Category ArchiveFrame Grabs
Disney &Frame Grabs 18 Jul 2011 07:12 am
Snow White Multiplane – 2
- Once Snow Whtie enters the dwarfs’ home, the multiplane camera virtually gets into limited use. There are almost no interior multiplane shots in the film, and few exteriors in the second half of the movie. I have collected a few, and I’ll post them here. Like the first half of the movie, the multiplane shots do not call attention to themselves. They’re in no way obvious, but they do help set a texture and a mood throughout the film.
1aThe first scene to use the multiplane after “Whistle While You Work,”
comes at the end of the sequence when the camera pulls out from the
cottage and Snow White has finished her work.
1b
As we pull out, overlays, slightly out of focus, come into the picture . .
1c
. . . until the camera comes to a stop.
2a
We see the next use of the camera when the dwarfs
go home from the mine.
3a
It’s the famous scene where all seven dwarfs
march across the tree-bridge.
3b
The sky is separated from the foreground elements . . .
3c
. . . as the camera moves in a bit.
4a
Likewise the following scene where the dwarfs
move home behingd the water fall.
4b
There’s a arge separation between background and foreground.
5a
There is an interior shot where the dwarfs search for Snow White.
5b
The camera trucks in to the dwarfs
while foreground objects go out of focus.
5c
Not all of the dwarf drawings are beautiful.
6a
The truck in to the castle is stunningly beautiful.
6b
Traditionally, the moon stays its size
while other things move to the camera.
7a
Dissolve to a closer shot of the castle and the moon . . .
7b
. . . the camera continues to move in.
8a
The Queen comes down the stone stairs.
8b
She continues to screen left.
8c
The camera pans down to the bottom of the stairs.
An overbridge passes the frame.
8d
She continues on with all determination, behind chains.
8e
8f
8g
. . . into the next room.
9a
MS, the Queen raises her glass of toxins . . .
9b
. . . and drinks it.
9c
The camera pulls out.
9d
We lose focus on the Queen.
9e
The room spins around as the montage begins.
Forground objects swirl in front of the Queen.
9f
We end with a slip of the Queen, wildly out of focus.
10a
The animals watch the celebration going on in the dwarfs’ cottage.
10b
The camera pulls out giving levels for the multiplane camera.
10c
It comes out full.
11a
One of my favorite shots has the old hag coming out of the fog.
11b
She grows larger as she moves to the foreground.
11c
She turns and moves across the screen.
11d
She urns her back to us . . .
11e
. . . and moves into the distance.
11f
She returns to the fog.
12a
At the top of the cliff in the rain clouds move on another plane.
12b
The camera moves in as the clouds continue to speed by.
13
After she falls, the dwarfs look down to her.
This is the last multiplane shot in the film.
14
Here’s a shot of the multiplane camera on the DVD.
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A closer shot of the topmost level and cameraman.
Disney &Frame Grabs 11 Jul 2011 06:43 am
Snow White Multiplane – 1
- The first feature Disney used to display his multiplane camera was his first feature, Snow White. Interestingly enough, I find the use of the camera in this first feature film to be one of the least ostentatious of them all. Any displays of depth or multiplane pans are almost hidden in the movie, as if they didn’t want to call attention to themselves. This, of course, is the exact opposite of its use in Pinocchio.
However, there are a lot of scenes that use it to hide or help effects for the film.
I’ve captured a lot of demonstrations of the camera in use and will start displaying them from the beginning of the film.
1aThe film starts off using the multiplane with the first two shots.
1b
As we truck in on the castle, there are slight changes of focus on overlays.
2a
The same goes for this second shot.
2b
3a
In the wishing well, the brick work is broken into a number of different levels.
The top two are progressively out of focus even though there is no camera move.
3b
This makes the ripples and the reflection easier to produce
keeping everything else in the same level of focus.
4a
Once the woodsman takes Snow White to the forest, the camera
comes into its own – although they still use it with great subtlety.
4b
As the camera moves in there’s a rack focus on all the levels.
