Compare and Contrast Formal qualities of animation

Title of Brief:  Critical and contextual studies
Animation Principles 1: Practice and Theory

Compare and contrast the formal qualities of early animated films from 1920 to 1940s with animated films from 1980 to 2010

During this essay I will be using examples of animated film from the time periods of 1920 - 1940 and 1990 - 2012 to compare and contrast the formal qualities of examples given.  Animation is composed of many different aspects that create the illusion of a moving story line, developing and emotional characters while keeping the audience entertained. Because of this depth, I will be aiming my essay at 4 different points to compare and contrast over. I feel these points together, define the formal qualities of animation. First, the  atmosphere of the animation, how does it look and feel? Second, the characters and the dialogue that is used to define them. Third, How space and perspective are used throughout the animations. Forth, The form of the animation, is it complex or simplistic, elaborate or efficient?

Animations such as “Trolley Troubles” - Oswald the Lucky rabbit (Walt Disney, 1927) first appeared to have over exaggerated and embellished movements. Due to these subtle techniques used by the animators the atmosphere behind many of their animations was fun, upbeat and quick, the characters moved quickly and it kept the audience interested in the short film. This description can also be used when compared to “The Karate Guard” - Tom and Jerry ( Warner Bros, 2006). Both animations showed no signs of hyper-realism, adding exaggerations of jumps, kicks and throws, these techniques only show to be refined with the advancement of technology in the animator's hands, allowing sharper images and smoother frames per second, but fundamentally never changed. Music played a key roll through both animation, no matter the time period. Throughout “Trolley Troubles” simple music kept the animation going and allowed drum lines and snares to insinuate times at which to laugh, while violins and pianos insinuated times to feel sorrow or pity for the characters. Comparing this to “The Karate Guard”, trombones, drum lines, snares and hi-hats are used to show tension and moments in when the dust clears and audience members can laugh.
“...Stalling used a vast number of popular tunes-some hoary, some fresh from the hit parade- in ways that provided a kind of unconscious commentary on the cartoon’s events” (1994, Pg 54, The Art of Warner Bros. Animation)
The music throughout both animations allows the audience to immerse themselves in the cartoon and really understand what the scene and short stories try to portray with simplicity.

 However, if we start to contrast the two animations, we can see large differences. Throughout “Trolley Troubles” the atmosphere, no matter how upbeat can still feel empty, repetition is used strongly throughout the animation to add a sense of liveliness to the animation, which, when singled out can break the immersion between the audience and the film. Colour plays an important role in animation. “Trolley Troubles” lacked vibrancy and colour, this is due to only the beginning of 2D animation techniques; cinematic screening and should be put down to age. But it should still be taken into consideration.“The karate Guard” allowed its audience to see the characters and they can interpret the style quickly without thought, “Trolley Troubles” lack of colour, provides difficulty for the audience to give a character personality, this could only be achieved through the simple soundtrack and effects. Environments throughout “Trolley Troubles”  are kept simple, or even barren, this kept animations jobs focused on the short story, animation was a new art form and with that, a lack of animators to complete the “skilled non-creative jobs”( Shamus Culhane, 1988, Pg 248).  Contrasting to the animation during “The karate Guard” which shows vibrant and full environments, allowing the audience to see and understand exactly where the scene is taking place, and what the atmosphere should portray play within the film.

