Tag Archives: history

A series of articles published in Animator’s Newsletter form a comprehensive guide to the history of British animation. Film students and historians will find it a useful introduction to the subject.

In part one The Shadows Move – the British pioneers, animation historian Ken Clark looks back to the birth of the animation industry. Early cartoons such as Bert Acre’s “Tom Merry” film were little more than a filmic adaptation of what was then a popular music-hall act, a lightning artist speeded-up in miraculous manner. Stop motion filming was pioneered by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper who used it to animate matches and children’s toys. Continue reading →