The History of Animation

Animation is a way of making a movie from many still images. The images are put together one after the other and played at a fast speed to give the impression that the pictures are moving.

Animation is very popular and has been around for over 100 years.

How Are Animations Created?

The animation company Pixar use a Zoetrope for their animations. A Zoetrope is a cylinder spinning tool to make their sculptures appear to move.

History of Animation

The first animation recorded on standard picture film was called Humorous Phases by the animator J. Stuart Blackton, some people call the father of animation. Although this clip might not be impressive now, it was back in 1906 as people had never seen a moving picture before!

Have a look at the clip below:

We can’t talk about animation and not include Mickey Mouse! He looks a little different now, but this was the first ever appearance.

In 1928 Walt Disney made an animation called ‘Steamboat Willie’ it was the first cartoon with the sound printed on the film. This film was the beginning of many brilliant Disney films.

In 1933 The film King Kong used stop motion to created the terrifying animated character.

We will be using this technique this week to recreate our stories.

In 1937 Walt Disney releases Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the first animated feature film to use hand-drawn animation.

As animation got more and more popular shows were adapted for television, like the 1980’s tv show the Flintstones.

“Who framed Roger Rabbit” was the first feature film to have live-action (real people in real life settings) and cartoon characters share the same screen.

Jurassic Park mixed animatronics, stop-motion and CGI to create the most photo-realistic animated creatures ever before seen on screen

The company who made Toy Story is called Pixar, Toy story is the first entirely computer generated feature film. It shows how far animation has come since 1906

Challenge time

Answer some or all of the questions!

1. How many years has animation been around for?
2. What is the name of the spinning tool Pixar uses for their animations?
3. What type of motion was used in the film King Kong to animate the monkey?
4. What famous mouse did Walt Disney bring to life?
5. What is your favourite animation film or television show?