A Delightful Silent Film About Hand-Drawn Cartoons

Animation can be an incredibly arduous task, but it was even more so a century ago when the entire enterprise was done by hand, using just paper, pens, and photography. It takes a lot of blood, sweat, tears, and time to bring the stuff of imagination to motion.

You can see the proof in this 1919 movie called “How Animated Cartoons Are Made.” In the nine-minute movie, pioneering animator Wallace Carlson of (the now defunct) Bray Studios takes the audience through the entire process of animating a scene—from brainstorming to execution.

Perhaps even better than getting a glimpse behind the animator’s curtain is the incredibly charming way the movie was shot, with playful music and intertitles like this:

Check out this glimpse of early American animation above, and gain a whole new respect for the world of “practical effects.”

[h/t Digg]

Images from YouTube.