MAKING ANIMATED CARTOONS
In the preceding chapter the attention was called to the fact that a
foot of film passes through the projector in one second, and that in
each foot there are sixteen pictures, or frames, within the outlines
of which the photographic images are found. When a camera man sets
up his apparatus before a scene and starts to operate the mechanism,
the general way is to have the film move in the camera at this same
rate of speed; to wit, one foot per second. As each single turn of
the camera handle moves only one-half of a foot of film, the camera
man must turn the handle twice in one second. And one of the things
that he must learn is to appraise time durations so accurately that
he will turn the handle at this speed.
The animated cartoon artist, instead of using real people, objects,
or views to take on his film, must make a number of related
drawings, on every one of which there must be a change in a proper,
progressive, and graduated order. These drawings are placed under a
camera and photographed in their sequence, the film developed and
the resultant negative used to make a positive film. This is used,
as we know, for screen projection. All the technical and finishing
processes are the same whether they are employed in making the usual
reel in which people and scenes are used, or animated cartoon reels
from drawings.
When it is considered that there are in a half reel (five hundred
feet, the customary length for a comic subject) exactly eight
thousand pictures, with every one—theoretically—different, it seems
like an appalling job to make that number of separate drawings for
such a half reel. But an artist doesn’t make anywhere near as many
drawings as that for a reel of this length, and of all the talents
required by any one going into this branch of art, none is so
important as that of the skill to plan the work so that the lowest
possible number of drawings need be made for any particular scenario.
“Animator” is the special term applied to the creative worker
in this new branch of artistic endeavor. Besides the essential
qualification of bestowing life upon drawings, he must be a man of
many accomplishments. First as a scenario is always written of any
screen story no matter whether serious, educational, or humorous, he
must have some notion of form; that is to say, he must know what good
composition means in putting components together in an orderly and
proportional arrangement.
If the subject is an educational one he must have a grasp of
pedagogical principles, too, and if it is of a humorous nature, his
appreciation of a comic situation must be keen.
And then with the terrifying prospect confronting him of having to
make innumerable drawings and attending to other incidental artistic
details before his film is completed, he must be an untiring and a
courageous worker. His skill as a manager comes in when planning the
whole work in the use of expedients and tricks, and an economy of
labor in getting as much action with the use of as few drawings as
possible.
Besides the chief animator, others, such as assistant animators,
tracers, and photographers, are concerned in the production of an
animated film from drawings.
Comments on the writing of the scenario we do not need to go into
now. Often the artist himself writes it; but if he does not, he at
least plans it, or has a share in its construction.
Presuming, then, that the scenario has been written, the chief
animator first of all decides on the portraiture of his characters.
He will proceed to make sketches of them as they look not only in
front and profile views, but also as they appear from the back and
in three-quarter views. It is customary that these sketches—his
models, and really the dramatis personæ, be drawn of the size they
will have in the majority of the scenes. After the characters have
been created, the next step is to lay out the scenes, in other words,
plan the surroundings or settings for each of the different acts.
The rectangular space of his drawings within which the composition
is contained is about ten or eleven times larger than the little
three-quarter-by-one-inch pictures of the films; namely, seven and
one-half by ten inches, or eight and one-quarter by eleven inches.
For some kinds of films—plain titles and “trick” titles—the making
of which will be remarked upon further on—a larger field of about
thirteen and one-half by eighteen inches is used.
[Illustration: “ANIMATOR’S” DRAWING-BOARD.]
Now with a huge pile of white linen paper cut to a uniform size of
about nine by twelve inches, the animator apportions the work to the
several assistant animators. The most important scene or action, of
course, falls to his share. There are several ways of going about
making animated cartoons, and trick titles, and these methods will
be touched upon subsequently. But in the particular method of making
animated cartoons which we are describing now—that in which paper is
the principal surface upon which the drawings are made in ink—all the
workers make their drawings over a board that has a middle portion
cut out and into which is fitted a sheet of thick glass. Under this
glass is fixed an electric light. On the board along the upper margin
of the glass, there is fixed to the wood a bar of iron to which two
pins or pegs are firmly fixed. These pegs are a little less than
one-half inch high and distant from each other about five inches. It
doesn’t matter much what this distance is, excepting this important
point: all the boards in any one studio must be provided with sets
of pegs that are uniform with respect to this distance between them.
