Using the CAPS system, enclosed areas and lines could be easily colored in the digital computer environment using an unlimited palette. This shows a higher level of 'visual tricks' than seen in previous instances of animation.CAPS was the first digital ink and paint system used in animated feature films, designed to replace the expensive process of transferring animated drawings to cels using India ink or xerographic technology, and painting the reverse sides of the cels with gouache paint. While Humorous Phases of Funny Faces by Blackton shows separate vignettes of various characters, Cohl's film has a beautiful fluidity that weaves one frame with the next. Following this, Cohl studied the frames used in the film thoroughly to understand the animation techniques used.įantasmagorie managed to lift "cartoons out of the realm of trick films and started them on the path toward animated features". How did Fantasmagorie change the film industry in Europe?Īfter Blackton's The Haunted Hotel was released by Vitagraph in April 1907 to a great success, Gaumont asked its employees to uncover the "mystery of The Haunted Hotel". The 'father of animated cartoon' as he is remembered among animated film circles, inspired many great animation artists of the future such as Walt Disney, Tex Avery, and Max and Dave Fleischer.
The Neo-Impressionist Painter (1910), Cohl's most famous work, mocks impressionist paintings. Around only 37 film survive in film archives. He used puppets, drawings and cut outs among other objects to create more than 250 films within the period of 19. The animation style Cohl developed saw human figures changing into unexpected images which did away with notions of logical sequence or reality. Cohl became Europe's first cartoon filmmaker. Stuart Blackton was already working with animation and his works- Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) and Haunted Hotel (1907) - were introducing wonderful new possibilities in the film industry.
He joined the Gaumont film company as a writer in 1908 and moved on to directing various kinds of films before moving on to animation.Īmerica's J. He worked as the assistant to famous caricaturist Andre Gill. In the 1880s and 90s, Cohl developed himself as a caricaturist, writer and cartoonist. With the Franco-Prussian war in progress, Cohl came under the influence of political caricature and puppet drama. Cohl's artistic capabilities were discovered at the boarding school he was enrolled in at the age of seven. About the 'father of animated cartoon' Emile CohlĮmile Cohl was born to working class parents and did not have a very privileged childhood. "At the beginning and end Cohl's own hands appeared in positive, necessitating in these two shots the use of white ink on black paper to match the negative animation sequence," Donald Crafton says in his book Emile Cohl, Caricature, and Film. The drawings were placed one by one on a lightbox and photographed, changing their positions as needed. Cohl made eight drawings for each second and photographed each image twice. The film projected at a rate of 16 frames per second was created just by Cohl and a camera assistant. This 'chalk line effect' was inspired by a famous early animator, James Stuart Blackton. Though the film looks like the popular chalkboard caricatures of the time, it is actually made from pen on paper drawings which were then double exposed to create a negative film effect of white lines on black. To do this, Cohl used an illuminated glass plate and traced consecutive drawings with the variations needed so that the film could consistent movement and continuity among the drawings. What technique did Cohl use to create the film?Įmile Cohl worked for around five months to create Fantasmagorie, from February 1908 to either May or June, creating 700 drawing to flesh out the 1 minute 20 second film. With its fantastic style that is unlike the realist tradition of the time, Fantasmagorie is a masterpiece which anticipates the Surrealistic movement of the future. The film needs to be watched repetitively as the movements are often too fast to keep track of what is going on. The gentleman and the clown- characters from 'Fantasmagorie'
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