4c
The grassy hill that SW stands on moves separately from the sky.
5a
And once the hunter tells her to run away there’s plenty of movement.
Here, she starts backing away from the hunter.
5b
She continues to back away. Levels start moving behind her.
5c
Once she starts running a large out of focus tree sweeps across the screen.
5d
She moves into the perspective as the trees swoop past her.
5e
She runs toward a block of trees.
5f
We see her continue past the group of trees into the darkness.
At times she’s completely shaded by the out of focus trees.
6a
She turns and backs slowly into the forest . . .
6b
. . . and falls into a hole.
6c
The camera holds for a beat on the hole in the ground.
6d
Followed by a very fast pan down, trying to follow her.
Levels fly by out of focus.
6e
6f
We catch up to her holding onto a vine above water.
7a
A quick cut back to reveal the environment.
7b
She falls into the water.
7c
She’s frightened by two logs that look like alligators.
8a
Cut with her running out of the water.
8b
Out of focus shrubbery blocks our view of her.
8c
She continues moving under the shrubbery.
8d
She finally comes out of the hole.
8e
She runs into the forest.
9a
Frightened by the trees she runs forward screen right.
9b
Cut as she enters large from screen left.
9c
She runs into the perspective. Different levels of soft focus.
9d
Leaves blow behind her.
10a
She’s frightened by eyes and falls to the ground.
In this shot the eyes seemed to be burned in on a second pass.
As the camera moves out, they don’t move at the same rate
causing some slight gliding.
10b
Overlay trees slowly move into the frame.
The lighting of the scene brightens.
10c
Finally, we’re settled watching her on the ground
surrounded by innocent pastoral animals.
11
Snow White on the ground with all the animals
does not employ the multiplane camera.
12
However, we immediately see a deer over a waterbed surrounded by trees.
This does use the camera to place the water effect in among the foliage.
There are plenty of shrubs out of focus above the water.
13a
The same goes for this shot of raccoons.
13b
The raccoons run out in the pick up of this shot, and we truck in to a turtle.
The multiplane level of the water separates from what’s under it.
14a
Snow White is led by the animals through a wooded area
filled with multiplane levels.
14b
14c
The water effect has a level all its own.
14d
14e
14f
How more apparent is the multiplane level than this one
that blurs out in an area that visually cuts off her head.
15a
Snow White comes out to a clearing and is pulled to screen left.
15b
Plenty of objects pass in soft focus.
15c
15d
The animals open to a clearing.
15e
15f
15g
There’s a light change as Snow White views out . . .
16
. . . to see the dwarf’s house. No camera move, but the
multiplane still is used to create a feeling of depth.
17a
A few shots later, Snow White runs across a little foot bridge.
17b
She heads for the dwarf’s house.
17c
Out of focus trees pass over her and the animals.
17d
She goes right up to it and . . .
17e
. . . peers in the window.
Disney &Frame Grabs 27 Jun 2011 06:28 am
More Pinocchio Multiplane
- I had such a good time last week posting images of scenes from Pinocchio using the multiplane camera that I decided to go back to the well. There are a lot of very small shots in that film that use the camera for a more limited but very effective purpose.
1A vaguely seen wagon rolls across the screen in a heavy rain storm.
2
The camera pans across the screen with the wagon.
3
Camera trucks in to the water spout.
4
Jiminy sits on the water spout in the rain.
cut
5
The wagon sits at rest in the rain
6
Lightning.
cut
7
Gepetto in the far distance, in the rain, walks toward the camera.
8
Lightning lights up the background.
9
Barely seen Gepetto moves forward calling for “Pinocchio!”
10
Gepetto slowly moves forward
11
He continues on in the rain.
12
He hears the wagon approaching screen left.
13
The wagon moves in front of him (slightly out of focus).
14
The wagon blocks across Gepetto who watches it.
15
The wagon goes off screen, Gepetto watching.
16
“Pinocchio-o-o-o !”
17
Gepetto continues forward.
