Animated cartoon
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/* Notable artists and producers of "shorts" */ Groening didn't produce shorts in the strict meaning of the word
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An '''animated cartoon''' is a short, hand-drawn (or made with computers to look similar to something hand-drawn) [[film]] for the [[Movie theater|cinema]], [[television]] or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot (even if it is a very short one). This is distinct from the term "[[animation]]" or "animated film", as not all follow the definition.
Although cartoons can use many different [[Animation#Styles and techniques of animation|types of animation]], they all fall under the ''[[traditional animation]]'' category.
==History==
{{main|History of animation}}
Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of [[motion (physics)|motion]] into a still drawing can be found in [[paleolithic]] [[cave painting]]s, where animals are depicted with multiple legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion.
The [[phenakistoscope]], [[zoetrope]] and [[praxinoscope]], as well as the common [[flip book]], were early animation devices to produce movement from sequential drawings using technological means, but animation did not really develop much further until the advent of [[film|motion picture film]].
The first animated cartoon (in the traditional sense, i.e. on film) was ''"Fantasmagorie"'' by the French director [[Émile Cohl]]. Released in 1908.
One of the very first successful animated cartoons was "[[Gertie the Dinosaur]]" by [[Winsor McCay]]. It is considered the first example of true [[character animation]]. {{see|Animation in the United States during the silent era}}
In the 1930s to 1960s, theatrical cartoons were produced in huge numbers, and usually shown before a [[feature film]] in a [[movie theater]]. [[MGM]], [[Walt Disney Pictures|Disney]], [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] and [[Warner Brothers]] were the largest studios producing these 5 to 10-minute "shorts". {{see|Hollywood Animation: The Golden Age}}
Competition from [[television]] drew audiences away from movie theaters in the late 1950s, and the theatrical cartoon began its decline. Today, animated cartoons are produced mostly for television.
==Technologies==
[[Image:Animhorse.gif|right|thumb|200px|A horse animated by [[rotoscoping]] from [[Edweard Muybridge]]'s 19th century photos. The animation consists of 8 drawings, which are "looped", i.e. repeated over and over.]]
The advent of film technology opened opportunities to develop the art of animation. The basic animation process is described in the article Animation, and the classic, hand-drawn technology in [[Traditional animation]].
At first, animated cartoons were [[black-and-white]] and silent. [[Felix the cat]] is a notable example.
The first cartoon with [[sound film|synchronized sound]] is often identified as [[Walt Disney]]'s [[Steamboat Willie]], starring [[Mickey Mouse]] in 1928, but [[Max Fleischer]]'s 1926 [[My Old Kentucky Home (movie)|My Old Kentucky Home]] is less popularly but more correctly credited with this innovation. Fleischer also patented [[rotoscoping]], whereby animation could be traced from a [[live action]] film.
With the advent of sound film, musical themes were often used. Animated characters usually performed the action in "loops", i.e., drawings were repeated over and over, [[Synchronization|synchronized]] with the music.
Disney also produced the first full-color cartoon in [[Technicolor]], "[[Flowers and Trees]]", in 1931, although other producers had earlier made films using inferior, 2-color processes instead of the 3-color process offered by Technicolor.
Later, other movie technologies were adapted for use in animation, such as [[multiplane camera]]s, [[stereophonic sound]] in Disney's [[Fantasia (film)|Fantasia]] in 1941, and later, widescreen processes (e.g. [[CinemaScope]]), and even [[3-D film|3D]].
Today, animation is commonly produced with [[computer]]s, giving the [[animator]] new tools not available in hand-drawn traditional animation. See [[Computer animation]] for further information of the specific technologies. However, many types of animation cannot be called "cartoons", which implies something that resembles drawings. Most forms of [[3D computer graphics|3D]] computer animation, as well as [[clay animation]] and other forms of [[stop motion]] filming, are ''not'' cartoons in the strict sense of the word.
An animated cartoon created using [[Adobe Flash]] is sometimes called a [[webtoon]].
==Feature films==
The name "animated cartoon" is generally not used when referring to full-length animated productions, since the term more or less implies a "short". Huge numbers of animated feature films were, and are still produced; see [[List of animated feature-length films]]
==Notable artists and producers of "shorts"==
* [[Tex Avery]]
* [[Hanna-Barbera]]
* [[Walt Disney]]
* [[Max Fleischer]]
* [[Chuck Jones]]
* [[Walter Lantz]]
* [[Bob Clampett]]
* [[Fred Quimby]]
* [[Ub Iwerks]]
* [[Pat Sullivan]]
{{see|Animation}}
==Television==
American television animation of the 1950s featured quite [[limited animation]] styles, highlighted by the work of [[Jay Ward]] on ''[[Crusader Rabbit]]''. [[Chuck Jones]] coined the term "illustrated radio" to refer to the shoddy style of most television cartoons that depended more on their soundtracks than visuals. Other notable 1950s programs include [[United Productions of America|UPA]]'s ''[[Gerald McBoing Boing]]'', [[Hanna-Barbera]]'s ''[[Huckleberry Hound]]'' and ''[[Quick Draw McGraw]]'', and rebroadcast of many classic theatrical cartoons from [[Warner Brothers]], [[MGM]], and [[Disney]]
[[Hanna-Barbera]]'s show, ''[[The Flintstones]]'' was the first successful [[primetime]] animated series in the United States, running from 1960-66 (and in [[reruns]] since). While many networks followed the show's success by scheduling other primetime cartoons in the early 1960s, including ''[[The Jetsons]]'', ''[[Top Cat]]'', and ''[[The Alvin Show]]'', none of these programs survived more than a year in primetime. However, networks found success by running these failed shows as [[Saturday morning cartoons]], reaching smaller audiences with more demographic unity among children. Television animation for children flourished on Saturday morning, on cable channels like [[Nickelodeon (TV channel)|Nickelodeon]] and [[Cartoon Network]], and in syndicated afternoon timeslots.
