History MediaNotes / TheSilentAgeOfAnimation

Now, animation had existed for centuries [[UsefulNotes/EarlyAnimation in some form of another]] before this era came about, but this era is when large numbers of people actually started taking notice of the medium and what it could do. This had a lot to do with the invention of the motion picture camera using photographic film. The ancient method of painting images onto plates of glass--used since the 17th century in magic lanterns and improved by 19th century inventions such as the zoopraxiscope and praxiniscope--had a number of drawbacks. It was expensive and labor-intensive to paint the figures, it was difficult to make multiple copies, and the length of animation that could be fed through the projector was limited by the mechanical medium on which the image was stored. Thus, even though it was possible to make animations before the invention of photography or the film camera, the ability to transfer a sequence of drawings onto film using photography made duplication easier and allowed for longer, more sophisticated animations to be exhibited using a film projector.

This era was succeeded by the far better-known [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age of Animation]], which would last even longer and become even more influential and recognized than this era ever was.

* [[Creator/VanBeurenStudios Farmer Alfalfa]] (1915): The first star character from future Creator/{{Terrytoons}} creator Paul Terry (whom would later go on to make WesternAnimation/MightyMouse during the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation Golden Age]]). A grumpy, pipe-smoking, alcoholic old hick, Farmer Al was perpetually at war with city slickers and his own livestock. Amazingly, Terrytoons would continue to produce the occasional Farmer Al Falfa cartoon into the 1950s.

* WesternAnimation/OswaldTheLuckyRabbit (1927): Mickey Mouse's precursor and Walt Disney's first genuine cartoon star (the Alice Comedies notwithstanding, as Alice was a live action girl in a cartoon world). The series was eventually taken over by Charles Mintz's studio, and afterwards Creator/WalterLantz and his animation unit took over the series from [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1929 and onward]].

* WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse (1928): Initially he was a silent star in his first two films, ''WesternAnimation/PlaneCrazy'' and ''The Gallopin' Gaucho'', both of which had sound retroactively added.