Standard Term Paper Essay: The History of Animation

History Of Animation

        In 1930, animators Hugh Harmon, Isadore Freleng and Rudolf Ising signed a contract with Warner Bros. to create a cartoon series called "Loony Tunes". The main character of the show was a guy named Bosko, and while he continued to be popular, he was never quite the same as Disney's Mickey Mouse. During the next few years, through "Foxy" and "Merry Melodies", the studio suffered a serious decline in creative work. Hugh Harmon was partly at fault for this, being obsessed by the idea that they had to follow in Disney's footsteps.         Following shortly afterwards was an argument between the animators and budget control, prompting the animators to leave the studio.

        Animation in the early 1900's was a lot different than the animation commonly used today. The most common form of animation was Cel Animation , but due to the cost of licensing, many animators used a Slash and Tear system instead. Slash and Tear involved the artist drawing a moving object onto a piece of paper, and then tearing away the extra bits of white, and placing the remaining image over a background. Cel Animation is similar, but uses a clear plastic paper (i.e. the 'cel') upon which the image or character is drawn, and then the image is placed over a static background. Cel Animation has an advantage over Slash and Tear, in that you could take both the background and the foreground, and reposition them to correct an error or to reanimate (as another frame) with a minimum of distortion.

        Creating an animated feature, whether a cartoon, short film, or a full-length film, is a long and complicated process. The first step is to create an idea, and then obtain the resources necessary to produce it. The producer/director would then take the idea and...