1917-1960: Early Animators
Note: Film lengths in this section are not accurate for a number of reasons:
- current copies of films may be missing frames/footage.
- silent films had varying recording/projecting speeds. It is unclear whether or not the lengths given in current sources are taken from playing the film at 24 fps or at 16-23 fps depending on the intended projection speed of the film
- some lengthsmay be estimates or rounded up/down
- because of the unreliability of film lengths, the number of reels is also cited when it is known.
- when more information becomes available, the lengths section will be altered to give additional context to the question of individual film lengths. ie. film reel(s) length in meters.
Resources:
- A History of Japanese Animation (JP), NFC Screening Programme, July 2004)
- Geschichte des japanischen Animationsfilms (pdf), Stadtmuseum Online
- Early Japanese Animation: As Innovative as Contemporary Anime (Armen Boudjikanian, Frames per Second, 26 Feb. 2008)
- Interview with Akira Tochigi (Montreal Mirror, 18 March 2008)
- Interview with Akira Tochigi (Armen Boudjikanian, Frames per Second, 5 April 2008)
- Pioneers of Japanese Animation at PIFAN, Pt. 1 (Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye, 23 Sept 2004)
- Pioneers of Japanese Animation at PIFAN, Pt.2 (Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye, 1 Nov 2004)
- Old anime (Benjamin Ettinger, Anipages, 30 May 2007)
- Shorts By Anime Pioneers Surface in Japan (pdf), The Silent Treatment, Vol. 2, No. 1 (May/June 2008)
- A Capsule History of Anime (Fred Patten, AWN)
- Japan's Top Anime People (knol)
DVD Filmography:
- Japanese Anime Classic Collection, Digital Meme 4-DVD set, JP
- Kumo to Tulip: The Collected Works of Kenzo Masaoka, Anido, JP
- The Roots of Japanese Anime Until the End of WWII, Zakka Films, USA