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| - Winsor McCay animated and released The Sinking of the Lusitania in 1918. In order to do so, McCay had to draw over 20,000 detailed drawings by himself. The short 12 minute film attempted to capture the event as realistically as possible. This task was difficult to accomplish in that there was no live action footage of the sinking. McCay had to base his drawings on mere reports and pictures of the boat from before its departure.
- In 1915 a German submarine torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania; 128 Americans were among the 1,198 dead. The event outraged McCay, but the newspapers of his employer William Randolph Hearst downplayed the event, as Hearst was opposed to the US joining World War I. McCay was required to illustrate anti-war and anti-British editorial cartoons for Hearst's papers. In 1916, McCay rebelled against his employer's stance and began work on the patriotic Sinking of the Lusitania on his own time with his own money.
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| abstract
| - Winsor McCay animated and released The Sinking of the Lusitania in 1918. In order to do so, McCay had to draw over 20,000 detailed drawings by himself. The short 12 minute film attempted to capture the event as realistically as possible. This task was difficult to accomplish in that there was no live action footage of the sinking. McCay had to base his drawings on mere reports and pictures of the boat from before its departure. The film is notable in that it was the first animated film to depict a historical event as if it were a live action documentary. Various angles and cuts were incorporated into the drawings in order to make it appear more realistic. In addition, the film was propaganda at its best (if that is possible). The music that accompanies the film tugs at the viewer's heart. The viewers of the time period were convinced of Germany's callousness and the country was encouraged to abandoned its isolationist ways. Even viewers today can attest to its powerful nature.
- In 1915 a German submarine torpedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania; 128 Americans were among the 1,198 dead. The event outraged McCay, but the newspapers of his employer William Randolph Hearst downplayed the event, as Hearst was opposed to the US joining World War I. McCay was required to illustrate anti-war and anti-British editorial cartoons for Hearst's papers. In 1916, McCay rebelled against his employer's stance and began work on the patriotic Sinking of the Lusitania on his own time with his own money. The film followed McCay's earlier successes in animation: Little Nemo (1911), How a Mosquito Operates (1912), and Gertie the Dinosaur (1914). McCay drew these earlier films were drawn on rice paper, onto which backgrounds had to be laboriously traced; The Sinking of the Lusitania was the first film McCay made using the new, more efficient cel technology. McCay and his assistants spent twenty-two months making the film. His subsequent animation output suffered setbacks, as the film was not as commercially successful as his earlier efforts, and Hearst put increased pressure on McCay to devote his time to editorial drawings.
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