4.Possibilities of Pictogram Animation
The previous section briefly surveys animated film pictograms from the 1940s, no work that can be called “pure pictogram animation,” comparable to Ragan’s attempt, has been found. Nevertheless, now that we have some idea of the situation, we consider the possibility of pictogram animation.
Among the selected films, many featured pictograms used in maps, partly because of the wartime situation but also because, as Neurath pointed out, battle maps with pictograms have long been used as a means of expression. However, since maps are a collection of abstract symbols and dull objects for the public, some efforts were made to attract the viewer’s attention. This is the case with the tendency to incorporate three-dimensionality into the map plane, with pictograms placed atop it. This direction was particularly evident in Disney and NFB works, with the map drawn as a sphere with a spherical horizon.
In Ragan’s animations, too, maps were expressed with awareness of the azimuthal equidistant projection, but the horizon’s spherical representations were rare and depicted as a flat surface. In this respect, the animation produced by John Hubley and his UPA team is close to Ragan’s work. Omission and compression are their animations’ characteristics—also familiar to pictogram animation. Additionally, the omitted background is the standard for informational animation with scientific or technical content; nevertheless, both Ragan and UPA’s works seem to have attempted, to some extent, to distance themselves from this standard. Tuesday in November has a unique depth of expression based on an inverted perspective. In Ragan’s work, the flow chart, which is drawn in linear perspective and incorporates zooming-in movement along the line, can be seen as an attempt in this direction.
As for pictograms in motion, Ragan created the character of Plugger, but no other comparable example was found. The closest is again pictograms representing human figures in Tuesday in November, but the pictogram itself does not have much movement. The pictogram represents, in principle, a non-individual, ordinary person. Therefore, pictogram figures usually represent faceless collective entities such as soldiers or workers. In general, even characters in animation often represent specific typical figures, but they are still so individualized and active that the viewer can be easily absorbed. In contrast, pictograms are rendered as static entities. If there is movement, it is somewhat mechanical. In animation of the same period, which developed as a technique to breathe life into an object, a pictogram more likely indicates static existence. That Ragan’s Plugger resembles a robot even though he is in motion suggests that the pictogram is foreign to motion in animation.
More fundamentally, Ragan’s attempt suggests the difficulty of developing long animation using only pictograms, which should run about one to two or five minutes at the most. If the animation is longer than that, live-action is usually used. Rarely is a relatively long animation consistent with pictograms from beginning to end. Indeed, various innovations in Ragan’s animations reflect his efforts to overcome pictograms’ expressive limitations. In fact, during the postwar period, Ragan reduced pictograms’ priority and began using different animation styles in addition to live action. All this suggests the difficulty of establishing pictogram animation as an expressive genre.
Conclusion
We have explored Ragan’s work and the animated pictograms used in the same period. While we were able to confirm the uniqueness of Ragan’s works, we found negative results regarding the question of whether the genre of pictogram animation could be established. However, we can confirm that animated pictograms were created even after the 1940s, so it remains to be verified whether they are an evolution of “pictogram animation” or not.
References
- Alonge, G (2000): Il disegno armato. Cinema di animazione e propaganda bellica in nord America e Gran Bretagna (1914-1945), CLUEB.
- Anon. (1942): Basic English will be taught in movie shorts, The Town Talk (Alexandria, Louisiana) · 15 May 1942, Fri · Page 15
- Disney, W. (1955): Animated Cartoon, Health Education Journal, 13 (1), pp.70–7.
- Dugan, J. (1944）： ‘The Film and International Understanding: Film technique gives life and meaning to abstract ideas and mass statistics,’ Educational Screen, vol.23, pp. 350–351.
- Formenti, C.(2022): The Classical Animated Documentary and Its Contemporary Evolution, Bloomsbury USA Academic.
- Hubley, J. Schwartz, Z.（1946）： Animation learns a new language, Holly Wood Quarterly, 1(4), July 1946, 360–3.
- Russo, J. P. (1989): I.A. Richards: His life and work, The Johns Hopkins University Press.
- WPA (1939): United States House Committee on Appropriations, 1939, Investigation and study of the Works Progress Administration, Hearings before the subcommittee of the committee on appropriations house of representatives, Seventy-sixth Congress, First session, part 2.