At one point when I worked at the Hubley studio, John and Tissa David had a laughing disagreement. She had animated something with a couple of overlays panning over the background trying to create some sense of dimension.
John told Tissa that she was moving the overlays too quickly; they would look as though they were moving of their own accord, not that it would look like dimension as the camera moved in. She was adamant that she was doing it correctly. John told her that he had received a phone call from an historian in Europe. The guy had told John that he admired the way he used the multiplane camera on the carriage ride to Pleasure Island. The historian felt it was the best use of the multiplane, ever. John told Tissa that he had proof, then, that he knew what he was talking about. Tissa laughing, agreed to change her panning overlays.
I thought it’d be a good point to look at the multiplane use throughout this entire sequence.
18We start with the carriage moving quickly through some wooded overlays.
19
It’s definitely the multiplane. There’re levels of focus
and a very smooth movement to the panning trees.
20
21
The overlays move quickly past.
22
23
The overlay trees seem to have a slight highlight on the left side.
Could it be a cut line of a piece of paper picking up a light streak?
24
cut
25
No multiplane as we see Coachman, Pinocchio and Lampwick in the driver’s seat.
26
Jiminy with dust galore under the coach carriage.
27
Cut in for a tighter, beautiful shot of Jiminy talking to the audience.
28
Back to the carriage moving quickly behind multiplane levels.
29
. . . it passes trees . . .
30
. . . and moves to a stone bridge . . .
31
. . . and across it.
32
It comes to a pier and stops.
33
A steamship then takes them across the body of water.
No multiplane but quiet and beautiful water effects.
34
Dissolve to a beautiful shot of the steamship crossing.
No multiplane.
35
36
It finally stops at Pleasure Island.
No multiplane.
37
Pan with kids in front of coachman.
38
Across the screen as we open up . . .
39
. . . to see Pleasure Island.
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41
42
43
Late night. Destruction and desolation.
44
A small pan across to the cowboy.
Very quiet use of the multiplane.
45
Notice the out of focus wheel in the left foreground.
46
47
Jiminy climbs up from behind the hill and looks back calling for Pinocchio.
48
He moves forward.
49
“Pinocchio-o-o-o !”
50
He walks foreward . . .
51
. . . going out of focus as we rack focus to the 8 ball in the Bg.
52
We move in on the 8 ball.
53
Right in to the doorway.
Here are a couple of drawings by Charles (Nick) Nichols done as part of the animation of the Coachman. The drawings come from the Canemaker book, Treasures of Disney Animation Art.
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Animation &Disney &Frame Grabs &Layout & Design 20 Jun 2011 06:56 am
Pinocchio – Multiplane
- In highlighting the use of the multiplane camera in Disney’s animated films, the pinnacle has to be Pinocchio. Two specific scenes jump out in any mention of the multiplane camera: the move in to Gepetto’s workshop and the awakening of the village.
So let’s get right into it:
Sequence director: Ham Luske
Layout by Hugh Hennesy
Animated by “Music Room 2″
1Start in the sky with the wishing star that will play
a large part in the film in a couple of moments.
2
Circle down from the sky field to an overhead of the village.
3
Continue moving down over the rooftops.
4
5
We first see Gepetto’s workshop from a distance.
6
There’s a matching cut and we continue to move in.
7
The POV of the camera is through Jiminy’s eyes.
8
When he moves in, it’s in hops.
9
10
Leaps and bounds as he (through our camera’s eye) gets closer.
11
12
The warm window into the workshop begins to fill the screen.
13
14
We settle down . . .
15
. . . looking into the workshop through the window.
16
Cut to an interior shot – the interior side of the window.
Jiminy Crickey, with hands and face up to the glass.
Then we move onto a miracle of a shot that would be hard even for computer users. Today, we wouldn’t anchor the feet properly on all those kids walking and running about. It’s an amazing piece of animation history.
The sequence director was Wilfred (“Jaxon”) Jackson.
Layout by Thorington C. “Thor” Putnam.
