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2005-12-11T19:48:00.000-05:00

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Dina Baruth

Post 12 --- A Change of Heart

2005-12-07T23:52:00.000-05:00

It’s been a few years since I’ve watched the Nightmare Before Christmas. I remember I was very much younger and I honestly didn’t enjoy watching it back then. I recalled that it was very creepy and I found it very weird and I don’t believe that I actually sat through the whole movie. After watching it in today’s class though, I would have to say that I am thoroughly impressed and amazed at the film. I tried doing some claymation for my project and it was really hard to do. I cannot emphasize how ridiculously hard it is to do. It requires so much time and patience. But I digress…

It’s common knowledge that Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas was a stroke of pure genius. After seeing it for the first time in so many years, I find it to be one of the best animated features of all time. First of all the stop motion animation adds a great deal of novelty value to the film. You just don’t see a lot of films done this way because of the sheer difficulty and cost to make it; however, seeing it done as masterfully as it was done in The Nightmare Before Christmas shows the potential of this animation type. The movements were very smooth and realistic enough without compensating animation principles. Even the movements of the characters’ mouths were done quite well. The movements were still very much exaggerated and the characters themselves were out of this world to say the least.

One of the better aspects of the movie is the storyline itself. I’ve emphasized in previous blogs how important it is to have a good story to make an animated feature successful. Since the animation goes on for past an hour, there has to be something there that will keep audiences interested and a good story is definitely a sure-fire way to do that. The Nightmare Before Christmas has a good story with many subplots and it teaches its viewers many lessons. Not only that, but despite a dark themed setting, the movie still has its share of various comedic and light-hearted moments. It also played upon several pop culture references (most of which I didn’t catch the first time I watched it on the count that I was very young) and it played upon two holidays that are very close to our hearts: Halloween and Christmas. Apart from Thanksgiving, I would say that it is these two holidays which are celebrated the most in the US (commercially at least).

Another thing that made The Nightmare Before Christmas so interesting was their loveable characters. Even though we all knew that Jack was doing the wrong thing by kidnapping Santa Claus, we still couldn’t find it in our hearts to dislike him because we knew that he meant to do good: it just never came out the right way. There were several other memorable characters in the movie: the Mayor, a politician who keeps on asking Jack for help; the girl who keeps on trying to poison her creator and save Jack; a mad scientist who just wanted to be loved by his creation; a dog ghost that has a bright red nose that flashes; and the townspeople each with his or her own little quirks.

Overall, I really enjoyed seeing The Nightmare Before Christmas again. After seeing it again, I don’t know why I didn’t like it the first time around but at least now, I do know why I like it.

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2005-12-04T01:10:00.000-05:00

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Mark Armour

Uy Tieu

Post 11 --- Disney... Nothing Without Pixar

2005-11-30T11:57:00.000-05:00

In today’s class, we watched Toy Story 2 and even though I have already seen the film before, the movie had little moments that I didn’t catch the first time around. I would have to agree with the class that Toy Story 2 is definitely one of the top five animated features of all time. It has a feel-good story with its share of emotionally wrenching and touching moments that have been a trademark of Pixar’s films. It was also a very comedy filled film with humor that appealed to both adult and child. There were even several pop culture references to Star Wars and Jurassic Park. All of these aspects were wrapped around a loveable cast of characters: most of which were carried over from the first Toy Story but there were also a few new characters that proved to be just as loveable.

At the beginning of the class we also touched upon the struggles of Disney to produce a quality feature animation and how it is just riding on Pixar’s success. I’ve mentioned this in many of my previous blogs and after watching Toy Story 2 again, I wonder how Disney plans to reclaim its title as the best maker of animated feature film. Professor Petrik also noted that because of Pixar’s tremendous success, it has gained more than enough leverage to demand that a larger portion of the studio’s future films’ revenue will remain with them in recent talks with Disney. Even though Disney has been distributing Pixar’s films and has been very keen in including their logo in Pixar’s film, Pixar is still an independent studio and if Pixar decided to completely sever ties with Disney then it would surely bring great uncertainty to Disney’s future.

While I am sure that Disney will find a way to survive, they would eventually have to come up with several great animated feature films that will reestablish them as the giants of the animated feature film industry; however, there are no indications that they have the capability to do so. Disney may have all the money and a lot of the new technology but they lack the creative genius and fresh ideas.

