“Fatasmagorie” by Emile Cohl is considered to be the first ever animated cartoon made. He used stop motion to animate the story of a little jack-in-the-box character. The scenes are hand drawn frame by frame and later composed together to make the film. It was drawn on paper, then shot by a camera onto negative film, giving the image the blackboard look. Each frame was exposed twice, giving it a longer run time. The story follows a character that morphs, bends, breaks under certain situations. Cartoon gives reality to a free-for-all for physical deformities and bends the imagined.
Before this animation, there were only older methods such as the magic lantern that did not move images in a continuous motion. Seeing images move on a screen must have been an extremely confusing yet exhilarating. It can be compared to when sound was added to films/movies and the audience would always wonder if it was needed or not—but later became an advancement that stayed.
Emile Cohl also gained inspiration from other artists at the time such as James Stuart Blackton. He was a British and American film producer and director of the silent era. He was one of the first to utilize stop motion and drawn animation. Emile borrowed the blackboard look from Blackton, who used it in his Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906). Collaboration amongst artists is always important and both put out art that would influence those who came after them.
