It must be a sin to be an animation student

(Written earlier....)

Here I am sitting at the college cafeteria munching a bag of chips, and reflecting on my first week of 2010 and a new school quarter after a month-long trip overseas. Aside from the obvious chores of running a household with two messy kids, my days are primarily occupied by running, watching films, discussing films, making films and lots of drawing. Frankly I'm feeling a little guilty just how much I'm loving it. Both my parents worked hard at their jobs throughout my childhood not always able to do what their hearts desired. The same was expected of me - finish college and hold down a job in my trained discipline for the rest of my life. Being able to pursue my dream is a big leap of faith and a diversion from what I was taught; hence the guilt.

Ah well. I'll get over it. :-)

Last week in my History of Animation class we watched films from the earliest days of animation. Four hours of class made up entirely of watching and discussing films in a comfortable screening room (Uh-oh, the guilt setting in again...). It's a real eye opener to see how animation as an art form has progressed in the last 100 years, which is roughly how long it has existed on the big screen.

Here is a 1912 short film by Winsor McCay who predates Walt Disney and was a foremost pioneer of the genre. He was ahead of his time by using techniques such as z-axis (movements toward or away from the camera) and multiple prospectives. Many of the earliest film makers came from stage theater where only one prospective was available to the viewers. McCay's use of multiple prospectives was new and a significant contribution.

The film was made before the practice of drawing characters on cel to avoid redrawing the background. So every frame had to be drawn from scratch. This is the reason that earlier animated films tend to be 'jumpy' as it is difficult to retain the same location and form of objects from one frame to the next. For his first animated film 'Little Nemo' based on his comic strip with the same name, McCay drew 4000 drawings in a month and hand painted every frame. Notice the frequent recycling of drawings (repeated movements) in the film; a necessary technique to make the length of the film possible.

Winsor McCay is better known for his films 'Little Nemo' and 'Gertie the Dinosaur', both can be found on YouTube.