In Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane (1941) there is a scene in which a photograph comes to life. The scene comes during Kane’s announcement that his has hired the group of star journalists from a rival newspaper to write for his own paper, The Inquirer. This sequence recalls the increasing popularity of animation in this period. As we learned, Snow White and the Seven Dwarf (1937) was the first feature-length animated film.

In class, there was a question about Walt Disney’s first animated film shorts that featured Virginia Davis (not a mouse!). The little girl is seen interacting with cartoon characters. Live shots and animated sequences were filmed separately and combined in the editing room. Watch Disney’s film short Alice’s Wonderland that was produced in the Laugh-O-Gram studio in Kansas City, which led to a series called Alice’s Comedies that he produced in Los Angeles, and post your thoughts on early animation.

Watch the photograph come to life in Citizen Kane here.

Watch Alice’s Wonderland here.

To complete this homework assignment, note whether you Post or Comment. For Homework #5, Clubs and Hearts will submit a Post and Diamonds and Spades will Comment (choose any of your classmates’ posts to comment on).

Homework #5 is DUE by Thursday March 26th.
 Clubs and Hearts Post, Diamonds and Spades Comment, note your blog group! Email me if you forget.