Toy Story (1995) - Establishing New Tools to Tell the Story

1995 John Lasseter's Toy Story is the world's first feature-length CGI cartoon, heralding the biggest animation revolution since Steamboat Willie. ( Steamboat Willie is famous for being the first animation with syncronized sound). John Lasseter was the director for the animation.

Company dicided to make the feature-lenght animation about toys after creating an animated short Tin Toy and seeing a potential in developing and producing the idea.

So the story is, as it‘s titeled about Toys. The daily rutine, adventures and lives they experience.
But as it is true to all Pixar aniamtions, regardless the technicall side of it ( wheter it‘s a first-time used computer technology or just generally peace of marvelous CG) the focus is always on th story and the characters, believing that the technical part plays as a tool to convey the idea‘s.

The impact this animation as well as the company created is clearly evident . The production of 3D animation during those 15 years developed and we now get to see other marvelous works such as Monster Inc., Up from the same company, or Shrek, Kung Fu Panda from Dreamworks studio.

The Skeleton Dance (1929) and The Silly Symphonies

In 1928 the sound was first applied to animation by Walt Disney who saw the huge potential (Steamboat Willie was the first animation with synchronized sound). It was then suggested not only to use the sound but base entire animation on it.

Subsequently in 1929 The Skeleton Dance was created (entirely by one animator Ub Iwerks)

It‘s an animated short based little on the story, but heavily on the performance, that‘s as mentioned before, is directed by the music/sound.

It was the first of many series of the Silly Symphonies, animated shorts produced by Walt Disney Productions for the next 10 years. Looney Tunes cartoons known today were inspired by the Silly Symphonies.

Hayao Miyazaki

To begin with, Hyao Miyazaki is Japanese animator. And to cut it to the end, he is often titled as god of animation between many world's most famous animators (to give one example, John Lasseter - chief creative officer at Pixar).

According to various sources of information, Miyazaki is perhaps best known for his richly realized fantasy worlds and memorable female characters.

His animation never lacks of realism be it objects and characters we are all familiar with or fantastical creatures and places.

For instance. Haku, the dragon from Spirited Away was animated referencing the behaviors of dog (particularly the way jaws work), snake and a dragon. By applying the different characteristics of movement to the character design Miyazaki together with studio Ghibli produce believable performances.

And when it comes to Myiazaki‘s heroines, they seem never lack nurturance, compation , that are feminine, on the other hand the unfeminine characteristics like active independence and strength in the face of dangers are what‘s considered to make them so remarkable. To dig deeper, Miyazaki at the same time creates female characters that in Japanese culture are widely recognized and defined as Shoujo, and gives new aspects to their personalities thus surprising the audience used to conventional protagonists ( western audience is surprised as well, since it is used to male protagonist that exhibit strength, independence and courage, not female ones).

But in fact, if someone was there to look how he constructs his animations, he would definitely find deep thoughts and meanings, not to mention symbols and clues or traditional elements from Japanese culture. Therefor, it could be concluded, his works become a memorable and rich experience.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)

also dubbed as Disney‘s Folly was the first 83 minutes long animated feature that changed the parameters and the format of cartoon. (before that there were mainly only 6-10 minute long animations).It was considered a project insane.

It was also the first animation that released the soundtrack album for the motion picture. To continue even further it was technically brilliants, fascinating techniques, such as realistic, human like animation with the help of the rotoscope and the multiplane camera (special motion picture camera used in the traditional animation process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another) to imitate 3D effects.

The film also established relatively new thinking about the personalization of characters. The seven dwarfs all had different characterizations that not only were believable and memorable but also separated each one of them as individuality.

This was the second version of Brother Grimm‘s tale of Snowhite ( the first one being five minute long animation in 1933) except the sexual references or violence, more like a sanitized version of the story.

So the story, as probably well known, is about a girl with a rare beauty called Snowhite, who drives her stepmother jealous for this reason. The girl is sent to the woods to be killed there, but fortunately the Hunstman spares her life and lets her go. She then finds a mysterious house and soon after the seven dwarfs, the owners of the place. The story goes to Snowhite being wickedly fooled and killed by the witch (the stepmother) and finally saved by the prince at the very end.

The film literarily opened doors for the many other animated features, since it reestablished the parameters of the animation and made the what first looked as insanity become a norm so today we have many many animated features.

Steamboat Willy (1928)

The huge success of the Jazz singer in early 1928 had opened prospect of talking pictures.

Steamboat Willy was the first cartoon created that had synchronized sound in the same years of 1928.

When the animation with the synchronized sound on top was first played for the audience, Walt Disney recalls: "The effect on our little audience was nothing less an electric... It was terrible, but it was wonderful! And it was something new!"

At that time this idea that moving fictional drawn characters could mimic life, that is, talk, make sounds at that time was understood as something magical and thrilling, The sound used was as unreal as the action all of which is evident in Steamboat Willy.

Watching the Animation one perhaps wouldn’t guess it was the first attempt in synchronizing the sound, since animations that followed took the same approach. On the other hand You’d become aware they are a bit jerky and ruff around the edges.

Nevertheless the sound definitely contributes to the grate impact of animation

Little Nemo (1911) - Winsor McCay

Simply put, Little Nemo revolutionized the comic strip.

While he wasn't the first person to make an animated cartoon, he was the man who defined the industry. The quality of his cartoons would not be matched for another 25 years. His pacing and understanding of the medium was far ahead of his time. And he drew all of the 4,000 cels of his first film, Little Nemo, himself! The Little Nemo film was released to theater and used in his act, as was his second. How a Mosquito Operates - this 6,000 drawings long. When these films were released into wider distribution, McCay's fame spread, especially to the fledgling animation community.

Phantasmagorie (1908) Emilie Cohl

One action morphs into another one or disappears gradually preparing the space for the other to take place. Characters transform into objects in order to keep continuous relationship between them ( for instance one character, the champagne bottle, takes the clown captive then turns into a blossoming flower setting him free and so on),

So you become aware of the good continuity kept throughout the animation.

Phantasmagorie (Fantasmagorie) is considered to be the first fully animated film ever made.

Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) Stuart Blackton

AT the beginning of the animation we se a face actually drawn by hand. And then suddenly a woman figure next to the already drawn man ‘draws itself’ magically.
We see expressions of both change in time. At the very end man blows a ball of smoke into the womens face.

James Stuart Blackton, the creator of this film, is considered to be the father of the animated cartoon.

Homage to Eadweard Muybridge (1877-1885)

http://americanhistory.si.edu/muybridge/img/gifs/i_0_01_ani.gif



Eadweard Muybridge is known as father of animation.He first divided second into fractions (frames) and captured the ordinary movement of human (as well as horses, dogs, cats etc. ) in a way never seen before, showing each stage of walking cycle and other moves ( he proved that there is a moment when all four of horse legs are in the air when running).

The work he did found place in both art and science.