And all of them should be most accurately measured in their placing.
Sometimes as an expedient, pegs are merely driven into the board at
the required distance.
These pegs are seven thirty-seconds of an inch in diameter. That the
animator should use this particular size of pegs was determined,
no doubt, by the fact that an article manufactured originally for
perforating pages and sheets used in certain methods of bookkeeping
was found available for his purposes. This perforator cuts holes
exactly seven thirty-seconds of an inch in diameter. Each one of the
sheets of paper from the huge pile spoken of above, before it is
drawn upon, has two holes punched into one of its long edges at the
same distance apart as the distance between the two pegs fixed to the
animator’s drawing-board.
[Illustration: A SHEET OF PERFORATED PAPER AND THE REGISTERING PEGS.]
Fitting one of these sheets of paper over the pegs, the
artist-animator is ready for work. As the paper lies flat over the
glass set into the board, he can see the glare of the electric light
underneath. This illumination from below is to enable him to trace
lines on a top sheet of paper from lines on a second sheet of paper
underneath; and also to make the slight variations in the several
drawings concerned in any action.
Now the reason for the pegs is this: as in an ordinary motion-picture
film certain characters, as well as objects and other details are
quiescent, and only one or a few characters are in action, so in an
animated cartoon some of the figures, or details, are quiescent for a
time. And as they stay for a length of time in the same place in the
scene, their portrayal in this same place throughout the series of
drawings is obtained by tracing them from one sheet to another. The
sheets are held in place by the pegs and they insure the registering
of identical details throughout a series.
When the animator designs his setting, the stage scenery of any
particular animated play, he keeps in mind the area within which his
figures are going to move. Reasons for this will become apparent
as the technic of the art is further explained. The outline of his
scene, say a background, simply drawn in ink on a sheet of paper
is fitted over the pegs. The light under the glass, as explained
immediately above, shows through it. Next a fresh sheet of paper
is placed over the one with the scene, and as the paper is selected
for its transparent qualities, as well as its adaptability for
pen-drawing, the ink lines of the scene underneath are visible.
Let us presume now, that the composition is to represent two men
standing and facing each other and talking. They are to gesticulate
and move their lips slightly as if speaking. (In the following
description we will ignore this movement of the mouth and have it
assumed that the artist is drawing this action, also, as he proceeds
with the work.) The two men are sketched in some passive position,
and the animation of one of the figures is started. With the key
sketch of the men in the passive position placed over the light,
a sheet of paper is placed over it and the extreme position of a
gesticulating arm is drawn, then on another sheet of paper placed
over the light the other extreme position of this arm action is
drawn. Now, with still another sheet of paper placed over the others,
the intermediate position of the gesture is drawn. As the man was
standing on the same spot all the time his feet would be the same in
all the drawings and other parts of his figure would occupy the same
place. But the animator does not draw these parts himself but marks
the several sheets where they occur with a number, or symbol, that
will be understood by one of his helpers—a tracer—as instructions to
trace them. The other man in the picture, who all this time has been
motionless, is also represented in all the drawings line for line as
he was first drawn in the preliminary key sketch. This again is a job
for the tracer.
When the action of the second figure is made, the drawing of the
three phases of movement in his arms is proceeded with in the same
way, and the first figure is repeated in his passive position during
the gesturing of the second man.
It can be seen from this way of working in the division of labor
between the animator and his helper that the actual toil of repeating
monotonous details falls upon the tracer. The animator does the first
planning and that part of the subsequent work requiring true artistic
ability.
So that the artists can see to do the work described above—tracing
from one sheet of paper to another and distinguishing ink lines
through two or more sheets of paper while they are over the
illuminated glass—the expedient is adopted of shading the work-table
from the glare of strong daylight.
[Illustration: COMPLETE SCENE
ILLUSTRATING THE GREAT AMOUNT OF DRAWING REQUIRED IN ANIMATING A
SCENE WITHOUT THE HELP OF TRANSPARENT CELLULOID.]