If Disney’s last few films were any indication, I would have to day that their idea well has been dried up for some time. What I’ve noticed with Disney now is that at the very moment they enjoy any level of success with a feature length film, (Lilo and Stich for example) they immediately have to create a sequel, an animated series on their TV channel, and a marketing and merchandising barrage so big that you’d think that it was the Titanic. I’m sure they’re just trying to capitalize on the opportunity but in my opinion, they’re over saturating the market and people are just getting full of it and are starting to ignore it all together. Indeed some of their previous films have been moderately successful at best but the good things that those films had going for them are quickly squashed by a sub-par animated series and an even worse sequel. Did they really need to make a sequel for every one of their recent feature length films? I think they just went out to make a quick buck or to recover some money from the unprofitable prequel.

I hope Disney can get back on track soon because if Pixar leaves, Disney will be in shambles. They may have a current deal with Pixar but what if Pixar leaves after that deal? Disney has no current success outside of Pixar to build upon. With the appointment of a new CEO, hopefully comes better times for Disney because it would be a shame to see Disney crumble.

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2005-11-12T22:38:00.000-05:00

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Bryanne Dade

Charla Downard

Post 10 --- What Disney IS Getting Right

2005-11-11T23:53:00.000-05:00

In this week’s class, we watched Pocahontas. Many people believe that this film marked an anti-climactic end to Disney’s renaissance (with the first Golden age coming in Disney’s earliest masterpieces) because after Pocahontas, Disney has struggled immensely with its yearly output of feature-length animations. Pocahontas exhibited some manifestations of Disney’s future struggles as many weaknesses were really exposed in the film.

It was clearly noticed that the historical portrayal of the Jamestown settlement was very inaccurate. The Indian tribe that Pocahontas belonged to was overly embellished as it was so keenly noted by Professor Petrik that Native Americans were not as in tune with nature as the film portrayed them to be. These inaccuracies, albeit done intentionally for aesthetic purposes, made the actions of the Indians less believable. Pocahontas herself looked nothing like a Native American: she looked like a European model who just happened to be really tanned. Another thing I noticed was that aside from one of the English sailor, Thomas, all the other sailors had exactly the same attitudes and could have been used interchangeably throughout the film. The blandness of these characters only made the film more dull and redundant. It was also pointed out in the class that some of the characters in Pocahontas namely John Smith and Governor Ratcliff looked very similar to other previously used Disney characters.

In spite of these inaccuracies and misinterpretations, Disney’s Pocahontas still had its moments of brilliance and bona fide entertainment. To a child who could care less about the accuracy of the story, Pocahontas was a great film. Mikko and Flit were genuinely entertaining as most people believe that they were the film’s saviors. At least Disney is still adept at making good, loveable and memorable animal characters.

This got me thinking, since everybody has been so keen at identifying what Disney is doing wrong, what has been Disney doing right? The most obvious answer for me can be summed up in one word: Pixar! I know I’ve repeatedly mentioned Pixar in several of my previous blogs but it can’t be denied that Pixar is the only thing Disney has going for them (in terms of feature-length animations). It has produced several multi-million hits for Disney and what’s even more amazing is that its films appeal to kids as well as to adults.

Their characters are endearing and full of life as even the most minor of characters turned out to be very memorable (like Crash the turtle in Finding Nemo). From cute little insects to a hilarious super hero family, Pixar’s characters are sure hits with the kids and the kids at heart. Each of their main characters has a distinct personality and that really jumps off the screen.

In addition to the loveable characters, the storylines (for lack of a better phrase) just make you go awwww…. Who wouldn’t cheer for two toys trying to get back to the child who owns them or feel sad for a little fish that got kidnapped and is trying to get back to his father? These are classic feel-good stories and Pixar tells them very well. With all the hits Pixar has had over recent years, it can safely be said that they have found the recipe for success in today’s fickle and ADD-ridden world.

As long as Pixar continues to produce hits under Disney, it should be able to maintain its grasp in the feature-length animation market but Disney cannot rely solely on Pixar to keep them afloat. Walt must be rolling around in his grave because the company he built is relying on a smaller company to bring in the cash. For Disney’s sake, I hope they take a page out of Pixar’s book and re-learn how to make a good, funny and classic feature-length animation.

