Animation in the 1960s

Bob Godfrey Do it for yourself cartoon kit featured stop motion cutout animation that would influence Terry Gilliam. It was cool to see what a big influence that Bob Godfrey was on Terry Gilliam and you can really see that reflected through his style of comedy and art. There was also a similar style of absurd themes and subversions of expectations, which work quite well within the subgenre of stop motion cut out animation because of the limitations and often fast paced clips.

Dusan Vukotic & Zagreb Film was responsible for the short animated film Surogat, which was the first non US animated short film to win an Oscar. I really enjoyed the simplistic style of the animation as it often used this as a way of using one object as two things thanks to the simplistic design. I really liked how simplistic the art style and characters were, but they were still able to tell an entertaining and compelling story, even working within stylistic limitations.

Fyodor Khitruk was a Russian Director who created the short film called Story of one crime. The short film was a modernist animation featuring a story line about a character irritated by the disruptions caused by his neighbors and was seen as a potential criticism against the communist party and their approach to society and policies, however the film was still allowed to be distributed. Personally I really loved the simplistic artistic design and colour pallet, and it reminded me a lot of the art style in Surogat and Automania 2000.

Wan Laiming
Chinese
Havoc in Heaven parts one and two
1961 &1964
both parts were edited together in 1965 and based on the tale of the monkey king
cool artstyle for backgrounds & clouds

Italy
Osvaldo Cavandoli was the creator of a short film called The line. This animation was created as an advert for Italian show Carosello. Like a lot of other animations from this era, I really liked the simplicity of the art style and the focus on narrative instead of flashy complex art.

Japan

Cyborg 009 was a production of Toei Doga, and was an adaption of a manga about an athlete transformed into a cyborg after an accident. This show was similar to astroboy at the time and was very popular in japan. I find it interesting as unlike many of the other animations from this decade it was an adaption rather than original work, which has been a large trend that has continued in the anime and manga industries even in recent years

Mach gogogo/ speed racer by Hiroshi Sasagawa is another good example of this practice. Bringing life to a comic series works well because the storyline and groundwork has often already been done and most series are already proven to be popular before they get adapted.

Japan
Fuji televisions production of Sazae san is another example, and began in 1969 and is continuing till today, being the longest running series in animation. This was also adapted from the comic strips created by author Machioko Hasewaga. I really liked the simplistic storytelling and the peaceful atmosphere that the clip had.


Croatia artist Ziatko Grgic created the animated series Professor Balthazar with by Zagreb film studio. The series was 52 episodes  that focused on an old inventor. I really liked the cutout styled simplistic backgrounds used throughout, which is a common theme among a lot of 1960s animation. I think the use of bright and cheerful colours is another thing I really like about the era of animation.