In this typical process of depicting a simple action, or animating a
figure, as it is called, we have left out specific explanations for
drawing the details of the scenery—trees, foreground, or whatever is
put into the composition as an accessory. They go into a finished
composition, to be sure. One way would be to trace their outlines
on each and every sheet of paper. It is a feasible way but not
labor-saving. There is a much more convenient way than that.
In beginning this exposition on animation it was noted that the
artist in designing the scenery gave some thought to the area within
which his figures were placed, or were to act. He planned when he did
this, that no part of the components of the scenery should interfere
by crossing lines with any portions of the figures. The reason for
this will be apparent when it is explained that the scenery is
drawn on a sheet of transparent celluloid. Then when the celluloid
with its scenery is placed over one of the drawings it completes
the picture. The celluloid sheet has also two perforations that
fit over the pegs, and it is by their agency that its details are
made to correspond with the drawings on paper. And it can further
be understood that this single celluloid sheet will complete, if it
is designed properly, the pictorial composition of every one of the
drawings. (A sheet of this substance that we are referring to now is
known in the craft as “a celluloid” or shortened sometimes to “cell.”)
The employment of celluloid can be extended to save other work in
tracing parts of figures that are in the same position, or that are
not in action throughout several drawings. In this case a second
celluloid will be used in conjunction with that holding the scenery.
To exemplify: In giving an account of the drawing of the arm gestures
in the instance above, it was noted that an animator drew the action
only while he had a tracer complete on all the drawings the parts
that did not move. Now, to save the monotony of all this, the tracer
takes celluloid and draws the similarly placed quiet parts on it but
once. This celluloid is used during the photography with the several
action phases to complete the picture of the figure, or figures.
A matter that the animator should guard against, however, in having
several celluloids over his drawings, during the photography, is that
they will impart a yellowish tinge to his white paper underneath if
he uses more than two or three. This would necessitate care in timing
the exposure correctly as a yellow tint has non-actinic qualities
that make its photography an uncertain element.
[Illustration: Scenery, drawn on celluloid, used with the elements on
the opposite page.]
The methods so far described of making drawings for animated films
are not complex and are easy to manage. For effective animated
scenes, many more drawings are required and the adaptation of
celluloids is not always such an easy matter as here described. For
complete films of ordinary length, the drawings, celluloids, and
other items—expedients or ingenious devices to help the work—number
into the hundreds.
[Illustration: ON CELLULOID
ON CELLULOID
ILLUSTRATING THE SAVING OF TIME AND LABOR IN MAKING USE OF THE
EXPEDIENT OF DRAWING THE STILL PARTS ON CELLULOID SHEETS.]
We will use, however, our few drawings and celluloids that we have
completed to explain the subsequent procedure in the making of
animated cartoons; namely, the photographic part of the process.
A moving-picture camera is placed on a framework of wood, or iron,
so that it is supported over a table top or some like piece of
carpentry. It is placed so that it faces downward with the lens
centred on the table. The camera is arranged for a “one picture
one turn of the crank” movement, and a gearing of chain belts and
pulleys, to effect this, is attached to the camera and framework.
This gearing is put into motion by a turning-handle close to where
the photographer is seated as he works before the table top where the
drawings are placed.
Each time the handle is turned but one picture, or one-sixteenth
of a foot of film, is moved into the field back of the lens where
the exposure is made. The view or studio camera, as we know, when a
complete turn of the crank handle is made, moves eight pictures, or
one-half of a foot of film, into position.
On the table directly under the lens and at the proper distance for
correct focussing, a field is marked out exactly that of the field
that was used in making the drawings. Two registering pegs are also
fastened relatively to the field as those on all the drawing-boards
in the studio. Over the field, but hinged to the table top so that
it can be moved up and down, a frame holding a clear sheet of glass
is placed. The glass must be fitted closely and firmly in the frame,
as it is intended to be pressed down on the drawings while they are
being photographed. Wood serves the purpose very well for these
frames. A metal frame would seem to be the most practical, but if
there is in its construction the least inequality of surface where
glass and metal touch, the pressure put upon the frame in holding the
drawings down is liable to crack the glass. With wood, as there is a
certain amount of give, this is not so likely to happen.