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2005-11-03T14:53:00.000-05:00

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Charla Downard

Alisha Sunde

Post 9 --- An American Tail: It’s Better than Most History Books

2005-11-02T23:53:00.000-05:00

In today’s class we watched the ever-loveable animated movie An American Tail. It was based on the migration of little Jewish mice as they tried to escape the destruction and suppression brought about by cats. As trivial as this seems to a person who hasn’t seen the film, the animated movie actually contains a lot of political, social and economic symbolisms.

One of the issues it particularly dealt with was the concept of packing everything up and moving to a foreign land and starting completely anew: migration. I can really relate to this concept for I just recently moved to the United States after spending the first18 years of my life in the Philippines. Albeit freedom of speech is not really suppressed there (unlike the mice’s), there was always the risk of a cat hanging about nearby. To cut a long story short, life wasn’t that safe over there. So, I left the Philippines for my college education as well as a safer life.

I find it absolutely amazing how good animation is at conveying serious and important messages within its pencil strokes. It can present various images and present them in both a subtle yet thought provoking way or it can also be very blatant as we saw in last week’s Vote for Ike clips. It can portray any topic in an infinite number of ways.

The question asked at the beginning of this week’s class was: what happens when animation does history? An American Tail was an excellent choice to answer this question because within the cute and endearing characters there were several important historical aspects that were covered.

First was the inhuman treatment of Jews and their mass migration to America. These people portrayed by the Russian mice were constantly subject to physical harm and harassment and thus many of them decided to just pack everything up and move to America: a land which they thought was just overflowing with wealth and opportunity. Thousands boarded cramped ships that weren’t really suited for human transport. They were exposed to disease, the rain, the cold as well as all of the dangers of the open sea. Those who did make it didn’t exactly find the real America to be the same one that they had heard about in their homeland. America too had a lot of dangers within its borders. Many of the children who got separated from their families as they migrated were put to work in sweatshops and many families could only find living quarters that were, in some cases, even worse than their houses back home.

However, these people knew that America was different from their homeland. For all their struggles, these people persevered and overcame the challenges that faced them. Living in America was undoubtedly hard but eventually many of them were able to improve their standards of living. America presented them with the freedom to live their lives their way. They were ultimately in charge of their own lives and many of them cherished this chance. The movie’s ending (having the main characters living happily ever after) didn’t accurately represent what happened to all of the immigrants but it gives the impression that America, although not exactly what they were told it would be, actually gave them something better than most of them could ever dream of: freedom.

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2005-10-29T23:36:00.000-04:00

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Charla Downard

Blog 8--- "Ani-tisements"

2005-10-27T23:13:00.000-04:00

Over the years as animation has grown and evolved, its role in popular culture has expanded as well. When animation burst into the entertainment scene, many people were skeptical of its utility; thus, it was restricted to short clips that lived on silliness and slapstick. As animation improved and proved its marketability and appeal to audiences, people started to develop new ways in which it could be used. As we saw in last week’s class, animation became a key element in propaganda and influencing audiences on a certain topic. In the clips viewed in this week’s class, the ability of animation to influence is once again made use of in the field of advertising.

It is well-known that advertising is the life force of consumerism. It lets people know what’s new, what’s on the shelves, what’s hot, what’s not, what people should buy and why should they buy it. Network television and radio rely on advertising to fund their shows and many websites rely on advertisements to keep them free. To put it simply, advertising in itself has become a business and this business is big business.

Animation has been a big part of advertising over the past few decades because of its appeal to the individual and mass audiences as well. Browsing through television channels, one will find animation in commercials for breakfast cereals, fast food chains, baking goods, toys, as well as in other products.

Many of these products are marketed towards children. Burger King, Chuck-E-Cheese and McDonald’s all feature their animated mascots in the advertisements and we all know who Tony the Tiger and the Pillsbury Doughboy are. They are all brought to life by the animation in their commercials and we all remember them through it.

Through the years, companies selling products for adults have also been using animation as well. In a current Midas auto services commercial, Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble interacted with an actor. All Red Bull commercials I’ve seen are animations. In class we viewed an old clip made by G.E. called “Freedom and Power.” I have to admit it was very boring but then again, I’ve never been interested in the evolution of electricity (I’m sure it’s fascinating, it’s just not my thing). Animation has also been used to sell people in a sense that politicians use it all the time to “sell themselves” to their constituents. Politicians also use it to mock their opponents within their borders as well as international enemies.