As nearly a decade passes from “Trolley Troubles” , characters, animation techniques and music develops quickly in the animation world. During the first distributed appearance of Mickey Mouse, “Steamboat Willie”(Walt Disney, 1928) notable differences could be seen in the animation of characters and the dialogue given by them. Mickeys first appearance shows him whistling while driving a boat, emotion has been developed and the audience has a brand new liking to Mickey Mouse, his cheerful manner displayed through improved artistic animation and filled out characters. Characters still remained blocked out, with filled in shapes being easier for animation. However smaller details can be added in. Music plays a strong role here in bringing the character out.
“Disney’s first sound cartoon, already uses the techniques Aleksandrov was to employ in Happy Guys. Music and movement function synthetically: figures move to the rhythm of the music, and when they are not moving, their bodies bounce and sway to the musical beat. ….” ( 2013, Pg 86, The Musical Comedy Films of Grigorii Aleksandrov: Laughing Matters)
	With synchronized sounds being added into animation, and “Steamboat Willy” being one of the first notable animation for its musical production, characters are starting to become more developed, showing stronger, subtle emotions that allow audiences to see them in a new light. Mickey mouse can be seen to be a enjoyable, happy go lucky character with a slight dark side. His caption, Pete can be seen as a heavy moving and bossy character, this subtle emotions are portrayed in the way he moves and the type of dialogue he has. Though being illegible the dialog created by Walt was that of a grumble, or slight grunt, giving him a manly aura.
When contrasted against Hard times - The Simpsons (Coca-Cola, 2010), characters have a stronger set of emotions. I picked this particular short because of the use of musical and lack of dialogue, similar to early animations. Music is used strongly to portray the emotion to audience views, “Burns” the main character of this particular short is pictures to look unhappy and shy. This animation techniques are more refined. Major contrasts can be seen the the detail of the characters, Burns’ eye’s blink and look away from other characters also at the belongings he is losing, these simple body language techniques that don’t appear during “Steamboat Willy” give the character more depth and allow the audience to give sympathy and pity to the character much easier. Music throughout both animations give the characters life and depth, however when contrasting the animation. One can be seen as better than the other. During “Steamboat Willy” the synchronized music is new and possibly considered raw, however it keep the characters alive and gives the audience cues on the characters feelings. However, during “Hard times” , music is only used to cover the short animation. Modern animation didn’t need to use music as cues for the audience because of voice acting being a norm in animation. But when the voices are removed from “Hard times”, it becomes a very poor attempt at a silent film, in contrast “Steamboat Willy” uses instruments, grunts, body noises and mouth organs to give real life and passion to the animation.

Space and perspectives can give animations a defining factor that change them from simple 2D layered images, into a different view from normal flat plans. Giving the audience different perspectives, and using the back spaces up isn’t always first noticeable to audience, however it gives animation an overall feel of professionalism that leads to the audience enjoying the animation easier. Mickeys first appearance was during a unreleased animation called Plane crazy (Walt Disney Studio, 1928), however this animation was released until March 17th, 1928. This was due to initial audience reactions not enjoying the character or the animations when shown in a private viewing. The animation was remade by Walt and synchronized sound added to give the animation life. When  we compare the space and perspectives used to something more modern, such as Princess mononoke(Hayao Miyazaki, 1997) we can see strong similarities between both western and eastern animation, independent of time.
“Princess Mononoke” shows a great detail on artistic skill throughout all their shots, having character that are fully shaded and even starting to use early 3d modelling techniques to bring in moving objects on 2d characters, adding good use of space and filling the screen to make the movie immersive for the audience. When compared Plane crazy, both animation show similarities in the techniques used behind the animation. Both animation use moving characters on top of a background plane. Artists use this technique because it greatly improves the speed at which animators can get scenes out, it hasn’t changed its fundamental approach since the early showings of animation in “Plane crazy”, this view of the 2d animation makes the character looks more real than the background images and it keeps the audience focused on what it important, while still filling out the scene and making the scenes believable.
	When contrasting the two animations, large difference can start to appear. Japanese animation focused around the artistic styles of storytelling, this meant that new and experimental ways of showing perspective only stayed to norms, such as landscape painting to introduce movement from one place to another, or giving the audience a scene in which to place the story. When looking at “Plane Crazy” perspective is used in a very different way, experimental views such as flying into the back of a cow and having the users fill the screen, then suddenly a burst of white when flying under the cow, only showing the road ahead. These views gave the animation a more personalised feel, it showed the audience what the character could see through his eyes. This technique was used to try and tie the audience and the character together, with emotions, the repetition of animations, characters can sometimes seem undeveloped or even basic. Using first person perspective allows closer feeling with the character.  When looking at the detail of animation and the use of space in the animation, both show large differences. Background panes can look empty in “Plane Crazy”, with no use of colour, environments can seem basic, but due to early animation techniques, animators tried to fill the environment and view with repetitive animations giving life to scenes. When contrasted against “Princess Mononoke”, using colour to it’s advantage, having large and often detailed background panes, filling the environment with life. When looking at this animation, you could describe the use of space and perspective as “Less is more”, elaborate backgrounds can pull away from the story telling or focus of the scene. With japanese animation based around the story, it would only seem too distracting  if the background plane had repetitive animation and busy quick movements as seen in “Plane Crazy”