Considering now that the camera has been filled with a suitable
length of blank film and properly threaded in and out of the series
of wheels that feed it to the intermittent mechanism, and then
wind it up into its proper receptacle, we can proceed with the
photography.
The pioneers in the art who first tried to make animated cartoons and
similar film novelties attempted the photography by daylight. Their
results were not very good, for they were much handicapped by the
uncertainty of the light. Nowadays the Cooper Hewitt mercury vapor
light is used almost exclusively. The commonest method of lighting is
to fix a tube of this illuminant on each side of the camera above the
board, but so placed that light rays do not go slantingly into the
lens, or are caught by any polished surface, and so cause reflected
lights that interfere with the work. To get the exact position of
the light for an even illumination over the field means a little
preliminary experiment.
In looking over the material for our little film we find that we have
but a few drawings and celluloids. Now, if we were to photograph them
and give each drawing one exposure—one picture, or section on the
film for each drawing—we should get a length of film not even a foot
long, and the time on the screen not even lasting a second, but an
insignificant result for so much work. Here at this stage of the work
the able animator must exercise his talents in getting as much film
as possible, _i. e._, “footage,” out of his few drawings.
[Illustration: ARRANGEMENT OF BOARD, PEGS, AND HINGED FRAME WITH
GLASS.
(For its position under the camera, see engraving on page 203.) A
perforated sheet of paper holding a drawing is fitted over the pegs
and the frame lowered.]
To begin: The first drawing in which the men are quiescent is fitted
over the pegs; but the picture is not complete until the celluloid
with the scenery is also fitted over the pegs. When this is put
in place and the frame with the glass is pressed down it is ready
for photography. The first figures will not begin to gesticulate
immediately—no, a certain time is necessary for the audience to
appreciate—have enter into their consciousness—that the picture on
the screen represents two men facing each other and about to carry on
a conversation. Therefore the drawing showing the men motionless is
photographed on about two or three feet of film. This will give on
the screen just so many seconds—two or three—for the mental grasping
by the audience of the particulars of the pictorial composition.
Next to show the first figure going through his movements we lift
the framed glass and take off the celluloid with the scenery and the
paper with the two men motionless. Now we put down over the pegs
the sheet of paper with one of the extreme positions of the moving
arms, and then as that is all there is on the paper we must, to
complete the portrayal, place over it the celluloid with the rest of
his figure. (This celluloid also holds the complete drawing of the
other individual as he is motionless during the action of the first
one.) Next the entire composition is completed by putting down the
scenery celluloid. Then when the framed glass is lowered and pressed
down so that everything presents an even surface, the picture is
photographed. After two turns of the handle—photographing it on
two sections of the film—the frame is raised and the celluloids and
the drawing are both taken off of the pegs. The photographing of
the second or intermediate position is proceeded with in the same
way. After this the third or other extreme phase of the action is
photographed.
The photography is continued by taking the intermediate phase again,
then the first position, then back to the intermediate one, and so
on. The idea is to give a gesticulating action to the figure by using
these three drawings back and forth in their order as long as the
story seems to warrant it.
It is not to be forgotten that the celluloid with the scenery is used
every time the different action phases are photographed.
The same procedure will be followed with the celluloid and drawings
of the other figure, only before beginning his action a little extra
footage can be eked out by giving a slight dramatic pause between the
ending of the first man’s gesticulating and the beginning of that of
the other one. By this is meant that the first scene with the men
motionless is taken on a short length of film.
[Illustration: BALLOONS.]
In a little incident of this sort, dialogue, of course, is required
to help tell the point of the story. This is effected by putting the
wording on a separate piece of paper—balloons, they are called—for
each case and placing it over the design somewhere so that it will
not cover any important part of the composition. The necessary amount
of film for one of these balloons with its lettering is determined by
the number of seconds that it takes the average spectator to read it.
It is by the interjection of these balloons with their dialogue that
an animator, in comic themes, can get a considerable length of film
from a very few drawings.
After the photography is finished the exposed film is taken out of
the camera and sent to the laboratory for development.
[Illustration: Three elements when fitted over the pegs complete the
scene above.]
[Illustration: Phenakistoscope with cycle of drawings of a face to
show a movement of the mouth. ]
FURTHER DETAILS ON MAKING ANIMATED CARTOONS