The animators involved in this scene include: John McManus, Jack Campbell, Cornett Wood, John Reed, Art Babbitt, Milt Kahl, Don Lusk, and Sandy Strother.
1The camera starts at the bell tower over the sleeping village.
2
Doves fly out as the bell starts to chime.
3
The birds fly out of focus as they move forward.
4
This allows the camera to start the big move
with the birds covering the tower.
5
6
The camera pushes in to cross the
little footbridge to enter the town.
7
The last bird leaves us, and . . .
8
. . . we’re into the village.
9
10
We move in toward the cross section of the town . . .
11
. . . as people start to come out of their houses.
12
The camera moves to the right.
13
We move toward a woman with geese as the
camera goes under an overpass.
14
15
We head a few steps down as more
chldren come out running to school.
16
17
The camera continues to the right
seemingly led there by one running boy.
18
Past the water pump . . .
19
. . . reaching Gepetto’s house.
20
The camera moves in on the house.
21
At this time we cut in and the big-time animators take over.
Milt Kahl handles Pinocchio, Art Babbitt does Gepetto, Don Lusk animates Figaro.
22
Although there are numerous beautiful scenes from Pinocchio that employ the multiplane camera, there’s one last sequence I’d like to concentrate on. This is where J. Worthington Foulfellow (“Fox”) and Gideon the cat cajole Pinocchio into following them so that they can sell him to the puppetmaster, Stromboli. This is a particularly interesting scene for the multiplane camera.
The sequence director was T. Hee.
Layout by Ken O’Connor.
The animators involved in this scene include: Ugo D’Orsi, Jack Campbell, Hugh Fraser, Charles Nichols, Marvin Woodward, Preston Blair, Milt Kahl and Charles Otterstrom and
Phil Duncan.
1The multiplane camera scene is several away from this,
but I feel as though this scene really sets up the big one.
2
We properly meet the fox and cat as they walk through the town.
3
They are well into conversation.
4
5
The fox picks up a cigar stub, telling us about their financial state.
6
7
Several short scenes later, they run into Pinocchio and
coax him away from school to follow them to the theater.
8
9
This cuts into the overhead multiplane shot.
10
They walk down one street.
11
We watch from overhead with trees and ornaments
marginally blocking our vision of the characters.
12
13
They turn a corner and the camera follows them.
14
15
16
17
A quick circling of the tree.
18
19
They do it again, but . . .
20
. . . Gideon the cat continues forward moving off screen.
21
The fox and Pinocchio continue on the path.
22
Gideon runs back . . .
23
. . . catching up with them.
24
We view them through a tree and the side of a building.
25
They go up several steps, but the camera stops.
26
27
We dissolve to . . .
28
. . . the next scene, Jiminy Cricket is running. He’s late trying
to catch up to Pinocchio, thinking he’s on the way to school.
29
Jiminy is animated here by Phil Duncan.
David Nethery correctly points out in the comment section,
that Milt Kahl animated this scene.
Commentary &Disney &Frame Grabs 13 Jun 2011 06:33 am
Peter Pan Multiplane
- I had remembered Peter Pan as utilizing the multiplane camera quite a bit to set up the show. In the most obvious ways, where I thought they used the camera, I was wrong. There’s, of course, the one famous flying scene with Peter, Tink and the family over lots of clouds. But other shots of London and the opening of the house are not dimensional. They were painted on one level.
In a way, this film, despite the success of Cinderella, is an equally austere production. Gone are the days of Pinocchio and Fantasia where the multiplane camera was enormously effective and often used. Hello to the days of tight budgets.
Let’s take a look.
This is the opening once we hit London (down from a star).
We pan from London to the fog.
No multiplane camera use is evident. It’s a single-level Bg.
Dissolve to
1
The Darling townhouse. Camera trucks in slowly.
2
There are no separate levels, no use of the multiplane.
3
This is disappointing given how good the similar scene which opens
101 Dalmatians looks using a simple multiplane setup.
Once inside the Darling household there is no obvious use of the multiplane.
