HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY FACES (1906)
Article 4220 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 5-5-2013
Directed by J. Stuart Blackton
Featuring J. Stuart Blackton
Country: USA
What it is: Early animation

An artist draws several figures on a blackboard which come to life.

Here’s another example of early animation, with chalk and blackboard being used to animate several images. It’s a simple but fun little trick film. We see him draw the first character, but from then on the characters appear seemingly without human involvement. My favorite sequence uses backwards film, as two partially erased faces come back to vivid clarity, only to vanish into the chalk of the artist. It lacks the stream-of-consciousness feel of Emile Cohl, but it’s well-conceived and well-rendered. This one is a lot of fun.