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Edweard Muybridge used sequential photogrpahs to analyze animal and human movement
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In the early 19th century mechanical devices such as the thaumatrope, zoetrope & praxinoscope anticipated motion picture animation by quickly flashing a calibrated sequence of still pictures past the viewer.
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In 1892, Émile Reynaud opened his popular Théâtre Optique in
Paris, where he projected films that had been drawn directly on
transparent celluloid. -
By the early 20th century, animators such as J. Stuart
Blackton and Winsor McCay in the U.S. and Émile Cohl in France were
making animated films composed entirely of drawings. -
Raoul Barré and Bill Nolan opened the first animation studio in New York in 1914.
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Brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, creators of Betty Boop, patented the rotoscope in 1917, enabling animators to copy the movement of live action by tracing filmed live-action images frame by frame.
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In 1923,Walt and Roy Disney, Ub Iwerks, and other animators
formed a company that would dominate animation for many years. Not only did the studio’s animators produce finely drawn films, but they emphasized unique, specific characters and movement that revealed the characters’ personalities.