The next scene to question starts as Mr. & Mrs. Darling prepare to go off to their party leaving the children behind.
This next pan starts at the base as the Darlings
walk away from the camera into the distance.
We pan up to the rooftop to see Peter Pan in silhouette.
This is the full Bg.
There is no use of the multiplane camera.
Nor are there separate levels – it’s all one piece.
So, it would seem that the multiplane has not been used to this point.
The big flying scene comes just as they’re about to fly out of London and on to Neverland. It serves as the bridge from everyday life on to the magical land of Peter Pan. You need something big here, and they’ve got it – one of the biggest multiplane scenes ever. The layout for this scene is extraordinary, and the animation couldn’t be better. It’s quite a scene.
1We cut from this shot of the clock.
2
Peter & gang fly over clouds on flat Bg.
3
4
5
6
7
Still one level.
8
9
10
11
All done with some brilliant animation.
12
13
14
15
Still a flat Bg.
16
17
18
19
20
21
Suddenly the bottom drops out and it’s multiplane.
22
23
Many levels of clouds.
24
25
The camera also turns to have the characters flying North.
26
27
28
29
30
31
The camera zooms past them . . .
32
. . . and moves up to star.
33
It sparkles as we move in on it.
34
Dissolve to this final star.
There are one or two other small uses of the multiplane camera on Neverland. Typical of these is this shot of the Indian Village. As we pull in, only the sky is separated and allowed to go out of focus as the camera moves in.
.
But basically that would seem to be it for the use of the multiplane camera in the film. There’s the one big scene, the flying scene, which shows it off as well as any scene to that point in Disney animation, and a couple of other much smaller scenes.
But on second look we find that there was some use of it in the nursery.
The Bgs contain stripes and obviously brought some concern that there would be strobing, especially in cutting from one set of stripes to another – one CU to another.
It appears to me that they put the Bgs for the closeups out of focus by putting them on a lower level of the multiplane camera and shot the characters in focus. It’s a simple trick (given there were no camera moves) that didn’t up the budget very much.
AfterNote: I am wrong about this. Milt Gray, in the comments section, had proof that the Bgs were painted with Airbrush to soften them.
I’d recently read that they were thinking of utilizing this trick at one point in Cinderella. They ultimately decided against it. (I think it was an interview with Wilfred Jackson, but I haven’t located that reference quickly. When I do, I’ll put the quote in here.)
Here are a number of examples:
1There’s a soft focus on the Bg – not very extreme.
2
We go from this half-shot leaving the shot in focus . . .
3
. . . to this shot of John where the focus is soft.
4
Father stands, here, with an in-focus Bg.
5
Wendy has a very soft Bg.
6
Back to the parents with the Bg still in focus.
7
Wendy, very soft focus.
8
Now father stands against a very soft Bg.
It probably didn’t work cutting back and forth with the Bgs in focus.
9
This scene is the only one with a big camera move as . . .
10
. . . father flies across the room and . . .
11
. . . hits a night table.
The stripes are out of focus. The foreground night table is
in focus, meaning it would be on the same level as father.
12
The finish comes a couple of scenes later. It’s all, now, in focus.
Back in the nursery at the end of the film, the soft focus comes back in two or three short scenes.
This shot of the father is typical of the soft Bgs. They seem to build
from in-focus to getting softer and softer (behind father) as he realizes
that he’s “seen that ship before.”
Many of the other shots at this point are in focus.
I wonder, in this shot, if the ship were on another level so that it would read soft.
This scene has such magic in it, somehow I think they HAD to use the multiplane camera.
Disney &Frame Grabs &Layout & Design 06 Jun 2011 06:40 am
Cinderella Multiplane
- Cinderella was produced on a rather tight budget. After having produced a number of package films, containing collections of shorts, the film was Disney’s attempt to get back into features. His coffers were emptying, and he wanted to get back into the mainstream. They tightened the budget for the film and produced it quickly.
