Tuesday, July 30, 2019
A comparison of American and Japanese Animation
The origin of the modern day term ââ¬ËAnimationââ¬â¢ derives from the Latin wordà ââ¬ËAnimatusââ¬â¢, meaning simply ââ¬Ë to give lifeââ¬â¢ yet perhaps the earliest known form of animation, the phenakistoscope, derives it name not from Latin but from a Greek term meaning ââ¬Å"deceiving viewerâ⬠.The phenakistoscope, invented in 1833 by the Belgian Joseph Plateau was the forerunner of the more famous (and more commercially available) Zoetrope (Greek: Zoe ââ¬â life / trope ââ¬â wheel) invented in 1834 by George Horner,The earliest fully animated cartoon (as they were then more widely known) was produced by a French strip cartoonist Emile Courtet, who, working under the name Emile Cohl used individually drawn images to create the 1908 two ââ¬â minute long cartoon named Fantasmagorie which subsequently received release in Britain under the title Black and White.The worldââ¬â¢s first ââ¬ËCartoon Starââ¬â¢ Felix the Cat ââ¬Å"walkedâ⬠in to the picture and onto the screen in 1919, the creation of already successful comic strip artist Pat Sullivan, Felix was to both revolutionise cartoon making and introduce manyclichà ©s that are still in effect today. Sullivan utilized all the aspects of the comicstrip such as speech bubbles, ââ¬Ëideaââ¬â¢ light bulbs and the quite literal use of items such as the humble question mark, in order to bring Felix to life. As Denis Gifford explains:â⬠¦[I]f a question mark could be drawn popping out of Felixââ¬â¢s head, then it could just as easily be plucked physically from the sky and used as a handy hook, especially if a milk bottle stood just out of reach. (The Great Cartoon Stars, a Whoââ¬â¢s Who!)While the first cartoon hero may have been a cat, arguably the most famous of all animated stars however, is Mickey Mouse. Featured in ââ¬Å"Steamboat Willieâ⬠(1928) the first commercial cartoon film to ever include sound, Mickey Mouse, looks quite different from th e incarnation familiar to the children of todayIndeed, the ever-changing appearance of animated characters, due mainly to increased improvements in technology has undoubtedly led a much more demanding audience.picture from IMDbà Where we were once charmed by the grainy black and white image of a happily whistling mouse, more sophisticated techniques and the introduction of Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) has opened the door to such astonishing animated films as the Disney-Pixar release ââ¬Å"Shrekâ⬠, the visually stunning ââ¬Å"FinalFantasy- The Spirits Withinâ⬠(the first animated feature to ever attempt toproduce photo-realistic CGI humans) and the deservedly Oscarâ⠢ winning Miyazaki Hayao creation ââ¬Å"The Spiriting Away of Sen and Chihiroâ⬠.Today, animation is everywhere, from televised adverts, childrenââ¬â¢s shows, video games and cinema, animation is no longer simply an art form, but a cultural icon embraced by almost all and guaranteed to instil a childish air of wonder even in the most jaded and cynical of adult hearts.The application of animation in feature films is by no means a new occurrence ââ¬â yet the scope of creativity and imagination shown by todayââ¬â¢s innovators is undeniably impressive and has also been shown to influence more ââ¬Ëmainstreamââ¬â¢ movie directors such as Quentin Tarantino choosing to add an entire ââ¬Å"Animà ©Ã¢â¬ sequence to his movie ââ¬Å"Kill Billâ⬠, to Richard Linklaterââ¬â¢s decision to make his version of Philip K Dickââ¬â¢s ââ¬Å"A Scanner Darklyâ⬠a wholly animated affair.The kings however of the art could only be considered American Disney Studio and Studio Ghibli of Japan.à The purpose in essence of this essay is to conduct a comparison between these two very different innovators of animatic design. Ã
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