The Animograph, or I Was Born in a Shoebox

In the early 1960s, the inventor Jean Dejoux, who was at the time working for the French Radio and Television (RTF), developed a strange device, the Animographe, which allowed the production of cartoons faster than traditional techniques by reducing the number of drawings needed to make a fluid animation. The Animograph was later used to produce the first episodes of The Shadoks. Norman McLaren tested it in Paris in 1964 and even considered the possibility of the NFB acquiring it (which never happened). Other well-known directors, such as Frederic Back, Chuck Jones, and Gerald Scarfe (the author of the animated sequences for Pink Floyd - The Wall), experimented with the possibilities of the Animograph. In Los Angeles, the Optical Systems company, founded in 1967, promoted the device. René Jodoin, the producer at the NFB, sent Kaj Pindal to explore the new tool. During his stay, Pindal directed a film that would become part of the NFB catalog: Un cheval à toute vapeur (1973). He was the only Canadian to have made a film with the Animographe. With the help of archives and interviews (including one with the author of these lines), Thierry Dejean's documentary retraces the fascinating, but unknown, history of Dejoux's invention. An invention that, tragically, will not survive the arrival of a fierce competitor in the industry of animation: the digital realm.

Marco de Blois
Artistic Director
Sommets du cinéma d’animation