Daily Archives: February 14, 2023

4 posts

Tal Sharir – W3

Journal Entry - Week 3

Emil Cohls’s “Fantasmagorie” was created in 1908 and is considered the first fully animated film.
Throughout the animation, we can see how the main character is constantly moving and transitioning without a plot or storyline.

McCay’s “Gertie the dinosaur” was created in 1914 and was shown alongside McCay as part of his act. McCay created an interesting storyline of Gertie, a dinosaur whose behavior is similar to a pet (such as a dog or a cat), and he timed the animation to move precisely according to his show so that Gertie appeared to be responsive to McCay while he talked.

I noticed some similarities between the two animations. In both, there is a main character, and they are both drawn in black and white, without color. On the other hand, the two animations have many differences. Unlike McCay’s animation, Cohls’s has no background and no storyline. The Fantasamagorie is a bit abstract, while Gertie the dinosaur has more concrete elements. In addition, Gertie’s movements has an illusion of depth, making her appear either closer or further away from the viewer. Cohl’s drawings are relatively simple, while McCay’s illustrations are more detailed and precise, especially in Gertie’s movements and the background.

In many aspects, I think that there is much effort that was put into both works. However, the work of McCay stands out because it had innovative techniques that are now considered the standard in the animation industry, more detailed drawings and storyline.

Cristina Reaboi W2

Journal Entry - Week 2

Prompt1

Looking at examples of pre-cinema animation from 1450 and early cinema animation 1900, I find it fascinating. From the invention of magic lanterns, praxinoscope etc was achieved to invention and development of motion pictures cameras, projectors etc.

The common is obvious- images in motions. It started as means of entertainment, spread of information, storytelling, engaging human senses(visual, auditory) as well emotions as we can see it in the phatasmagoria. Both pre cinema and early cinema animation are a byproduct of scientific development and social change.

The evolution of machinery, invention of new tools, and themes do set apart the pre and early cinema animation. Magic lanterns were mostly a traveling show, individually hand painted photographic glass slides and the zoetrope was just a motion device. Early cinema animation was stationary, people would travel to theater to experience it. In early cinema we can see animated effects, double exposure, stop motion, lightning sketch, tricks and more other elements to create a short film.

Kaijie Sun W2

Journal Entry - Week 2

The form of art I have experienced are hand puppets. I have done hand puppet as a project once during elementary school as a project and it was harder than I expected. We had to make the puppet by sewing, our sewing experience doesn’t match up with our creativity. The hardest part was acting. You have to show the emotions of the character based on your voice and mainly the motion of the puppet. This is a little similar to shadow puppets since they both use puppets but shadow puppets seem harder to do. The audience for each of the storytelling are different too. Hand puppets are more for children while shadow puppets are more for older people. Shadow puppets might be harder to understand for children. I have seen a few shadow puppet shows when I was a kid and I did not understand what the story was about.

prompt 2

Journal Entry - Week 2

One form of limited storytelling I’ve seen was on You Tube is sand art https://youtu.be/_jfS2rybDOg. A camera would be faced with a large lit box. The room is dark, and the only thing you see is the sand and artist’s hands. The artist would get a handful of sand and use different movements pouring the sand, placing it sometimes, and using their fingers to make illustration. The art form kind of work is a little bit like charcoal where the artist can put more in certain places to make shadows or pull back to make lighting. The only thing I can think of for me the only limited storytelling is comic strip or little flip book animation sort of like the ones you see the captain underpants books.