1914 Gertie the Dinosaur by Winsor Mc Cay

Gertie the Dinosaur is known to be one of the first cel animated films by Winsor Mc Cay, who was an American cartoonist and animator. Mc Cay is well known for his comic strip Little Nemo and of course Gertie the Dinosaur.

 Motion Pictures were something new for the 18^th century and people were still getting used to the idea of drawings coming to life. Although it is known that Gertie the Dinosaur is the first animated cartoons, before Gertie Mc Cay worked on 2 other animations. The very first animation that Mc Cay worked on was called Little Nemo this was a very experimental piece in fact the animation had no story line and consisted of 4000 drawings  which were hand coloured by Mc Cay himself. According to Van Eation “the animation was quite precise and the effects very dreamlike.”

The comic strip Little Nemo in Slumberland is considered McCay's masterpiece (July 22, 1906)

The other film Mc Cay worked on was called “The Story of a Mosquito” this animation was about a mosquito that ran into a drunken man. It took Mc Cay one whole year to complete this animation which made a big hit at the theatres, but since motion picture were new for that time it was said that Mc Cay was playing some tricks with wires. And that’s when Mc Cay started working on Gertie the Dinosaur, his aim was to prove that his drawing really did move. 

Gertie the Dinosaur consisted of 10,000 drawings, and with the help of John A Fitzsimmon, the drawings were produced. Fitzsimmon traced the backgrounds on rice paper while Mc Cay did the drawing of Gertie. To produce the animation Mc Cay only had his experience to relay on as he has on guidance from any one. To check the work Mc Cay would put the drawings in a machine which flipped the drawings and helped him view the movement, like a flip book but in a form of a machine.

According to Van Eation “Mc Cay precisely animated details such as particles of dirt falling, and water dripping. He gave Gertie personality and emotions. We see her eating, drinking, playing, and even crying.”

In February 1914 Gertie the Dinosaur debuted in Chicago as part of McCay's vaudeville act and that’s when Mc Cay explained to the audience how the animated film was made, photographed and projected. 

Reference 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF GERTIE THE DINOSAUR. 2014. A BRIEF HISTORY OF GERTIE THE DINOSAUR. [ONLINE] Available at: http://vegalleries.com/gerthistory.html. [Accessed 19 November 2014

Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo » Madinkbeard | Derik Badman. 2014. Winsor McCay’s Little Nemo » Madinkbeard | Derik Badman. [ONLINE] Available at: http://madinkbeard.com/archives/winsor-mccays-little-nemo. [Accessed 19 November 2014].

Century Film Project | Celebrating the movies our ancestors loved. 2014. Century Film Project | Celebrating the movies our ancestors loved. [ONLINE] Available at: https://centuryfilmproject.wordpress.com/. [Accessed 19 November 2014].

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2014. Gertie the Dinosaur - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertie_the_Dinosaur. [Accessed 19 November 2014].

Change Before Going Productions. Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) - 1st Keyframe Animation - Winsor McCay, 2013 - YouTube. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGXC8gXOPoU. [Accessed 19 November 2014].