Later that year, Blackton also experimented with the stop-motion technique-
in which objects are photographed, then repositioned and photographed again- for his short film Haunted Hotel.
Although“firsts” of any kind are never easy to establish,
the first film-based animator appears to be J. Stuart Blackton, whose Humorous Phases of Funny Faces in 1906
launched a successful series of animated films for New York's pioneering Vitagraph Company.