As such, I was curious to see how many multiplane shots were in the film. I was only able to locate five of them, and they’re all uncomplicated shots – all with a simple camera move in. They didn’t allow for much in the way of focus changes and kept focus pretty mcuh constant throughout them all. There was nothing elaborate built into the camerawork.
1
Seq 1.1 Scene 55
This is the opening of the film, after the storybook section reveals the back story.
2
The camera slowly begins to move in.
3
4
We’re starting to see some marginal soft-focus in the foreground elements.
5
The final setup before the dissolve into Cinderella’s room.
1
Seq 2.0 Scene 1
The town with the castle in the distance.
2
The camera moves past the town into the castle.
3
We end on the castle before dissolving to the interior of the castle.
With this shot we have images of some of the elements used to create the multiplane shot.
The artwork looks to be for a night version of the same shot. I haven’t seen this in the film.
1
Top level.
2
Level #2 – middle level
3
Level #3 – the castle with sky separate.
4
The final composite.
1
Seq 2.0 Scene 2
The camera moves through the glass. King is out of focus/ glass is in focus.
2
As we get closer, king comes into focus and glass out of focus.
1
Seq 4.0 Scene not listed on drafts
Cinderella’s coach is on the way to the ball.
2
The camera moves in on the Palace.
3
The final setup before the dissolve to the next shot.
1
Seq 4.0 Scene 1
We move in from an aerial view of the ball – through a window.
2
The camera continues on to a closer shot of the Prince.
3
The Prince is greeting another young, available female.
Next week I’ll take a look at the multiplane camera in Disney’s feature, Peter Pan.
Frame Grabs 21 Mar 2011 07:11 am
Inki
- Chuck Jones had a peculiar character wandering around during his transitional period at Warners. Jones was going from the Disney imitator to the real Chuck Jones. Working with the enormously talented John McGrew, the director was moving toward modern art in his layouts and backgrounds, and Mcrew was the guy who dominated. Though the bgs in this film sometimes look like Ted Geisel’s later work (Dr. Seuss), they show a strong move forward from 19th century graphics. (You can read Barrier’s great interview with McGrew here.)
This cartoon, Inki and the Minah Bird always used to annoy me when I was a kid. I hated the character of the Minah Bird and found Inki a passive nothing right out of the Disney cute character films; I also disliked the stories they concocted for them. Charlie Thorson designed Inki (a Hiawatha-like character) and the Minah Bird. However, the lion was a brilliant character changing from an earlier syle used in the two fims done prior to this one. Shamus Culhane animated him, and Bobe Cannon animated Inki and the Minah Bird.
I’ve pulled a number of frame grabs from this film. I apologize for the quality; there hasn’t been an official release of this film, and the images were pulled from a $1.99 DVD. I’ve seen a fair copy of he film on YouTube, but didn’t want tiny grabs. Perhaps someday Warners will continue with the quality releases of their treasures.
A long opening pan.
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PAN – A quck slide by Inki into his house.
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A weird joke from Chuck Jones. The Minah bird hops in a
ball of hay which keeps getting smaller and smaller until
it disappears completely. Jones referred to this as working
in the fourth dimension in an interview with Mike Barrier.
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The ball of hay returns as the Minah bird.
Here are a couple of drawings by Culhane from
his book Talking Animals and Other People.
Animation &Frame Grabs &Hubley &Independent Animation 14 Mar 2011 07:22 am
The Hat – bigger
- The recently posted interview Mike Barrier conducted with John Hubley has me thinking about Hubley and my years back there and then. You might say, I’m in a Hubley frame of mind these past few days, so I’m into reminiscing. I posted part of this back in March, 2008; here, I’ve extended the article a bit.
New York’s local PBS station, WNDT – that’s what it was called in the old days – used to have a talk show hosted by film critic, Stanley Kaufman.
(It turns out that this show was produced by the late Edith Zornow, who I once considered my guardian angel at CTW.)