By now, we’ve been exposed to so much animation that it is deeply ingrained in popular culture. Certain forms of animation have lost their appeal as a novelty but we still aren’t really tired of them. Advertisements benefit from using animation because animation in itself is limitless and can show whatever the animators want it to show if done correctly. I’m certain that animation and adverting will continue to have an inseparable link and it will undoubtedly never be broken.

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2005-10-23T10:44:00.000-04:00

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Alisha Sunde

Post 7--- Propaganda and Animation

2005-10-19T23:44:00.000-04:00

In today’s class, we viewed some of the cartoons that were made during the time of World War 2. As animation often reflected what was going on at the time, many animations had a war or military theme to it. In fact, the role of animation during that time was not just to entertain but to inform and influence in viewers. With its ever increasing appeal animation became one of the more influential mediums and this is not exhibited more clearly than during this period in world history (WW2).

Animation during this time took on a whole new purpose: propaganda. As big time studios like Disney and Warner Brothers pitched in the war efforts by making cartoons that were very patriotic and very anti-Nazi, a large portion of the American public adopted the ideas that were being offered by these cartoons. The cartoons presented many stereotypes and generalizations about the Germans, Japanese and Italians in order to dehumanize them and make them more “hateable.” The goal was to prove that the enemies of the United States were evil, wrong and should be crushed while making the American way the right way to go.

Very few animations before World War 2 had political themes but animation was a very good medium to use to influence the masses because it was very entertaining, it “seemed” harmless and it could easily tackle any subject. It could easily skew the Nazi ideologies to purest form of evil (one of the cartoons in class even showed Hitler as the devil himself) and stir patriotic feelings within Americans. It could deliver both very blatant and subtle messages and it could convey very serious ideas embedded within it humorous storylines. It also provided the public with an idea of what the conditions were in war zones because actual footage was very brutal and would surely not rest easily with the American audience.

Although animation is used primarily to entertain, it clearly can have many more serious purposes. Beyond the laughs and the giggles, animation can influence our thoughts, actions and reactions; making animation a very very powerful medium. If you recall the old cliché “the pen is mightier than the sword,” you can see that animation definitely proves this to be true.

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2005-10-13T22:09:00.000-04:00

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John Baber

Post 6 --- What Today’s Disney is Forgetting

2005-10-13T00:15:00.000-04:00

While I was watching Snow White in today’s class, I tried to compare it to the more recent Disney ventures (outside of Pixar). While today’s Disney is, by far, better in terms of animation techniques, style and the fluidity of motion, I noticed that there was something that Snow White had that newer Disney projects don’t: loveable characters.

I think many of the newer Disney offerings have failed to impress audiences is because the animators have forgotten what brought them success in the first place: cute and unforgettable characters. It’s been well documented that Disney can not make a film with all characters being human; Disney needed at least a few side-kick animals, supernatural beings, or inanimate objects that were brought to life to bring life to otherwise dull human characters. Cinderella needed the little mice and the other castle animals while Aladdin needed Genie, the magic carpet and Abu the monkey.

Out of the newer Disney films, I would say that Stitch has gained the most popularity because he is a perfect example of a loveable cartoon. He is very short but he has a personality larger than life. He’s blue, speaks unrecognizable English and looks like a chubby dog. The llama in The Emperor’s New Groove is just plain irritating (sorry David Spade). Atlantis, on the other hand, had “flop” written all over it. Sure it could showcase what new things animators could do with the newest technology but does anyone really remember a character from that movie?

Some people think that Disney has been resting on its laurels as it relies on the popularity of its legendary characters. In fact, most of Disney’s current success doesn’t come from Disney (the mother studio) anymore; it comes from a sub-studio that we’ve all fallen in love with: Pixar. With the success of Toy Story 1 and 2, A Bug’s Life, Monster’s Inc, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, Disney can afford to back off a bit; however, there will come a time when Disney cannot rely on Pixar to keep them on top. I just hope they still know how to make a good cartoon when that time comes.

