Pioneers in Early Animation

Maries-Georges-Jean-Méliès, known as Georges Méliès, was a pioneer in animation. Born in 1861 in Paris, he was interested in the arts from a young age and pursued a career in stage design and puppetry. 

After studying in both France and London, he took over his fathers job as a factory manager and saved his money to buy the well-known Theatre Robert Houdin in 1888. He found himself working as a showman, performing magic and illusions whilst working on his own tricks. 

When the Lumière brothers revealed their Cinématographe in December, 1895 Georges attempted to buy the machine only to be turned down.

Investigating the idea of moving pictures, he found Robert Paul in London and his projector before building his own. He began presenting other peoples films in 1896 but soon began making his own, each film lasting around a minute as it was made of only one reel. 

After an incident involving a jammed camera whilst filming, Méliès realised that he could make objects appear and disappear on screen, causing him to use this in his films.

One of his most successful films was 'A Trip to the Moon'.

Winsor McCay was born on the 26th September 1869 in Michigan and was known for being the cartoonist behind 'Little Nemo' and the animator for the film 'Gertie the Dinosaur'.

McCay was known to be a talented artist from a young age and soon began making posters and illustrating newspapers and magazines for a profit in 1898. After joining the New York Herald in 1903, he began to draw comic strips, creating the renowned 'Little Nemo, in 1905 which became increasingly popular.

 In between the years 1911 and 1921, Winsor McCay animated multiple films using one drawing to make up one frame. One of the most successful films he animated was 'Gertie the Dinosaur', which involved McCay appearing to give instructions to a trained dinosaur on the screen.

After his other animations failed to make the same impact as 'Gertie the Dinosaur', McCay went back to drawing comic strips in the newspaper. However, his style of animation was something that influenced many different illustrators and animators and was not beaten until Walt Disney began to release his films.

Charlotte Reiniger, also known as Lotte, was a film director and pioneer of silhouette animation from Germany. She was born on the 2nd June, 1899 in Berlin and enjoyed Chinese art and shadow puppets as a child, often putting on shows for family and friends by herself.

As she grew older, she became interested in the films made by Georges Méliès and Paul Wegener, eventually attending the acting group, the Theatre of Max Reinhardt, and making title cards using her silhouettes for Wegener's films.

In 1919, she directed her first film (The Ornament of the Enamored Heart) and then six other short films after her initial success. Her animation career didn't start until 1923 however, when she was asked by Louis Hagen to create a feature length animated film. The film itself, 'The Adventures of Prince Achmed', was almost not shown after failing to find a distributor for a considerable amount of time, but it became a success after it premiered in Paris.

After this she attempted to make multiple other animated feature films, with little success compared to her first attempt due to the appearance of sound in Germany and issues involving Copyright and music.