This talk show was quite interesting to me, a young art student. I remember one show featured Elmer Bernstein talking about music for film. He gave as his example the score for The Magnificent Seven. He demonstrated that the primary purpose of the score, he felt, was to keep the action moving, make the audience feel that things were driving forward relentlessly. I still think of that show whenver I see a rerun of the film on tv.
The surprise and exciting program for me came when John and Faith Hubley turned up on the show to demonstrate how animation was done. They were using as an example a film they had currently in production, The Hat. This film was about the siliness of border lines. One of two guards, protecting their individual borders, loses his hat on the other side of the line. Of course, all he needs do is to step over and pick up the hat, but he can’t. The other guard won’t allow him to cross the border illegally – even to pick up his hat.
The voices were improvised by Dudley Moore and Dizzy Gillespie (much as the earlier Hubley film, The Hole, had been done.) The two actor/musicians also improvised a brilliant jazz score.
John’s design was quite original. The characters were a mass of shapes that were held to-gether by negative space on the white on white backgrounds.
The animation of the two soldiers was beautifully done by Shamus Culhane, Bill Littlejohn, Gary Mooney and “the Tower 12 Group“.
Culhane animated on a number of Hubley films during this period, most notably Eggs and a couple of commercials.
Bill Littlejohn animated on many of the Hubley films from Of Stars and Men up to Faith’s last film.
Gary Mooney animated on The Hole and Of Stars and Men. He was an Asst. Animator at Disney, animated for Hubley then moved on to some of the Jay Ward shows before moving to Canada where he continues to animate.
Tower 12 was the company formed by Les Goldman and Chuck Jones at MGM. Apparently they were between jobs when Hubley was finishing this film, and Chuck offered help.
Of course, the colors of the film as represented by the dvd are pathetically poor. It’s hard
to even imagine what the actual film looks like, and it’d be great to see a new transfer of
all the Hubley films.
The design style of the film was an original one for 1963. It’s one that would often be copied by other animators afterwards. The characters were searated at their joints. No reel ankles, just open space. They were also broken at the wrists and belts. The taller man seems to have a collection of ribs and shoulders for his torso. Like the dotted line they walked but could not cross, these people were also a gathering of parts.
This was one step removed from the earlier film, The Hole, which had just won the Oscar and went on to enormous success for the Hubleys. That film used what they called the “resistance” technique. They first colored the characters with a clear crayon. Ten painted watercolors on top of that. The crayon would resist the watercolor and a splotchy painterly style developed. The Hat literally broke those splotches into parts of the characters and put some of the control in the animators’ hands.
The film was obviously political. Anti-nuclear politics played strongly in the story. This was a step just beyond The Hole. In that film, two sewer workers converse on what violent things might be happening above ground. The film ends with an accident, or possibly a nuclear crash.
In The Hat, the two partisan soldiers discuss a history of man’s aggression all within their reach. At one point, it would seem, each of
them is ready to press the red button calling for nuclear assistance – or, at the very least, a buildup of military force.
While walking up and down that line, they comment on how we reached the point of no return. All the while, bugs and small animals cross the line, indeed, walk on or over the “hat” lying on the ground.
The backgrounds for this history of War grow more violent, more expressionist. John’s painterly style comes to the fore, and the brush strokes take on a force we haven’t seen to this point.
When we return to the two leads, we find that they’ve changed. They’re darker, and they both have lines scratched into the paint of their bodies. Not as much emphasis is placed on their disjointed body parts.
We leave them as we found them, walking that line. At this point, both of their hats lay on the ground and they’re deep into conversation. They don’t seem to notice anymore.
It has started to snow.
Disney &Frame Grabs 07 Mar 2011 08:13 am
Bambi – Into the Woods
- The new Blue-Ray/DVD has just been released for Bambi. It was less than a year ago that I bought the “Platinum Edition” of this DVD, so, not owning a Hi Def TV, I’ll hold onto what I’ve got, for now.
