I will be writing about the importance of 3 influential animators; Hanna Barbera, Walt Disney and Warner Bros.
Hanna Barbera production was an American animation studio which took over American television for near enough four decades in the mid-to-late 20th century. William Hanna and Joseph Barbera were the creators of the famous television shows "Tom & Jerry", "The Flintstones", "Scooby-Doo and "The Smurfs" among others earning 8 emmy's, a golden globe award and getting a star on the Hollywood walk of fame along with other achievements. Although Hanna- Barbera weren't pioneers, like other animatos they were proficient in "limited animation" style in order to fufill the "time vs expenses" demands of television productions. Their overall style consisted of appealing but simplified character and setting designs, all adding to the overall stylistically flat appearance. Most of their shows involved animals as central characters, with "realistic" animals capable of understanding human speech and concepts; to talking animals with varied fluency in the English language; to upright walking animals wearing clothes and using props. Many of their iconic classic comedy cartoon characters wore stylized interpretations of out-of-fashion hats, resembling, for example, the pork pie, along with pieces of formal wear, which became part of their trademark design style.
Backgrounds were also common in the stylistically limited approach of the studio, often resulting in repeated imagery in scenes involving moving shots with longer camera holds, such as walk sequences, all of which has become part of the cliche look, often still imitated today, sometimes as parody or for humorous effect.
Walt Disney, was the inventor of a technique called Rotoscoping in which he used to create "Snow White". They used a real life model dressed in the costume and began tracing the movement of her body, this gave a more natural and realistic look to the Snow White character. The multiplane camera was also used in his silly symphonies such as "The Old Mill" and "Mickey Mouse", in 1932, Disney received a special Academy Award for the creation of "Mickey Mouse", a series which switched to color in 1935.
Disney was most famous for the 1937-1941 Golden age of American animation, his films made him famous but it was his work for other peoples adverts that he helped with begin making the successful full length films and silly symphonies. In 1928 steamboat willie was the first cartoon to have synchronised sound and after that he began to make more silly symphonies with sound this took a turn for success amongst other famous animators. In 1940 Fantasia was the first film to use stereophonic sound and this soon was used in all his films. 2009 was when the last traditional film was made, this was "The Princess and the Frog" not only was it the last film made traditionally it was also the first film with an African American princess. Disney went on to create more disney films using CGI (computer generated images).
Warner Brothers were founded in 1923, by Albert Warner, Harry Warner, Sam Warner and Jack Warner. They made motion pictures, television programmes and video games, during world war I they created their first nationally syndicated film "My First Four Years In Germany" which was based on a book made by American ambassador James W. Gerard. The success in which put the Warner Bros on the Hollywood map was the 1918 "Rin Tin Tin" but sadly they still didn't achieve star power.
It was on till the 1930's when the birth of Warner cartoons began; they introduced there first character Bosko in their first Loony tunes cartoo,"Sinking in the bubble bath" and created a sister series as well as "Merrie Melodies" in 1930.