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2005-10-06T02:58:00.000-04:00

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John Baber

Lauren Vessey

Post 5 --- Animation and Innovation

2005-10-06T01:26:00.000-04:00

We all know that Disney today is a multi-billion dollar corporation which Walt Disney started from the ground up. What lead Disney to be the giant conglomerate it is today can be attributed to Walt Disney’s continuous need to be fresh, new, cutting-edge and pioneering. He had to have an edge not only for separation from his competitors, who were the least of his worries, but for a society that wasn’t exposed to animation at all. He had to convince the big studios that his projects would be entertaining and, more importantly, profitable. This is where Disney’s knack for business and his sheer innovative genius proved to be the perfect combination for success.

As I was watching Steamboat Willie in today’s class, I couldn’t help but notice how proficient Disney was at integrating sound to his cartoon. The timing was impeccable and an uninformed person would have never known that this was the first cartoon to fully integrate sound. Although there is no actual dialogue, there was still some verbal interaction occurring between the three main characters as Mickey, Minnie and the protagonist Boat Driver all had their moments of squeaks and grunts that emphasized and accented what was happening.

After perfecting the integration of sound, Disney turned his attention to color. Thanks to his good business sense, he was able to ink a deal which granted him exclusive rights to use Technicolor technology in his animation. The result was fully-colored animation and this, alongside with the integration of sound, exponentially increased the possibilities and the appeal of animation. Animators now had another element to work with and audiences had another visual treat to look forward to.

As Disney continued to churn out hits like The Skeleton Dance, Flowers and Trees and The Three Little Pigs, not only did the quality of his animations improved but the overall quality of animation as a field of art and entertainment was forced to improve to be able to keep up with him. Disney raised the bar and we have all benefited from it.

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2005-09-29T01:05:00.000-04:00

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Bryanne Dade

Jesse Rhodes

Post 4 --- Animation Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

2005-09-29T00:48:00.000-04:00

Superman, Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor… It’s amazing to see how much these extraordinary characters have influenced and inspired generations of children across the globe. By doing a quick search in Yahoo! there are currently 518,000 sites referring to Popeye, 4,760,000 on Betty Boop and an overwhelming 30,600,000 about Superman. Now granted that not all of these sites are entirely devoted to these characters, it still gives an idea of how well-known they are. Animation is, and will continue to be, one of the most influential mediums we will ever have. Even as a child growing up in the Philippines, I can remember watching all three of these characters on television. I can remember not only these three characters but Felix the Cat, many of the Disney characters as well as the creations of Hanna-Barbera. Truly these cartoons have grown in popularity even to the other side of the world.

What impresses me about animation, even more than its popularity, is its longevity and everlasting appeal. It appeals to children whose fairy tales are brought to life, as well as to adults, who want to see an escape from reality. Whether animation was used to tell a classic story, a funny situation, or a look into the future, it has always been a limitless medium where anything is possible.

From Disney’s classics, to Family Guy and anime, animation will always have an audience. It has influenced so many people that animation has seamlessly merged with today’s pop culture. In watching the Smashing Pumpkins video, one can really see how much influence animation has had on pop culture. It’s quite amazing to see a concept (Trip to the Moon) created decades ago be brought back to life in a modern setting and still captivate us today. With its popularity continuing to grow, it can be safe to say that animation will remain ingrained within human society for a long long time.

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2005-09-22T01:53:00.000-04:00

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Bryanne Dade

Jesse Rhodes

Post 3 --- The Unheralded: Max Fleischer

2005-09-21T23:40:00.000-04:00

It is unfortunate that the most of the world doesn’t recognize and acknowledge Max Fleischer as one of the greatest pioneers in the field of animation. Although he does not have the fame and the popularity of Walt Disney, many people within the animation circles place Fleischer amongst the biggest contributors in the craft. Personally, I did not know who he was before reading about them in the class textbook. I didn’t know who created Popeye the Sailor and Betty Boop; however, we all know who created Mickey, Donald and Goofy. This lack of recognition of his accomplishments in animation is an injustice to his genius and talent for Fleischer was not only a great cartoonist but he also created many techniques and machines that aided the animation process.

Max Fleischer brought fresh and new ideas to animation. His “Out of the Inkwell” series captivated audiences because of the life-like interaction between Koko the Clown and Fleischer. Although the series eventually ended, it gave Fleischer some fanfare and popularity that was well deserved. While Disney was very successful with the young audiences, Fleischer targeted the older crowd with Betty Boop. Maltin said that many people believe that Betty Boop was the first cartoon that added sex appeal to the mix. Fleischer also contributed some educational animation. He explained Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in an educational video and he also animated instructional videos for the soldiers of World War 1.

