"Early Abstractions" (1946-57) by Oskar Fischinger



Oskar works with abstract style. In the creation for Disney's Fantasia, Oskar was asked to create an animation for the Toccata Section. Later, the two artist could not work along together and Oskar left the project.

In this Early Abstractions video, a sense of illusion is produced. The tone of the music is bright but repeats in a meditation tone giving it an almost hypnotic feeling. I admire how the audio and images sync accordingly, almost perfect. The colors used are very intriguing too. Because it is so colourful it gives the animation a very playful character. Last but not least I enjoy watching the different layers being animated at the same time and it having smooth transition.

this is Fantasia that Walt Disney produced in the end.


The similarities both the animation have in my opinion is the colours that was used in the beginning. Those bright colours like red, orange, green and yellow against the black silhouete makes both of them look very similar in some ways. I personally enjoy watching the second part of the animation when the style takes off to an abstract style. Fantasia seems to aim adult audience by animating those simple painted brush strokes. This experimental project can be very subjective for it's beauty but I personally enjoy watching this art being animated.

Zoetrope

The zoetrope is another popular form of entertainment. The simple construction to animate an image is cheap and easy to produce.

Phenakistiscope

Phenakistiscope is one of the earliest methods of animating a sequence of images.

Here is an example of how it functions.

Eadweard Muybridge 1872

Using the system above Eadweard Muybridge was able to show for the first time that all four of a horse's hooves left the group when galloping.

The bank of cameras was activated by the horse breaking the trip wires as it passed it. This ground-breaking photographic work has been a source of reference for over a century.

Looney Toons

Today in lecture we were learning Looney Toon's cartoons.

one of the character we were learning is Daffy Duck.

Duffy Duck reminds me of Woody Woodpecker.

both these ducks have got very funny laughs.

Porkey Pig

Non-Disney Hollywood Stars

Der Fuehrer's Face is one of the massive propaganda Disney has made. It talks about the human structure during the nazi war time. Portraying to audience a dominant dictatorship. Disney has cleverly use Donald Duck to express the fear but feeling of disgust and disrespect for the dominant ruler stealing their freedom. I feel that Donald Duck had successfully gave me a glimpse of fear that we now no longer have to experience.

crazy bulet shells

hilariously provocative

The History of Donald Duck

Donald Fauntleroy Duck, the popular character known to be usually angry and agitated was voiced by the late Clarence 'duck' Nash from 1934 to 1983. Before he died from leukaemia in 20th February 1985, he taught Tony Anselmo to sound like Donald Duck. Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983) was the very last of Clarence providing the voice of Donald before Anselmo took over as Donald's voice. Surprisingly the animation department has never referred Donald as "Donald" but the "The Duck". The Duck has starred in an Academy Award-winning cartoon Der Fuehrer's Face (1943)

The Wise Little Hen

I enjoy watching this animation as there is good moral story. Disney again presents a story to his audience using animals. I find myself really in an animal's world. The character's voice used for each character is assimilated with the animal, for instance, the pig snorting in his howl for pain or saying "who me", the mother hen saying "who will help plant my corn". It reminds me to be creative and more aware of the content, how I could help audience to relate to a character's personality the sound they make as well as showing it visually. The background music and human singing voice behind makes the whole animation in a happy ambience.

Mickey Mouse & Friends - The Band Concert (1935)

I don't like the starting of the animation, I find the sound of crowd cheering annoying I wonder if there could be another better solution for the crowd shouting. However again I like that Disney has again created a story that synchronise with the orchestra. I like the story telling of bringing in Donald Duck with his trolly.

Plane Crazy Mickey Mouse Classic Walt Disney 1928 Sound Cartoon

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Edison tinfoil phonograph demonstration

Alice's Wonderland B&W Silent Laugh-O-gram Film

This animation will make children intrigue.
It is so magical for them to see cartoon coming to life in reality.
This can only be achieve through animation. However it could be even more special if the cartoon characters comes out of the paper and interact with the people in the set. Nevertheless it is rather interesting that the people in the animation could control the atmosphere of the illustrated animation.

Felix the cat portrays as a clever and cunning character.

He is a superhero, a saviour to the boy.

This is a traditional hand drawn animation. It allows non-logical

story telling and humour into the cartoon.