Winsor McCay

Gertie the Dinosaur was created in 1914 by Winsor McCay. While showing the animation, McCay would stand beside the animation and "talk" to Gertie. Since the script was written beforehand, the reactions of the animated dinosaur would fit with what McCay was saying, appearing to the audience that he could control the drawing. At the time this animation was incredibly popular and Gertie became a bit of a celebrity. While it does have a few witty gags, it does become quite tedious to watch as looping is a little overused and it does become quite repetitive.

In 1918, McCay created The Sinking of the Lusitania, which was about the attack on the maritime ship during World War 1. This animation is quite well animated given its age, the smoke effects when the Lusitania is hit by the missile are particularly well animated. However there are a few points in the animation where some things, such as the people on board, are animated a bit too quickly, so the event around those point happen a bit too quickly.

The Sinking of the Lusitania is a lot more detailed than Gertie the Dinosaur, and is less "cartoony" and more realistic. The Sinking of the Lusitania is also more serious as it was created as a message to try to convince America to join World War 1, whereas Gertie the Dinosaur is far more light-hearted as it was created purely to entertain an audience.