Animation Timeline by Kerry O'Gara

Persistence of Vision theory

kog15 — 2025-03-07 01:28:19 UTC

"Persistence of vision theory" is the optical illusion where the human eye holds an image on the retina for a brief moment after it has disappeared, allowing the brain to perceive smooth motion when a series of slightly different images are displayed rapidly in succession, creating the illusion of movement; this principle is fundamental to animation and film technology where individual frames are shown quickly to create the perception of continuous motion.

1832 - Phenakistiscope

kog15 — 2025-03-07 01:28:52 UTC

A phenakistoscope is a circular disc with a sequence of images that creates the illusion of movement. It was invented in 1832 by Joseph Plateau and Simon von Stampfer. It is considered to be the first example of animation and it revolutionised film and animation.

1834- Zoetrope

kog15 — 2025-03-07 01:29:05 UTC

A zoetrope is a cylinder with vertical slits down the sides. The inside of the cylinder displays a band with a set of sequenced images. When the cylinder spins, the user can see the pictures inside as they look through the slits, which prevent the images from blurring together and creates the illusion of movement.

William George Horner invented the Zoetrope in 1933.

The Zoetrope is pretty much a cylindrical version of the Phenakistiscope.

1826 - Thaumatrope

kog15 — 2025-03-07 01:43:41 UTC

A Thaumatrope or “wonder turner” is an optical illusion based on combining two images with movement. It was invented in 1826 by the English physician J.A. Paris.

The thaumatrope was originally used to demonstrate the peristence of vision theory which is a fundamental principle of animation and film.

king kong 1933

2026-03-03 23:07:17 UTC

King Kong was Directed by Merian Cooper, it is a stop motion. Stop motion is a lot of photos taken in order with small differences to give the effect of moving.

King kong
The movie was notable for its pioneering use of special effects, including stop-motion animation and miniature rear projection, these techniques laid the foundation for future special effects in film.

Toy story - 1995 [Hunter]

2026-03-03 23:07:56 UTC

Toy story was produced in 1995 and was created by Pixar Animation Studios, the first feature-length computer-animated film, taking four years to produce. It was crafted by animating 3D models (characters/sets) on computers, using digital rigging, lighting, and rendering techniques to create a 3D world with lifelike textures.

1940 - Tom and Jerry

2026-03-03 23:11:17 UTC

Tom and Jerry first appeared in 1940 in the short film Puss Gets the Boot, made by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The cartoon showed a funny cat-and-mouse chase that people really enjoyed. It is important to animation history because it helped make cartoons more exciting and showed how stories could be told with lots of action and very little talking.

Flinstones - 1960 NO AI

2026-03-03 23:11:27 UTC

Flinstones was a series created in 1960 by William Hana and Joseph Barbera. It was the first animated TV show made for adults and families mainly airing around the evening. Before this, most cartoons were short films or made mainly for kids. It is so important since it influenced multiple tv shows like simpsons, family guy and jetsons

2004 - Polar Express

2026-03-03 23:12:39 UTC

Polar Express is a computer animated Christmas film created in American and directed by Robert Zemeckis. It uses live action and motion capture. Live action is when a real person interacts with CGI or stop motion, and motion capture is when human actors' motions are used to animate in 3D or 2D. Polar Express is set on Christmas eve and is about a kid who boards a train to believe Santa is real.

2009-Avatar

26489_15 — 2026-03-03 23:12:47 UTC

Avatar 1 was created by James Cameron and was the first fully CGI movie. This movie used ground breaking technology that recorded the actors faces and expressions to put them onto the avatar bodies. Avatar won 3 awards for best effects and cinematography as there was nothing like it at the time.

star wars 1977

2026-03-03 23:13:52 UTC

Jurassic Park, 1993

2026-03-03 23:14:42 UTC

In Jurassic Park, survivors Ellie Sattler, Robert Muldoon and Dr Ian Malcolm are pursued by an escaped T-rex after the park is sabotaged. During the chase, there is a heavy use of CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) that makes the T-Rex look large, fast and intimidating while chasing the jeep. The usual way of animating such a scene at the time would have employed stop-motion, a technique that would have the POV shot from afar to make it look real, which wasn't cutting it for film director Steven Spielberg. Steven instead used (and popularized) the relatively unknown technique of CGI to keep the scene inside the confines of the Jeep while still allowing for the T-Rex to speed behind the car. By using CGI, Spielberg introduced the technique to Hollywood, paving the way for films like The Avengers and the Star Wars prequels.

Betty Boop (1930-1939)

2026-03-03 23:17:21 UTC

Betty Boop is a 1930s cartoon flapper created by Max Fleischer, inspired by jazz‑age singers like Helen Kane and the stylish, independent women of the Roaring Twenties. The animation is very fluid and surreal, with musical numbers, rubbery movements, and even rotoscoped jazz performances that make her world feel alive and rhythmic. In many of her shorts, the moral is that staying true to yourself, being kind, and facing problems with courage and creativity will help you overcome trouble, even when the world around you is chaotic.

Steamboat Willie (1928) - Disney Cartoons

2026-03-03 23:17:34 UTC

Steamboat Willie (1928) produced by Disney Cartoons, was primarily animated by Ub Iwerks with help from Les Clark and Johnny Cannon. It was a traditional 2D hand-drawn cel animation (hand drawn on celluloid sheets). It was directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. This black and white short film was ground breaking as it was the first cartoon with full synchronized sound.

Steamboat Willie was a landmark in animation history because it was the first cartoon to have fully synchronized sound, where action perfectly matches the soundtrack. It created Mickey Mouse which was a global icon, it also saved Walt Disney from bankruptcy. The short film was selected by the U.S. National Film Registry in 1998 for being 'culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant'.

Castle in the Sky (1986)

2026-03-03 23:17:59 UTC

Castle in the Sky (1986) is a milestone film in the history of animation and holds importance as the first feature length production from Studio Ghibli, and it has had a major influence on the steampunk genre.

It was animated by Studio Ghibli, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. The animation used is called Hand-Drawn Cel Animation, and the film is a classic example of traditional Japanese hand-drawn animation known as anime.

Castle in the Sky's plot is centred around a young orphan called Sheeta and her kidnapper, Col. Muska, who are flying to a military prison when their plane is attacked by a gang of air pirates led by the matronly Dola. Escaping from a mid-air collision via a magic crystal around her neck, Sheeta meets fellow orphan PAzu and the pair join forces to discover the mystical floating city of Laputa while pursued by both Muska and the pirates, who lust for the city's myriad treasures.

1989 - The Simpsons

2026-03-03 23:18:11 UTC

The simpsons was created by Matt Groening with James L. Brooks and Sam Simon. It was created in 1989 in the United states. It is the longest running US primetime sitcon for the fox broadcasting company.

The simpsons used traditional hand-drawn 2D cel animation for its first 13 seasons, before transitioning to digital ink and paint in 2002. The simpsons were very time consuming. Before The Simpsons most animated films wer made for the younger audience. The Simpsons changed this and showed how animation could be for any age with a humorous animated film.

1999 - The Matrix - use of 'bullet time' CGI -

2026-03-03 23:18:51 UTC

John Gaeta and Manex Visual Effects were the ones that made the matrix bullet time. It used a lot of cameras in a path around the actor, that path was made by a computer. The cameras filmed with lots of frames so that they could slow it down and then they added in the digital surroundings and bullets.

This was important because it was the first time that there was hyper slow motion and moving cameras and digital background and stuff.