HISTORY OF ANIMATION ===>>>

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THE DAWN OF DISNEY

Walt Disney was not an instant success. Originally an advertisement cartoonist, Disney was often turned down. He successfully convinced his brother Roy to invest $1200 to create the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, later renamed the Walt Disney Company at Roy’s suggestion (Kanfer 1997). Their first animations were a series of short films titled Alice Comedies which placed a live-action person in animated surroundings. Later Disney and Ub Iwerks created their first successful animation star, Oswald the Rabbit. However, in a dispute with his distributor Charles B. Mintz, Disney was forced to give up the character. Angered by the loss of Oswald, Disney learned his lesson in retaining full ownership of his characters and, together with Iwerks, went on to find immense success with Mortimer Mouse, later renamed Mickey Mouse. Disney created the first animation ever with post-produced synchronized soundtrack in Steamboat Willie, often considered Mickey Mouse’s first debut. Disney’s work in Steamboat Willy serves as a convenient end bracket, capping the silent period and heralding the golden 1930s and 1940s in which sound provided a whole new dimension for music and comic effects in animation. Indeed, it was the synchronization of sound and color of the Mickey cartoons that would launch the modern age of cartoon (Gifford 1990).Disney also created Silly Symphonies, a series of shorts that won several Academy Awards and were played before feature films.

 

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