Primetime cartoons were virtually non-existent until 1990s hit ''[[The Simpsons]]'' ushered in a new era of ''[[adult animation]]''.
==Commercial animation==
[[Image:Raidcartoon.jpg|thumb|200px|A frame from an animated cartoon, a [[Finland|Finnish]] TV commercial for [[Raid (insecticide)|Raid]] ]]
Animation has been very popular in [[television commercial]]s, both due to its graphic appeal, and the humor it can provide. Some animated characters in commercials have survived for decades, such as [[Snap, Crackle and Pop]] in advertisements for [[Kellogg's]] cereals.
The legendary animation director [[Tex Avery]] was the producer of the first [[Raid (insecticide)|Raid]] "[[Kills Bugs Dead]]" commercials in 1966, which were very successful for the company. The concept has been used in many countries since.
==Genres of animated cartoons==
===Funny animals===
The first animated cartoons often depicted [[funny animals]] in various adventures. This was the [[Mainstream (terminology)|mainstream]] [[genre]] in the [[United States]] from the early 1900s until the 1940s, and the backbone of Disney's series of cartoons.
===Zany humor===
[[Bugs Bunny]], [[Daffy Duck]] of [[Warner Brothers]], and the various films of [[Tex Avery]] at [[MGM]] introduced this popular form of animated cartoons. It usually involves [[Surreal humour|surreal]] acts such as characters being crushed by massive boulders or going over the edge of a cliff but floating in mid air for a few seconds. The ''[[Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner|Road Runner]]'' cartoons are great examples of these actions. The article [[Cartoon physics]] describes typical antics of zany cartoon characters. Disney has, to a lesser extent, applied this to some of their cartoons.
===Sophistication===
As the medium matured, more sophistication was introduced, albeit keeping the humorous touch. [[European classical music|Classical music]] was often spoofed, a notable example is "[[What's Opera, Doc]]" by [[Chuck Jones]]. European animation sometimes followed a very different path from American animation. In the Soviet Union, the late 1930s saw the enforcement of [[socialist realism]] in animation, a style which lasted throughout the [[Stalin]]ist era. The animations themselves were mostly for kids, and based on traditional fairy tales.
===Limited animation===
In the 1950s, [[United Productions of America|UPA]] and other studios refined the [[art]] aspects of animation, by using extremely [[limited animation]] as a means of expression.
===Modernism===
Graphic styles continued to change in the late 1950s and 1960s. At this point, the design of the characters became more angular, while the quality of the character animation declined.
===Animated music videos and bands===
Popular with the advent of [[MTV]] and similar music channels, [[music video]]s often contain animation, sometimes [[rotoscoping|rotoscoped]] (see: ''[[Take on Me]]''), i.e., based on [[live action]] performers. Cartoons animated to music go at least as far back as Disney's 1929 ''[[The Skeleton Dance]]''. These are now popular with the animated bands
[[Gorillaz]] and [[Dethklok]], which the latter is based around a television show about the band([[Metalocalypse]]).
===Anime===
{{main|Anime}}
[[Anime]] is traditionally hand drawn, but computer-assisted techniques (such as [[cel-shaded animation]]) have become quite common in recent years. The subjects of anime represent most major genres of fiction, and anime is available in most motion-picture media ranging from television broadcast to literature.
===Computer Animation===
Beginning in the 1990s, with the rise of [[computer animation]], some cartoons implemented CGI and a few were done entirely in computer animation. [[Beast Wars]] and [[Reboot]] were done entirely in CGI whereas [[Silver Surfer (TV Series)|Silver Surfer]] only partially implemented CGI. [[Donkey Kong Country (TV Series)| Donkey Kong Country]] also used CGI to make it look like the SNES game. CGI is common today, whether obvious such as in [[Tak and the Power of Juju]] or made to look two-dimensional such as in [[Speed Racer X]].
==See also==
*[[Anime]]
*[[Animation]]
*[[Cartoon]]
*[[Hayao Miyazaki]]
*[[Multi-Sketch]]
*[[Traditional animation]]
*[[Computer animation]]
*[[Stop-motion animation]]
*[[Pinscreen animation]]
*[[Walt Disney]]
*[[The Simpsons]]
==References==
<!--See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Footnotes for an explanation of how to generate footnotes using the <ref(erences/)> tags-->
{{reflist}}
===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* Barrier, J. Michael. ''Hollywood Cartoons: American Animation in Its Golden Age''. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-19-503759-6.
* Bendazzi, Giannalberto. ''Cartoons: One Hundred Years of Cinema Animation''. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1994. ISBN 0-253-20937-4.
* Maltin, Leonard. ''Of Mice and Magic: A History of American Animated Cartoons''. New York: Plume, 1980. ISBN 0-45225-993-2.
* Stabile, Carol and Mark Harrison, eds. ''Prime Time Animation: Television Animation and American Culture''. London: Routledge, 2003. ISBN 0-415-28326-4.
* Stephenson, Ralph. ''The Animated Film''. London: Tantivity Press, 1973. ISBN 0-49801-202-6.
{{refend}}
==External links==
*[http://www.saunalahti.fi/animato/cartoon/cartoon.html The making of an animated cartoon]
*[http://www.animated-divots.com/chronst.html Chronology of animation]
*[http://www.animator.ru/db/?ver=eng&p=films&fstat=1 Complete list of Soviet animated cartoons] (in English, with descriptions. Also includes cartoons from all of the countries that the [[Soviet Union]] split up into)
{{Animation}}
[[Category:Cartooning| ]]
[[Category:Art genres]]
[[Category:Film and video terminology]]
[[Category:Animation]]
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