Form can be considered what the graphic design looks like in animation. How is weight shown between animations? Is there any use of 3D art? Do the characters smoothly move between their different poses, showing use of anticipation? Looking at the Form of “SIlly Sympathy”(1933) starring the Three little pigs. Colour is available in animation, changing the form of animation to a much higher bar and allowing more detailed pictures of both characters and environments around them. Finer detail in lines allow more elaborate Forms of characters. The form of many animations started to get a higher standard, characters had more subtle body language, provided with the new use of colour, this gave the animators new tools, allowing blinking and eye focus. Using eyes provided to be an important part in giving characters a new subtle layer of emotion. Comparing this to the form in “Box-Office Bunny”(1990) starring Bugs bunny of Looney Tunes. Both have major similarities, character can show emotions easily with graphic advancements allowing use of body parts that previously didn't have the detail to show. Both animation have detailed background, that don’t ever move, but allow the audience to understand the scene of a short animation instantly. Characters in both animation are starting to use weight better than ever before. “Silly sympathy” using the presumption that pigs are fat, allow the animators the chance to play with their weight when they sway back and forth, this helped give the character life.
Contrasting these two animations feels a lot more different that it should. The massive difference between year publish should allow me to pick out subtle differences between the animation. Many compared the attempts by Warner bros to copy Walt disney's animation a feeble copy. Even with the massive age difference between the two animation only simple differenced can be noticed. The picture in “Silly sympathy” can be seen to feel less refined. With technology holding animators back, using techniques such as showing to create a faster sense of movement ment the animation became slightly blurry during faster animation. This can be less noticed during “Box-Office Bunny”, but this can only been seen different due to Modern television sets running a much faster frames per second, while also giving a much richer colour to the animation. The difference can only been described as miniscule


Throughout this essay I have shown you my understanding and research in the subject of Animation from 1920 - 1940 with animations from 1990-2010. I have used a wide variety of different animations, which still using what can be considered relevant to the time period and also the question I am answering. I have taken apart the subject of “Formal Qualities” and placed them into separate categories that I could then research into and complete with a structured essay plan and complete with relevant research, quotes and screen grabs on animations from the referenced material. I hope to have shown you my understand of the differences in animation, would could cause the difference and how animators have changed since early animation. Overall I think this essay helped me understand why keeping an understand of where animation has come from and improve and help my animation throughout 3D work and in the future. Without the initial work from Walt disney, competition from warner bros and new and improving techniques, animation today wouldn't be the same. Walt disney was a genius of his time when compared to those against him, he has a unprecedented talent for capturing characters and showing them to an audience in a way they can enjoy and laugh. However, If Walt did not have the competition from Warner bros after his separation from the studio, I don’t think he would have pushed as hard with his animation. The competition allowed him to push himself and the art he was leading.
Harvard system reference List:
In order of use through the Essay.


Trolley Troubles - Oswald the Lucky rabbit (1927)  Walt Disney, Universal Pictures, September 5, 1927

The Karate Guade - Tom and Jerry (2005) Warner Bros, September 27, 2005.

Shamus Culhane (1988) Animation from Script to Screen, A Thomas Dunne book, 10 Oct 1998.

Steve schneider (1994) The Art of Warner Bros. Animation, Aurum Press limited, June 2, 1998.

Mickey Mouse, “Steamboat Willie”(1928) Walt Disney, Ub lwerks, November 18, 1928.

The Musical Comedy Films of Grigorii Aleksandrov: Laughing Matters, (2013) Rimgaila Salys, Intellect, Limited , February 1st, 2013.

Hard times(2010) The simpsons, Coca-Cola, Super Bowl XLIV, Summer 2010

Mickey Mouse, “Plane Strikes”(1928) Walt Disney, The Walt Disney Studio, March 17, 1928

Princess Mononoke (1997) Hayao Miyazaki, Studio Ghibli, July 12, 1997

Bugs Bunny,  “Box-Office Bunny”(1990) Kathleen Helppie-Shipley, Warner Bros, January 3rd 1990

The Three little pigs, Silly Symphony (1933) Walt Disney, Walt Disney Productions, May 7th 1933

Bibliography :

Paul wells, Animation and Cinema(2002) Edinburgh University Press Ltd

Steve schneider (1994) The Art of Warner Bros. Animation, Aurum Press limited, June 2, 1998.

Hamus Culhane (1988) Animation from Script to Screen, A Thomas Dunne book, 10 Oct 1998.

Animation Unlimited, Liz Faber and Helen Waiter (2004), Laurence King Publishing Ltd.

Samurai from Outer Space, Understanding Japanese Animation (1996) Carus Publishing Company

Disney’s, Animation Magic (1996) Disney Enterprises, Inc.