''Fantasmagorie'' is a 1908
French animated film by
Émile Cohl
Émile Eugène Jean Louis Cohl (; né Courtet; 4 January 1857 – 20 January 1938) was a French caricaturist of the largely forgotten Incoherents, Incoherent Movement, cartoonist, and animator, called "The Father of the Animated Cartoon" and "Th ...
. It is one of the earliest examples of
traditional (hand-drawn) animation, and considered by film historians to be the first
animated cartoon
Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...
.
Description
![Emile Cohl](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/87/Emile_Cohl.jpg)
The film largely consists of a
stick man
''Stick Man'', written by former Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, is a children's story about an anthropomorphic wooden stick who becomes separated from his family home and his '' Odyssey''-like adventure ...
moving about and encountering all manner of morphing objects, such as a wine bottle that transforms into a flower which becomes an elephant. There are also sections of live action where the animator's hands enter the scene. The main character is drawn by the artist's hand on camera, and the main characters are a
clown
A clown is a person who performs comedy and arts in a state of open-mindedness using physical comedy, typically while wearing distinct makeup or costuming and reversing folkway-norms.
History
The most ancient clowns have been found in ...
and a
gentleman
A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...
. Other characters include a woman in a film theater wearing a large hat with gigantic feathers and a strongman.
The film, in all of its wild transformations, is a direct tribute to the by-then forgotten
Incoherent movement. The title is taken from the original French word for "
phantasmagoria
Phantasmagoria (, also fantasmagorie, fantasmagoria) was a form of horror theatre that (among other techniques) used one or more magic lanterns to project frightening images, such as skeletons, demons, and ghosts, onto walls, smoke, or semi- ...
", a mid-19th century
magic lantern
The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a si ...
show with moving images of ghosts.
History
Cohl worked on ''Fantasmagorie'' from February to either May or June 1908. Despite the short running time, the piece was packed with material devised in a
stream of consciousness
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver (physician), Daniel Ol ...
style. The film was released on 17 August 1908.
Production
The film was created by drawing each frame on paper and then shooting each frame onto
negative film
In photography, a negative is an image, usually on a strip or sheet of transparent plastic film, in which the lightest areas of the photographed subject appear darkest and the darkest areas appear lightest. This reversed order occurs because th ...
, which gave the picture a blackboard look. It was made up of 700 drawings, each of which was exposed twice (animated "on twos"), leading to a running time of almost two minutes.
Cohl probably copied the blackboard-style from
J. Stuart Blackton
James Stuart Blackton (January 5, 1875 – August 13, 1941) was a British-American film producer and director of the silent era. One of the pioneers of motion pictures, he founded Vitagraph Studios in 1897. He was one of the first filmmakers to ...
's ''
Humorous Phases of Funny Faces
''Humorous Phases of Funny Faces'' is a 1906 short silent animated cartoon directed by James Stuart Blackton and generally regarded by film historians as the first animated film recorded on standard picture film.Magill's Survey of Silent Films, ...
'' (1906).
See also
* ''
Humorous Phases of Funny Faces
''Humorous Phases of Funny Faces'' is a 1906 short silent animated cartoon directed by James Stuart Blackton and generally regarded by film historians as the first animated film recorded on standard picture film.Magill's Survey of Silent Films, ...
''
* ''
The Enchanted Drawing
''The Enchanted Drawing'' is a 1900 silent film directed by J. Stuart Blackton. It is best known for containing the first animated sequences recorded on standard picture film, which has led Blackton to be considered the father of American animati ...
''
*
History of animation
While the history of animation began much earlier, this article is concerned with the development of the medium after the emergence of celluloid film in 1888, as produced for theatrical screenings, television and (non-interactive) home entertai ...
References
External links
*
*
*
*
1900s animated short films
1908 films
1908 animated films
French black-and-white films
French animated short films
Films directed by Émile Cohl
French short films
Articles containing video clips
French silent short films
Animated films without speech
{{France-silent-film-stub