However, it did make me look at the film again. First off, let me say this is one of my favorite films. I don’t like the cartoony “Twitterpated” sequence, but I do like everything else. Secondly, let me say that they’ve done all they could to destroy the film in cleaning it up with their digital mastering. All the film grain seems to have disappeared and the images feel flattened out. They often come off as garishly colored rather than the sensitive painting that was done.
Thirdly, let me say that, regardless, this is a great movie.
I’ve decided to make some frame-grab sequences to display. How can you not start with the very beginning of the film. That endlessly long pan with the many-levelled multiplane camera hard at work. There are also rear-screen projections (such as the waterfall) that have been built into the pan.
I’ve done my best to connect the frame grabs to simulate the length of the pan. Then I had to break it into four parts from start to stop so as to post it. Each one of these four read well when enlarged. For the thumbnails, I broke each of the four into parts (with a slight overlap) so you could look a little closer.
I hope to pull a couple of other sequences at a later time. This film deserves all the honor it can get. It can’t be beat.
1The pan opening to the waterfall.
1a
1b
1c
1d
1e
2
From waterfall to lit forest.
2a
2b
2c
2d
2e
2f
3
3a
3b
3c
3d
3e
4
4a
4b
4c
4d
5
Animation &Frame Grabs &Trnka 03 Jan 2011 08:20 am
The Hand
- I decided this week, I wouldn’t go to a Disney cartoon to give a frame grab display. Instead, I’ve chosen to showcase images from Jiri Trnka‘s brilliant film, THE HAND. This is an anti-totalitarian film done from behind the Iron Curtain when it was forbidden for him to do so. There, presumably, were consequences (though I don’t know any specifics.)
1The film’s title plays in four different languages.
2
We see inside the sculpter’s house. LS to . . .
3
. . . closer shot of him in bed.
4
His pots and workplace.
5
One plant in a pot in the window.
6
He gets up, exercises and . . .
7
. . . cares for his plant.
8
9
He says a formal good morning to his plant.
10
Then it’s down to work.
11
Creating pottery.
12
A loud knock – is it the door?
13
Or the window?
14
A giant hand bursts through the window knocking the plant to the ground.
15
The potter goes through the same formality of bowing, good morning, to the hand.
16
The hand tells the potter he wants a commissioned statue of himself.
17
The potter says “NO” many times.
18
Even rushing to get back to creating a new pot.
19
Then he pushes the hand out of the shop . . .
20
. . . and he attends to the damaged plant.
21
The hand is back again and the potter tries to keep him out.
22
The hand pushes in a cardboard box.
23
The hand bursts out and impatiently demands a statue of himself.
The potter pulls out a broom.
24
He uses the broom to push the hand out the door.
25
A phone rings in the crardboard box, and the potter answers it.
The phone demands the statue . . .
26
. . . and offers lots of money.
The potter throws the phone away.
27
And goes back to his bed.
28
He dreams of flowers until he’s awakened.
29
The hand has brought a tv.
30
31
We see many examples of great hands in history.
32
33
Again the hand implores and then demands the statue.
34
The sculptor drags a heavy mallet out from under the bed.
35
He swings it at the hand to get rid of him.
36
The hand goes into the box.
37
The sculptor pushes the box and the tv out the door.
38
39
In no time the hand is back . . . demanding.
40
The sculptor stands resistant.
41
He’s pushed back into a corner.
42
The hand grabs him by the head.
43
And he is dragged to the potter’s wheel.
44
The hand produces cord.
45
He makes a marionette of the potter.
46
The potter’s encaged and forced to sculpt the statue.
47
48
He’s forced to work endless days and nights sculpting.
49
Until, finally, the statue is completed.
50
The sculptor uses the statue to crash through the bars of the cage.
51
He jumps free of the bondage of the “State.”
52
Eventually, damaged, he makes his way back home.
53
He boards up the door and window.
54
He cares for the hurt plant.
55
And places it in a secure spot out of reach.
56
The sculptor is haunted by the sound of the hand.
He dies.
57
The hand enters, places him in a casket he makes of the cabinet.
(Thus destroying the plant.)
58
The hand salutes the sculptor.
59
The end.
