Name That Decade!

Taking into consideration what we've covered thus far in our unit, what decade do you think each of the following cartoons is from and why? (NO CHEATING!)


Cartoon 1



Cartoon 2



Cartoon 3



Cartoon 4



Cartoon 5



Cartoon 6



Cartoon 7



Cartoon 8



Cartoon 9



Cartoon 10



Cartoon 11



Cartoon 12



Cartoon 13



Cartoon 14





Finally, here's a question for you. How much, if at all, and in what ways, has animation changed over the past 25 years?

1986



2010

A Brief History of Animation Part II - PERFECTION: the 30s and 40s

1936



1937



1941



1943

80 Years of Popeye in 30 Minutes

If you're interested in seeing the history of American animation, all you need to do is watch a handful of Popeye cartoons. Created in 1929, Popeye ran as a newspaper cartoon strip before Fleischer Studios, in 1933, put Popeye in his first animated adventure. "Popeye the Sailor" was actually a Betty Boop short, and Betty makes a cameo about 2/3 the way through the film. Various studios have been making Popeye cartoons off and on for roughly 75 years ever since. Watching these cartoons in chronological order is like watching an animated living history of Amiercan cartoons.

I.  "Popeye the Sailor" (1933)

[The first ever Popeye cartoon]

II.  "Parlez Vous Woo" (1956)

III.  "Popeye's Hypnotic Glance" (circa 1961)

IV.  "Ain't Mythbehavin'" (circa 1987)

V.  Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy  (2004)

The trailer can be found here.

Two questions:  1. Which of the above is your favorite, and why?  2. How are each of these cartoons indicative of the era in which they were created?

Animation Week - How They Did That

A few weeks ago, I shared two clips from "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor," and asked you to pay close attention to the background.

(Go ahead and review the clip, if you need to...I'll wait...Okay, you're back.)

I then asked how you thought they created such incredible 3-dimensional backgrounds, that change and shift as if existing in real space, while only using 1930s technology. Caleb and Will got pretty close.

Well, here's the complete answer...

That's right. They filmed the animation cels in front of a 3D model, then shift the model slightly one direction each time they photographed a new animation cel. That's why you can see shadows shift across the mountains in the background -  the model was being rotated, thus changing the angle of the light in relation to the set.

This process was invented by Fleischer Studios, and they used in quite a few of their Popeye cartoons. It was a pretty expensive process, however, so the shots were usally limited to one or two short scenes in the cartoons in which the process was utilized.

I know computer animation has re-defined the way cartoons are made and viewed, but tell me you wouldn't like seeing Spongebob walking around in a 3D Fleisherized model background. I honestly think that if they brought this kind of hands-on craft to animation, it would invigorate modern cartoons as much as computer animation did a decade ago.

Yes or no?

Animation Week Preview - How'd They Do That?

Here's a brief clip from the animated short cartoon "Popeye the Sailor Meet Sinbad the Sailor." This was produced in 1936, roughly 50 years before animators would be using digital technology to create '3D' envionments. (By '3D' I don't mean the kind with glasses where the image pops off the screen. I mean the kind where the characters and background seem to exist in space, and if you turn the camera, the background turns with you. Think Pixar. As opposed to traditional hand-drawn cel animation where the backgrounds were '2D' and basically just tracked left and right or up and down.)

As you watch this clip, be sure to pay special attention to the background.

 

Pretty cool, huh? See how it moves and shifts? Here's another one:

 

Here's the question: how'd they do that?