What Is The Oldest Animated Film
There are two main categories of animated films: feature-length productions and short animations. A feature-length film is defined as longer than one minute, and some examples include The Lion King, Finding Nemo, or Madagascar!
Short animations are usually less than a minute long, such as an animation of someone eating popcorn or swimming in a puddle. These typically use events from our daily lives to create scenes and emphasize storytelling through editing.
Some people consider anything over a few minutes to be a short movie, but we will stick with our definition here!
In this article, we will discuss what is probably the oldest surviving example of full length animated filmmaking: Peking Man. This documentary style film was created in 1939 by filmmaker George Gaynes and producer John Newell. It features the story of early human evolution in Africa and Asia, and it is fully hand drawn, making it unique today.
Gaynes and Newell were both professionals at their time, so this project did not come together overnight. They took around a year to complete filming, editing and marketing the movie for its theatrical release.
The Wizard of Oz
In 1939, American filmmaker Walt Disney released his first feature length film - The Wonderful World of Color. Titled simply The Story Of The Lion And The Mouse, it was set in Africa with live action and animated sequences. It focused on two animals who meet for the first time and develop friendship while exploring the surrounding area.
The story is told through a mix of still images and short clips that have been filmed and edited into continuous scenes. This technique, which we now call animation, was new back then!
In an era before digital cameras, all of the films had to be done using expensive silver-film processings. Therefore, most films were only able to use up few shots per sequence - no longer than five or six minutes long.
This didn’t matter too much when people watched movies as they waited for hours to watch a three minute segment, but things are different today. People want more content, shorter attention spans and technology such as YouTube allows for infinite amounts of content.
It’s easy to get lost in movie making when you add sound, music and settings. But what if there was a way to combine everything into one? An artist could draw inspiration from the earlier limited cartoons and create their own style within this genre. That is exactly what happened!
A number of artists have experimented with how to blend together both live action and animation, creating a new style that is called Animatic Films.
The Lion King
In 2013, Disney released their thirteenth feature film titled The Lion King. It is one of the most well-known films in its franchise and has won several awards for its incredible screenplay, production value, and overall storytelling.
A large part of the movie’s success comes from its use of various animation styles and techniques to tell its story. One such technique is called interlacing or crosscutting, where separate scenes are linked together into one continuous piece.
In The Lion King, this happens almost every twenty minutes. When it does, what changes is the setting and/or mood of the scene. For example, when Mufasa (the father) dies, his son Simba (the heir) becomes king. Then, later in the movie when he returns as an adult, he is no longer the young cub that was mourning his dead dad. He now has his own pride and duties!
This link between settings and emotions helps emphasize how much The Lion King really brings up important issues. Things like death, inheritance, adulthood, etc. All can be seen clearly through the characters.
101 Dalmatians
Released in 1996, 101 Dalmatians is an animated movie that has gone down as one of Disney’s most beloved films. It follows the story of a businessman who adopts ten orphaned puppies he names after the numbers 1 through 10.
The film is set around Christmas time when the dogs enter into his home to greet him for the first time. He quickly learns that they are not very friendly, but before long he gets them all jobs at his company so he can test their skills.
When he eventually lets them go, they take off on their own adventure across Europe looking for love and companionship. Along the way, they meet many different characters and learn important lessons about friendship.
The Little Mermaid
Many consider Disney’s 1989 animated feature, The Little Mermaid to be one of their greatest achievements. Not only is it well-loved by moviegoers across all generations, but it has also paved the way for other successful films. An example of this is its influence over future mermaid stories. While not directly inspired by The Little Mermaid, several subsequent features include at least some references to or parallels with the characters and themes introduced in that film.
In 2009, DreamWorks released an independently produced direct-to-video sequel titled Finding Dory. Like The Little Mermaid, the story focuses on a mute protagonist who must learn to speak after being saved from drowning. However, the character in this case is a fish named Dory who finds herself separated from her family.
Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton adapted his own script for this sequel which he co-wrote with Chris Butler. He even went as far to say that The Little Mermaid was what gave him the idea to make the same type of story happen to another species!
Another popular franchise that incorporates many elements first seen in The Little Mermaid are the Super Smash Bros games. These video games have players choose between various Nintendo protagonists such as Mario, Link, Pikachu, and more. Each fighter can use weapons and powerup cards that relate to characters and settings from earlier games in the series.
The most recognizable item in these games is probably the fin used to swim underwater.
The Aristocats
In November 2005, just over a year ago, Walt Disney Animation Studios released their first feature length film- The Aristocats. It is quite possibly one of the most well known animated movies ever made.
The movie tells the story of a young cat named Thomas who inherits his father’s apartment along with all of his belongings including some leather shoes that he cannot bear to part with.
One day while walking down the street, an old lady gives him these fuzzy white balls which turn out to be cat toys. He takes them back home where they inspire another kitten to join him and his new family.
This newly formed group of two cats then decide to look for other members of their species and soon enough they have found many more. All of these kittens are born at the same time in separate locations around town but they seem to know what everyone else is thinking and everything happens pretty naturally.
Eventually though, this pack of twenty something cats decides it was time to find somewhere warm and cozy to settle in together so they go looking for a house to live in.
But no matter how hard they try, they can never seem to find a place that fits them and their needs so they come up with a creative solution; they build their own!
They gather lots of wood and stone from various areas of the city and construct themselves a large shelter with three floors, a basement, and even a rooftop space.
Toy Story
In 1995, Pixar released its first feature length film - what many consider to be one of the greatest animated films ever made! Titled “Toy Story”, it follows an old toy named Woody who is accidentally left behind when his owner moves out. He finds himself in a new home with several other toys that he grows close to over time.
This movie inspired many others since then including “Monsters Incorporated”, which features monsters living together in a children’s room, and “Finding Dory”, where a fish-loving character looks for her past self. Both of these movies are considered by some to be among the top 10 highest grossing films of all time.
With more than 1.3 billion views on YouTube alone, this film has proven itself very popular. It won two Academy Awards, making it one of the most successful animated films of all time. Many people enjoy reading about the production process of the movie so that they can learn how to make their own cartoons like professionals!
If you love animation, watch “Toy Story” at least once. Not only will you enjoy watching it, but you may even find yourself laughing or crying along with the characters.