Week 1

The first film was "Gertie the Dinosaur"(1914) by Winsor McCay. The film revolved around a bet between McCay and another man that McCay could not make the skeleton of a dinosaur come to life via animation. If McCay won the bet then the other man would have to buy dinner for their group of friends. For the next 6 months McCay created the animation, frame by frame, eventually creating 10,000 frames.
As the animation begins McCay asks "Gerite" to come out of her cave. She comes out an proceeds to devour a tree. McCay asks her to raise her right foot, which she does, then her left, which she also does after some coaxing and being given the treat of a pumpkin. She interacts with a sea serpent and tosses a woolly mammoth into a lake. Eventually, McCay enters the screen as an animated version of himself and rides the dinosaur off screen. Gertie's character was playful and childlike. Like an overgrown 2 year old asked to perform.
The second film, also by McCay was "How a Mosquito Operates". In this film a mosquito follows a man into his apartment and as the man sleeps, sucks his blood. As with Gertie there was a great deal of looping. As the mosquito sucks blood its bottom grows in size. Eventually rendering it unable to stand as it constantly falls over. Eventually the mosquito explodes after intaking too much blood. The mosquito had a moral of don't eat too much or you'll become fat and explode.