Animation has been used as a medium for nonfiction storytelling almost since its inception. The very first use of animation for documentary purposes is in the 1918 Windsor McCay film ‘The Sinking of the Lusitania‘. This served both as an accurate depiction of the sinking of the passenger ship and as an effective piece of American propaganda. Since there is no known footage of the tragedy, this animation served as an invaluable visualization of the events, and its creators strived to make it as accurate as possible.
Another notable entry in the canon of animated documentaries is the 1964 animated film ‘Of Stars and Men‘. This film is based on the book of the same name by Harlow Shapley, an astronomer and head of the Harvard College Observatory. Of Stars and Men tells the story of humanity’s search to understand its place in the universe, and includes both scientific topics such as the periodic table and the universe, as well as more philosophical elements such as the meaning of life. The entire film is without speech, and instead all the information is conveyed through the visuals. This film has a runtime of 53 minutes which is arguably pushing feature film length. The film won an award in the documentary category at the San Francisco Film Festival.
From 1989 -1990 Ardman Animations created a series of five short animated radio documentaries entitled ‘Lip Synch‘. These films use vox pops (interviews with the public) as inspiration, and one of the featured films was ‘Creature Comforts‘, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short of 1990, and eventually spawned its own popular TV series.
One of the most prolific creators of animated documentaries is Czech filmmaker Paul Fierlinger. His 1995 autobiographical film ‘Drawn From Memory‘ is directed, voiced and animated entirely by Fierlinger. The film captures his childhood experiences and the difficulties he encountered when adjusting to life between America and Czechoslovakia. The film is narrated via monologue delivered by Fierlinger, musing over his life experiences and lessons learned.
