Japanese Fantasy
About Japanese Fantasy
Two Japanese figurines move by themselves. A bee crosses the scene. A face changes into a mask, and mice come out of it.
Cast & crew
More about Japanese Fantasy
Émile Cohl made this one-minute stop-motion short for Gaumont. French sources date the release June 18, 1907. The Cinémathèque française has also filed it under 1909. Dr. Grob, who describes a viewing, divides it into the figurines, the bee, and the mask that produces mice.
Themes
Making
Cohl was testing stop-motion here, before the more elaborate object films of 1908 such as Les frères Boutdebois.
Technique
Figurines, a bee, and a mask are shifted frame by frame.
Preservation
A one-minute copy is on Wikimedia Commons. The Cinémathèque française catalogues the title.
Notes
- It is volume animation, objects moved between frames, not drawn animation.
- A Gaumont trade line speaks of a lantern, dolls, chickens, mice, and grasshoppers. The viewed copy Dr. Grob describes does not match that list shot for shot.
- The short is on the DVD Émile Cohl: L'agitateur aux mille images.
- The Wikimedia file is titled with the date 1909.
Scenes
- A face becomes a mask and mice emerge from it.
Also available
- DVD Émile Cohl: L'agitateur aux mille images