Asides from animation itself, Fleischer and his brother Dave were somewhat successful in creating a machine (the rotoscope) that would enable cartoonists to create much smoother animation; however, it was not used widely because of the tedious work that the much smoother animation required.

Fleischer was also the first to introduce the Bouncing Ball technique where the lyrics of the song would appear at the bottom and the bouncing ball would indicate when the next word would be sung; therefore, I’m inclined to speculate if we can consider Fleischer to be the grandfather of the greatest invention of all time: karaoke.

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2005-09-14T22:47:00.000-04:00

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Post 2--- The Man Behind the Mouse

2005-09-14T00:57:00.000-04:00

The short clips that were presented in the last class really illustrated how animation got its start and how far it has gone from there: the term “humble beginnings” is an understatement when it comes to the birth of animation. Although early attempts to capture motion by the means of film and animation were feeble by today’s standards, they opened the door for this new medium to take off.

Many people would agree that the person who brought animation to the world-wide plateau was Walt Disney: not only did he elevate his small business to unimaginable success but his company raised the level of animation as an industry and as an art form.

After reading the second chapter of Maltin's book, I realized how much time, effort and dedication it took Walt Disney to get his company off the ground. His achievements cannot be purely attributed to his animation (for Maltin was quick to point out that Disney was not the greatest of cartoonists); it was his perfectionism, business-savvy, his dedication to constantly improving his craft and his natural ability to see what would appeal best to his audience that would prove to be the keys to his success.

For Walt, it wasn’t exactly sunny days and clear blue skies after the conception of the world’s most famous mouse; in fact, Mickey Mouse was overshadowed by his other cartoon friends such as Donald Duck and Goofy at a certain point in time. Like any business that was just starting out, it took a while for Disney to gain much fanfare, let alone a profit but Walt Disney remained steadfast and learned from his previous ventures.

It makes you wonder what type of a person Walt Disney is: some people viewed him as an uncompromising dictator that had to have everything his way; some saw him as a person whom they desperately sought approval from; and some saw him as a knowledgeable businessman who knew what it took to run his company.

He was an undeniable perfectionist. Although he didn't draw most of the work, he made absolutely sure that he got what he wanted from each and every animator. He would cut half a year's worth of work from his features if he didn't like it or if it seemed to drag down the rest of the story. Many of his own animators develop a certain dislike towards him because of his uncompromising stance but in the end, Disney got what he wanted and for the most part, his actions were perfectly justified.

Even with his own share of critics, nobody could argue that Walt Disney didn’t know his stuff. Personally, I believe that he would’ve succeeded in anything that he really set his mind to. It just so happened that he found his calling in animation and we are all the better for it.

Post 1--- Animation and its Debt to Technology

2005-09-07T02:39:00.000-04:00

Animation today has turned into a phenomenon which its pioneers could never have foreseen. It has become a billion dollar industry and yet, as the industry has become more and more "grown-up" because of its associations with stocks, profits, merchandising and advertising, the heart of animation still caters to the child in each and every one of us.

Leonard Maltin takes his readers back into time when animation began: “The Silent Era.” Although sound as well as other special effects are common nowadays, the very first cartoons, as the name “The Silent Era” implies, had absolutely no sound. Like their real-life counterparts (motion pictures) there simply was no feasible means for animators to incorporate sound into their work: the technology wasn’t there yet. It wasn’t until decades later that animators were able to utilize sound in their work.

I believe that animation owes a lot of its current success to technology. As Maltin is so keen to explain, early animation had its share of problems: it took so many drawings to create a few seconds of movement; cells were easily damaged; the paint early used was flammable and hence dangerous; and the talent pool of animators was very shallow. There wasn’t enough technology and trained individuals to really make animation expand; however, the appeal of animation was very evident.

Animation is the animator’s imagination forged into paper, cells or any other material or medium. It is not bound by the limitation of reality as animation in itself was its own reality and yet at the time, animators were very limited in their abilities to portray the ideas they had. The ideas were limitless, but the technology was very very limited.

With the advancement of technology came the ability for animators to translate their ideas into something concrete. Maltin admits that even though animation in the silent era was interesting, new and fresh for its time, animation wouldn’t have lasted long without the incorporation of sound and the advancements in its production and visual appeal.

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2005-08-31T23:43:00.000-04:00

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