production of films.
In
Netherland we can highlight the works of Ronald
Bijlsma,
the best of which is probably Het duel (The Duel, 1966), a short
antifeminist and antiwedding film. It should be also noted the
television series Barbapapa
(id., 1973-74) produced by Marten Toonder Studio, which had a big
success.
In
the socialist countries of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union the
animated film developed on two levels: on one hand the film is
devoted to childhood, is built by quite rigid contents and is a flat
imitation of the Disney style, on the other hand
the film is devoted to political propaganda commitments, not
excluding a certain satirical and humorous content. Other socialist
countries developed a national animation film that often took
inspiration by the tradition of folklore and folk art.
Since
the Thirties there is a strong emphasis and commitment to production
in the field of cinema for children. The American cartoon in the
Disney version, is imposed gradually as a model to be imitated, and
the themes and subjects are increasingly derived from the fairy-tale
world. The
most important figure of the Soviet cartoon of thirties and for the
next decades is Ivan
Ivanov-Vano
(1900-1987). He realized in 1932 in collaboration with L. Amalrik,
Blek
end uait
(Black and white), based on the poem of the same name by Mayakovsky,
and then Skazka
or care Durandae
(The Tale of Tsar Durando, 1934), in collaboration with the sisters
Brumberg, Tri
musketera
(The Three Musketeers, 1938), IVAs (1940). During the war he
dedicated to propaganda film.
As
far the other socialist countries are concerned, the production of
Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia stands out clearly. In Czechoslovakia
there is a tradition of animated puppets thanks to the works of Jirí
Trnka (1912-1969), of Hermína Týrlová and Karel Zeman (1910-1989).
With
the creation in 1956 of the Zagreb Film in Yugoslavia a group of
authors begins to gather and surely among them the best known is
Vukotic
(192-1998), author of works such as Surogat
(The surrogate 1961) - that was enough for Vukotic to be the first
Oscar awarded to a non-American animated film - Sedmi
kontinent
(The Seventh Continent 1966) and Ars
gratia artis
(1969).
The
first italian animated film was made in Turin in 1916 by Giovanni
Pastrone,
the director of Cabiria,
in collaboration with Segundo de Chomón and was La
guerra e il sogno di Momi
a live film in which there was a dreamy scene made with the
animation of objects.
We
can not speak of about a true Italian production of animated films
until the '30s, when it began to work for advertising film.
There
are two feature films begun in 1942 and completed both only after the
war: La
rosa di Baghdad
by Anton
Gino Domeneghini
and I
fratelli Dinamite
by
Nino
and Toni Pagot.
The Italian animators of post-war was devoted almost exclusively to
advertising. In 1957, the national television began to broadcast
advertising with a special formula of "Carosello": they had
to produce short television series shows to be combined with an
advertising message.
The
Carosello was loved especially for the drawn characters – from Unca
Dunca
by Bozzetto
to the Linea
of Cavandoli,
from Calimero
by Pagot
to the plasticine by Fusako
Yusaki
created for Fernet.
Gino
and Roberto Gavioli
created La
lunga
calza verde
(1961) and
the feature film for childre Putiferio
va alla guerra
realised in 1967.
Guido
Manuli
produced Solo
un bacio
(1983), a parody of White Snow by Disney, Monster
Mash
(2000) and he directed Aida
degli Alberi
(2001).
Gibba
(Francesco Maria Guido) produced L'ultimo
Sciuscià (1947) and
Manfredo Manfredi was the author of Dedalus
(1976)
nominate for Oscar award.
In
the '60 Giulio Gianini and Emanuele Luzzati produced films with paper
puppets that were relate to sicilian pupi tradition: La
Gazza Ladra
(1962), Pulcinella
(1973)
L'Italiana
in Algeri
(1968), insipered by Rossini's music, and Il
Flauto Magico
(1978).
In
1977, the "Carosello" was deleted from the RAI and replaced
by more direct advertising, so the animation productions crumbled.
Later
on RAI promoted several new Italian series such as "Lupo
Alberto"
by Silver,
"Pimpa"
by Altan
or Winx
club
by Igino Straffi.
JAPANESE
CINEMA ANIMATION
In
1917 there was the first animation movie titled Imokawa Mukuzo
Genkanban no Maki (The porter Imokawa Mukuzo) of Hekoten Shimokawa
(1892-1973), a real experiment because the author "invented"
the animation
techniques.
These
ancient Japanese films are inspired by the Kabuki theater and popular
legends.
In
1932 there is the first animated film with sound realised by Kenzo
Masaoka and titled Chikara to Onna no Yo no Naka (What matters in the
world are the power and women).
Momotaro
no Umiwashi
(Momotaro the eagle of the sea) and Momotaro
Umi no Shimpei
(Momotaro the divine sailor) by Mitsuyo Seo, realised in 1943 and
1944, tell the story of a mythological character That fights agains
demons.
In
1963 starts the first animated television series, Tetsuwan
Atom
(Atom by arm wrestling) by Osamu Tezuka (1928-1989).
The
relationship between the animation (anime) and comics (manga) is
crucial in Japanese industry.
Other
important works to mention are: Shonen
Sarutobi Sasuke
(The Little Samurai, 1959) Taiji Yabushita, Kimba
the White Lion
(Jungle Taitei, 1965) and Senya ichia monogatari (The Thousand and
One Nights, 1969) by Osamu Tezuka, Puss
in Boots
(Nagagutsu or Haita neko, 1969) by Kimio Yabuki.
Yoji
Kuri (Tokyo, 1928) has been a “dispute” symbol with his works
such as Human
Zoo
(1960), the cruel war of the sexes, The
Man Next Door
(1965) which describes the reactions of a man continually disturbed
by the noises that come from the adjoining room and Crazy
World
(1970).
In
the seventies emerged some television series such as Mazinger
(1972) and Atlas
Ufo Robot Goldrake
(1975), both taken from comic by Go Nagai.
These
series, purchased by RAI and broadcasted at the end of the seventies
in Italy, met a considerable success but also shocked audiences
accustomed to American cartoons from the tone much more "quiet".
In
the 1983 the home video anime started to diffuse, with the appearance
of the OAV (Original Anime Video), that are anime designed directly
for the market of videotapes. The first OAV, the sci-fi Dallos:
Remember Bartholomew (1983), opens the way for a new revolution to
understand anime.
