Tag Archives: Virginia Davis

Homework #5: The Animated Sequence

Photograph of The Chronicle reporters in Citizen Kane
Photograph of The Chronicle reporters in Citizen Kane

In Orson Wellesā€™ Citizen Kane (1941) there is a scene in which a photograph comes to life. The scene comes during Kaneā€™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.

Virginia Davis in Walt Disney's Alice's Comedies
Virginia Davis in Walt Disney’s Alice’s Comedies

In class, there was a question about Walt Disneyā€™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 Disneyā€™s film short Aliceā€™s Wonderland that was produced in the Laugh-O-Gram studio in Kansas City, which led to a series called Aliceā€™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 Aliceā€™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 classmatesā€™ posts to comment on).

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