Journal Entry – Week 3

I believe the reasoning why animated films was based on print comics was because no matter what age you were a 10 year old kid or a 50 year old adult you were still be able to enjoy the animation of the film and also the story line that goes with it.

We have seen that many early animated films, particularly in the US, were based on print comics. I think that because back then the did comic anumation as well a lot of drawing and paper work to make it happen. Because of that people started to love it and due to that artsist and cretaers started to copy off and use off eachother especially the technology and techniques artist used to make the comic or comic animation happen. One thing about comics that would make them an appropriate subject for film is the language as well they idea of using they other artists techniques qnd technology and applying it to their work.

Week3

On Emile Cohl’s “ Fantasmagorie” we can see a black background, no hear no sound, at some point we can see the hands of the creator. On Winsor Mclay’s “ Gertie The Dinosaur” we can see something more elaborate than ”Fantasmagorie” by Emile Cohl. For example, The name of the director, real people, walking, talking between them, we see buildings, cars, trees. Also, the description of what is happening at certain moments of the video on little paragraphs, It has no sound, we see natural motion.

On the Gertie part we see more fluid motion than “ Fantasmagorie”. Gertie has interaction and do what the creator said. We see water and rocks. We see emotions like crying and smiling.

After watching McCay’s “Gertie the Dinosaur” and Cohl’s Fantasmagorie, I’ve noticed that they are both black and white silent animated shorts. A few differences I took note of is that Cohl’s Fantasmagorie seems to have a constant flow of movement with no pauses whatsoever. However, “Gertie the Dinosaur”, is more slow-paced and is focused more on the character interacting with the artist. You can see this concept a lot in earlier animation as well as referenced in today’s animation.

Print comics had more stories played out so it was easier to flesh out what the animation was. There were already keyframes there. It was kind of like a storyboard in a way.

I think the only reason why the animation films was based on print comics is because it has to be drawn inspiration from the old comics that is from the previous years and make it very easier in order to make the characters to feel relatable to the audience in real life.

I think that reason that many early animated films, particularly in the US, were based on print comics was that it was probably popular and when animated they already had an outline to go off so it was probably easier because they had a character design and a script. in comic books, they probably had a character or a story that would appeal to a particular set of audience. A good example of this is spider-man the words everyone remembers are “with great power comes great responsibility”.

Winsor McCay’s “Gertie the Dinosaur” is more of an interactive anime that gives the audience a sense of connection to the character “Gertie” and the setting is more stationed and not changing scenary. Emile Cohl’s “Fantasmagorie” animation is multiple short stories that are put together. The character is constantly changing and is a little confusing as to what is going on. Both are comical and have 16 frames per second in their films.

Prompt 1

Winsor McCay’s “Gertie the Dinosaur” and Emile Cohl’s “Fantasmagorie”, both are drawn using simple line drawings although overall “Gertie the Dinosaur” looks more detailed and realistic, and Cohl uses morphing, stick figures, and different shapes to draw the characters and objects in the movie. Both movies are silent. Both are black and white, but Cohl uses black color for the background, and McCay’s background is drawn. McCay is interacting with “Gertie the Dinosaur” as he is telling the dinosaur to perform different tricks whereas “Fantasmagorie,” tells the story without any interaction. 

A lot of cartoons are inspired by comics, and I’m not surprised. It’s a ready-made story and many of us want to see our favorite stories come to life. Also, from what I’ve seen, the comic artists and animators tend to be in similar social circles.

Respond to at least 1 prompt on this page (you are welcome to respond to more). For instructions on how to submit a journal entry, please follow these instructions. FORMATTING FOR THIS WEEK: Use the title format “[FirstName] [LastName] W3” and select the Category “Journal Entry – Week 3”

Prompt 1

Watch Winsor McCay’s “Gertie the Dinosaur” and Emile Cohl’s “Fantasmagorie”. Compare these two early styles of animation. What is similar, and what is different in their approaches? How are lines used? How are backgrounds used? What about the storytelling?

Prompt 2

We have seen that many early animated films, particularly in the US, were based on print comics. Why do you think that is? What was there about comics that would make them an appropriate subject for film?