Journal Entry – Week 3

Many early films were based of off adaptions for comics because they already had a pre-existing fanbase and an easy story to work with. Comics are similar to animation as they are both defined as different types of image sequences. There was not a lot of pre-production work that had to be done because the comic artists and creator had already done this for them. Additionally, it was generally cheaper for them to work with something already existing instead of making and developing characters for animation which was not a common thing to do back then.

Films were based mainly on print comics because it was widely used as a way to storyboard animations, in their planning, before converting into animation. Furthermore, it was easier because some visual aid as to what should be in the scene, how one should look and etc, can allow for production to be easier. In fact, that’s one of the advantages of using comics because already, you’re given an idea of what to visualize. Versus readings, you will have to resort to your imagination to visualize how a scene should look.

“Gertie the Dinosaur” by Winsor McCay and “Fantasmagorie” by Emile Cohl is both groundbreaking works in the area of animation, and they represent two distinct types of animation. The usage of hand-drawn animation methods is one of the key commonalities between the two films. Nonetheless, the techniques of animation range greatly.

Emile Cohl employed a simplistic and abstract technique of animation in “Fantasmagorie,” creating his figures and environments with a single line. Lines are utilized to generate movement, form, and texture, whereas the background is frequently a static pattern or a plain white screen. Cohl’s animation is more concerned with producing a visual show than delivering a tale, with the characters engaging in numerous stunts and antics.

 Gertie the dinosaur and fantasmagorie both have very limited animation compared to modern animation.  We have today. As far as color voice acting. and slightly SIM and simple art styles with limited motion. They both only use piano for the background music. I would say their differences is Gertie. The dinosaur animation has a lot more frames. The story is a bit more clear than the other one. Gertie is also an animation that is all white with black line well, Fantasmagoire it’s a black background with white lines.fatasgorie is a lot more fast paced The animation is a bit more stiff compared to Gertie the dinosaur. Gertie, the dinosaur has text in a clear narrative.

The animated film was based on print because I believed at that time that’s what they had to tell storyboard and storylines to keep on entertaining. Comic books or in general tell many stories of extraordinary heroes, villains, and family oriented and that’s what makes them so brilliant the filmmaker of spider-man turned it into an incredible movie franchise, that lived on for generations and will leave furthermore in the future. Moreover, we all know if it wasn’t for the Comic books spiderman, X-man, and Wonderwoman, none of those movies wouldn’t exist.

Winsor McCay’s “Gertie the Dinosaur” and Emile Cohl’s “Fantasmagorie” are two of the earliest animated films. “Fantasmagorie” is considered the first wholly animated film and is a series of transformations, with the unnamed main character continually evolving into another scene. Cohl drew each drawing on white paper with a black line and inverted the process for the final product, which was only a little over a minute long.

McCay’s “Gertie” is a more complex short that combines animation and real scenes, with a much longer result at almost 14 minutes. McCay developed techniques, such as using registration marks and identifying key positions, that later became standard in animation.

A notable difference in the films is the inverted process in “Fantasmagorie,” which gives it its black background, whereas “Gertie” has a white background. “Fantasmagorie” is a very fast-paced short with a lot of activity happening with the simplistic, stick-figured main character transforming into several different scenes and objects in what appears to be a very fluid storyline. “Gertie” has a more developed storyline involving the relationship between the main character, Gertie and McCay. Gertie interacts with McCay and engages with other objects in the scenes, such as an elephant and a tree that she devours. Both shorts take on a comical approach.

Emile Cohl’s “Fantasmagorie” and Winsor McCay’s “Gertie the Dinosaur” are one of the few earliest films that was being made, one being in 1908 and other one being in 1914. over the 6 years we can tell that animation had improve immensely, going from a hand drawn to having the use of technology. In Emile Cohl’s work we can see that the first cartoon that was ever being made was being shown through drawing of stick figures. on the other hand, Winsor McCay’s film prove to us that animation can feel realistic and true to our eyes. if Emile is who created cartoon, then Winsor is the one that bring it to life.

I think that the appeal of translating comics into animated films was a mix of three main reasons: animators didn’t need to worry about story telling, the nature and appearance of the characters had already been determined, and most importantly, comics come with a built-in audience.

As someone who dabbles in the arts, you can be really good in a few areas, but maybe not so much in some others. Hand drawn animation is already a daunting and time consuming task. If you’re animating something someone already wrote a story for, all you need to do is focus on making the character move and do the action. It’s already a lot of effort to make a character pick up and drink a glass of water; it’s also not much of a story. Why waste time drawing a character drinking a glass of water when you can focus on making them go on some wacky adventure that someone else wrote?

Having to design what multiple characters should look like is also a daunting task. Each character ought to have their own personality; if you spend the time to design each character, give them their own wardrobe and personality, and end up not using them, that just feels like wasted effort. It’s highly inefficient to do that. Why spend the time designing each character when you can use a pre-made character from a comic?

Finally, comics often have their own fans, which is super important in helping the animators turn a profit. Why waste time, effort, and money on a character that might fail? Comic characters are like celebrities. Would someone be drawn to a movie featuring Mickey Mouse or a random mouse? By making an animated feature on an established character, they are ensuring that they will earn some profit to make up for the time, effort, and money spent on animating the comic character. By featuring a comic celebrity, the animator is ensuring their success.

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.