Animation Milestones
Innovation and creativity continue to make the world of animation an altogether fascinating and entertaining realm. Directors, artists and writers continue to show the way there is no limit to what can be created. As animation continues to evolve, we should recognize some important milestones along the way. These milestones may not have been the first of their kind, but they were certainly prolific enough to be recognized worldwide. Steamboat Willie Steamboat Willie is a black-and-white short debuted November 18th, 1928. It kick-started the “Golden Age of Animation.” Steamboat Willie is not noted for being the first animated cartoons combined with sound. Instead, it was the first animated short with a soundtrack of music and interactive dialogue between characters. It also had clever sound effects. It’s been almost a century since Steamboat Willie graced cinema screens around the country. It brought an end to silent animation. The animated piece was goofy and lighthearted. When you think about it though, it wasn’t the content of the animated cartoon, but rather what it represented. Steamboat Willie was one of Walt Disney’s earliest creations. Walt Disney, as you probably know, is still accredited as one of the most monumental animation studios. This was but a stepping-stone that would evidently lead to the great Mickey Mouse. Steamboat Willie is not known for the quality of its piece, but how ahead of the times it was. It was but the beginning of animated picture combined with sound to tell a story. The short was the first of its kind.
Feature-Length Animation In 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released. It was based on a well-known German fairy tale. The production piece is well known for being the first full-length animated feature film. In 1938, the movie grossed $8 million worldwide. It was the highest-grossing sound film at the time. It’s been almost 75 years since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs began smashing records in movie theaters around the nation and world. Sergei Eisenstein, a critically acclaimed director, is but one of the many people who gave the movie extreme praise for its accomplishments and craft. The movie is praised and loved by many because of the great storytelling and artistry it displayed. It was no longer about singing animals. The film also featured Disney’s technical innovation like the use of a multi-plane camera that gave animated characters and settings an illusion of depth that hadn’t yet been seen. Combining Animation and Live-Action Before Mary Poppins and Space Jam, came The Three Caballeros. In 1944, Walt Disney released the animated music film, The Three Caballeros. Donald Duck and friends ventured around Latin America in the feature film. What set this apart from other movies? It was a combination of live-action and animation. Today’s films are certainly sophisticated and evolved, but the 1944 film was groundbreaking because it was the first of many to come. It inspired the greats like Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Rise of Animation on Television Hanna-Barbera Productions is highly responsible for leading the pack in regards to the influential presence of animation on TV. The Flintstones and TheJetsons were incredibly successful animated TV shows loved all over. The Flintstones premiered in September of 1960. It went on to run for six seasons. The Stone Age family continues to be a major part of pop culture today. The animated series was inspired by the TV series The Honeymooners. Like the families featured on The Honeymooners, The Flintstones revolved around working-class families facing every-day trials and tribulations of maintaining relationships with family and friends, with a prehistoric twist. Interestingly enough, the success of the Flintstone family lead to the creation of The Jetsons—a family living in a futuristic world. Animation Directed at Adults In 1972, Ralph Bakshi debuted his first written and directed animated comedy film—Fritz the Cat. The animated film was based on a comic strip created by Robert Crumb.
Wondering what makes Fritz the Cat so important? It was the first animated film to receive an X-rating in the U.S. The main focus is a cat named Fritz, living in New York City in the mid 1960s. The anthropomorphic feline glorifies a life that idealizes hedonism and other taboo subjects at the time. The satire mainly focuses on college life in America. It also touches base on other issues like race, the free love movement and politics. It went on to become the highest grossing independent animated film. The film embodied controversy and truth, which definitely spoke volumes of the statement Bakshi was attempting to make. Fritz the Cat was controversial because of its rating and the content it would revolve around. It may have been offensive to viewers when it was first-released, but it’s notably become an inspiration for adult animation today. Shows like Family Guy and Futurama embody similar themes today. The birth of animation is hard to pinpoint. However, one thing is for sure, the only thing consistent about animation is that it continues to change and evolve in response to its audience. Character design has become more sophisticated and detailed. Shows and characters have been created to more accurately depict real-life all over the world. The same continues to be true for video game animation and other realms of the animated world. The situations characters face are similar to what we see in a real-world situation. That’s why animation continues to hold a dear place in our hearts, no matter how old we may be. Powerhouse Animation is a traditional 2D animation studio based in Austin, Texas with offices in Burbank, California. Since 2001, Powerhouse has been making ideas come to life through animation, illustration, and motion graphics. With a staff of 35 in-house artists, animators, videographers and designers, Powerhouse works on a wide variety of projects and has created animation for companies including Disney, Sony, Marvel, DC, Old Spice, Coca Cola, Miramax, the USO and more. To learn more about some of these projects visit PowerhouseAnimation.com.