A comparison of American and Japanese Animation

The origin of the modern day endpoint Animation derives from the Latin word Animatus, content simply to give life yet perhaps the early known form of animation, the phenakistoscope, derives it name not from Latin but from a Greek term meaning deceiving viewer.The phenakistoscope, invented in 1833 by the Belgian Joseph Plateau was the forerunner of the more famous (and more commercially available) Zoetrope (Greek Zoe life / trope wheel) invented in 1834 by George Horner,The earliest fully lively cartoon (as they were then more widely known) was produced by a French strip cartoonist Emile Courtet, who, working under the name Emile Cohl used one after another drawn images to create the 1908 two minute long cartoon named Fantasmagorie which subsequently received release in Britain under the title Black and White.The worlds first Cartoon Star Felix the Cat walked into the prove and onto the screen in 1919, the creation of already successful comic strip artist Pat Sullivan, Feli x was to some(prenominal) revolutionise cartoon making and introduce manyclichs that are still in effect today. Sullivan employ all the aspects of the comicstrip much(prenominal) as speech bubbles, idea light bulbs and the quite literal use of items such as the humble question bulls eye, in order to bring Felix to life. As Denis Gifford explainsIf a question mark could be drawn popping out of Felixs head, then it could just as easily be plucked physically from the sky and used as a handy hook, especially if a draw bottle stood just out of reach. (The Great Cartoon Stars, a Whos Who)While the first cartoon mavin may have been a cat, arguably the most famous of all animated stars however, is Mickey Mouse. have in Steamboat Willie (1928) the first commercial cartoon film to ever include sound, Mickey Mouse, looks quite diametric from the incarnation familiar to the children of todayIndeed, the ever-changing appearance of animated characters, due mainly to increased improvements in engine room has undoubtedly led a much more demanding audience.picture from IMDbWhere we were once charmed by the grainy foreboding(a) and white image of a happily whistling mouse, more sophisticated techniques and the introduction of Computer Generated resource (CGI) has opened the door to such astonishing animated films as the Disney-Pixar release Shrek, the visually stunning FinalFantasy- The invigorate Within (the first animated suffer to ever attempt toproduce photo-realistic CGI humans) and the deservedly Oscar winning Miyazaki Hayao creation The Spiriting out of Sen and Chihiro.Today, animation is everywhere, from televised adverts, childrens shows, video games and cinema, animation is no longer simply an art form, but a cultural icon embraced by almost all and guaranteed to instil a childish air of curiosity even in the most jaded and cynical of adult hearts.The application of animation in feature films is by no means a new occurrence yet the scope of creativity and fancy shown by todays innovators is undeniably impressive and has also been shown to influence more mainstream movie directors such as Quentin Tarantino choosing to add an entire Anim sequence to his movie Kill Bill, to Richard Linklaters decision to defend his version of Philip K Dicks A Scanner Darkly a wholly animated affair.The kings however of the art could only be considered American Disney Studio and Studio Ghibli of Japan. The purpose in amount of this essay is to conduct a comparison between these two very different innovators of animatic design.