Both early methods of animation, Emile Cohl’s Fantasmagorie (1908) and Winsor McCay’s Gertie the Dinosaur (1914), employ a conventional hand-drawn technique of 2D line animation comprised of hundreds of drawings that portray the art of movement. A distinction from Cohl’s approach is that, rather than compiling each frame and shooting it on negative film, McKay’s animation included background objects and scenery, indicating that he not only considered continuity for something other than his character movement but also took a more mounted approach when adding frames. Fantasmagorie has much more of a faster tempo, displaying much more absurdist movements, whereas Gertie the Dinosaur took a much slower pace, allowing the viewer to settle into the environment while slowly introducing the titular features of Gertie, given that she was a much more realistic character.
Both animations take a novel approach to storytelling, relying on techniques such as interactive storytelling, whether it be interacting with objects on the screen or even with the narrator/audience members themselves. Fantasmagorie features a fast-moving stickman interacting with a few objects, continually shifting and reshaping to fit the new setting. This animation has a familiar feel to it, being originally inspired by the fantasmograph, lanterns that projected shadows onto the walls, which explains the video’s general visual and somber ambiance. Gertie did use a similar method of interacting with her environment, but McCay took a unique approach by having the narrator act as her handler, commanding the puerile Gertie to perform all sorts of tricks and maneuvers, which added a sense of realism to the character, which really convinced you that this 2d creation was a living, breathing organism among us.
