5. 1906
Humorous phases of funny faces
Humorous Phases of Funny Faces is a silent
cartoon by J. Stuart Blackton released in 1906. It
features a cartoonist drawing faces on a
chalkboard, and the faces coming to life. It is
generally regarded by film historians as the first
animated film. It features movements as where a
dog jumps through a hoop, a scene which actually
uses cutout animation made to look like chalk
outlines. The film moves at 20 frames per second.
6. J. Stuart Blackton
It all began with the 1906 release of Humorous
Phases Of Funny Faces by James Stuart
Blackton. Blackton was originally a journalist
for the New York Evening World, and on March
12, 1896, he was sent to interview Thomas
Edison.
As they talked, Blackton made some
quick sketches that impressed Edison
so much that he invited him to appear
before his newly developed motion
picture camera.
7. Blackton joined Edison and became the co-founder of
Edison's Vitagraph Company, which was later bought by
the Warner Brothers in 1924.
Blackton's first experiment was The Enchanted Drawing
(1900), followed by Humorous Phases (1906) and
Lightning Sketches (1907). But these were more of the
"trick film" variety based on stop motion techniques, and
were not actual animated cartoons in the truest.
8. 1914
Gertie
Gertie the Dinosaur is a 1914 American animated short
film by Winsor McCay.
Although not the first animated film, as is sometimes
thought, it was the first cartoon to feature a character
with an appealing personality. The appearance of a true
character distinguished it from earlier animated “trick
films”, such as those of Blackton and Cohl, and makes it
the predecessor to later popular cartoons such as those
by Walt Disney.
The film was also the first to be created using keyframe
animation. The film has been selected for preservation in the
United States National Film Registry, and was named #6 of The 50
Greatest Cartoons of all time in a 1994 survey of animators and
cartoon historians by Jerry Beck.
9. 1919
Felix the cat
Felix the Cat is a cartoon character created in the silent film era. His black body, white
eyes, and giant grin, coupled with the surrealism of the situations in which his
cartoons place him, combine to make Felix one of the most recognized cartoon
characters in film history. Felix was the first character from animation to attain a level
of popularity sufficient to draw movie audiences.
