THE FILM CARTOON

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 32, 7 February 1931, Page 22

THE FILM CARTOON

With the; introduction oil sound and speech in motion pictures, no department of production has increased in popularity more than that of the animated- cartoons. Those weirdly lifelike little figures in black and white which skip across the screen in shor,t subjects supplementing the feature picture have> becomo so favoured a part of the exhibitors' programmes that up bill is/considered complete unless it has its Mickey Mouse, its frolicking Pish, or its Cannibal Capers. In order to ■ understand the method of producing animated cartoons it must be realised that all motion pictures are, in the.last analysis, merely a series of small still photographs whizzing past a shutter* It would be impossible to gain the identical effect of animated cartoons if one were to flip rapidly the pages of a book containing drawings in black and white. The basis of making these-cartoons in the films is the drawing by artists of thousands of separate little'figures, each figure graduated slightly, with the idea in mind of presenting definite movements when these separate figures are flashed beforo a camera, photographed, and later projected upon a screen. As an example, if Mickey -Mouse's-tail' is to move but slightly, that movement may represent as many as a hundred drawings, all leading up to the complete shifting of Mickey's tail. It requires from six thousand to seven thousand drawings to make one reel. A reel is : some six hundred feet long; An animated subject is not created overnight, i From two to three weeks' work goes into each of them. A ''gag" meeting is held, attended by the studio staff, and everyone submits, ideas for comedy actions. The musical (director suggests tunes for the running picture. The idea' is born. From this nebulous idea the;story in de-. tail is: written into a scenario. This is broken down into sequences and scene's and each scene is handed to the various artists,, with instructions as to

THOUSANDS ■ OF; DRAWINGS

the action'to'Tic drawn. As each scene is plotted and laid out for the animating artists, the musical accompaniment for that scone is arranged, so that the artist knows not only what he is.to draw, buti what the music' will Taei ■■ '■■ As each frame, or small one-inch square, of film must account for a certain position of action, the inusie and the action synchronise perfectly, and along with the music and sound, interpolated speech (used in many of the animated subjects) is recorded also; on the edge of the film, precisely asis done in the regular picture plays. , :' When an artist has completed the drawing of a scene, which is done with pencil on white sheets of paper, these are in turn handed to the inking and painting department, where each line is traced upon a transparent celluloid sheet. This 'is done with India ink.. These tracings are painted in various shades of white, black, and gray,, and are then, roady for the camera. Along the edge of film containing the images are recorded, in terms of light the music and the speech and the sound effects. The speech, of course, is sup-, plied by one of the studio staff, and the I'ecord of the speech, is grafted upon the picture-film. r - ■ The cameraman's job is perhaps/the most monotonous of all. He- can only click, or photograph, one frame, or square inch, of film at a time. At this rate he cannot exceed fifty feet a day* The musical director, in ordinary circumstances, completes his score after the action picture has been made. He then has his orchestra play the score, which is mado to synchronise perfectly with'the passing events of the .story, and this score is recorded upon the film electrically with light. From the picture negative and the music and sound negative there is then taken 'what is termed a composite print, which is to say the action, the music, and the sound. These are then printed on one film, and this is the end of a: day's work in making the animated cartoon's with sound effects. : j ■ : .