Animation History

By BryceEB

  • First Hand Drawn Animated Film

    First Hand Drawn Animated Film
    French artist Émile Cohl created the first ever animated film, Fantasmagorie. The film shows a stick figure running into morphing objects. Cohl made the film by drawing each frame on a piece of paper and then shooting it.

  • First Synchronized Sound and Dialogue

    First Synchronized Sound and Dialogue
    Max and Dave Fleischer released Oh Mabel, a seven minute animated short that used Phonofilm to sync sound and footage. It was the first animated film to have a talking character with synced dialogue.

  • Creation of Disney's Steamboat Willie

    Creation of Disney's Steamboat Willie
    Disney's Steamboat Willie is a landmark in the history of animation. It was the first Mickey Mouse film released and the first cartoon with synchronized sound. It threw silent animation into obsolescence.

  • The Multiplane Camera

    The Multiplane Camera
    The device use a series of glass panes with individual elements painted on them. A camera was placed high above all the planes of glass and an image was taken. Then individual panes were moved – and another photo taken. This created a three dimensional world.

  • First Feature Length Cel-Animated Film

    First Feature Length Cel-Animated Film
    The 1937 animated film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Produced by Walt Disney, the film was a massive critical and commercial success – which is incredible for a film that so many thought would bankrupt Disney.

  • Xerography

    Xerography
    Chester Carlson developed a technique later named Xerography. Ub Iwerks used the technique for animation. In 1961, Disney classic One Hundred and One Dalmations truly utilized xerography for the first time in an entire feature length production.

  • First Primetime Animated Television Show

    First Primetime Animated Television Show
    From 1960 through 1966, Hanna-Barbera produced The Flintstones , the first ever primetime animated show. It was the most financially successful animated franchise until the debut of The Simpsons.

  • Computer Animated Hand

    Computer Animated Hand
    University of Utah researchers Ed Catmull and Fred Parke developed a computer animated short of Catmull’s left hand. A Computer Animated Hand used 350 triangles and polygons to create a 3D model.

  • Founding of Pixar

    Founding of Pixar
    Pixar was officially a company in 1986. Before then, it had been a small group of computer animators who worked for Lucasfilm. Steve jobs bought the company, giving them a production studio.

  • First Live-Action and Cartoon Animation Feature Film

    First Live-Action and Cartoon Animation Feature Film
    A live action actor and an animated character would share the screen the entire time in a feature film. The film was produced on a 30 million dollar budget, which was the most expensive animated film ever green-lit at the time. The film used blue screen technology to capture the actors, and the animated characters were added in using traditional cell animation techniques.

  • Computer Animation Production System (CAPS)

    Computer Animation Production System (CAPS)
    A digital ink and paint system used in animated feature films, designed to replace the expensive process of transferring animated drawings to cels using India ink or xerographic technology.

  • First Computer Animated Feature Film

    First Computer Animated Feature Film
    Toy Story was released in theaters, becoming the first entirely computer-animated feature-length film. It was the first film produced by Pixar with Steve Jobs serving as an executive producer.