Animation &Animation Artifacts &Hubley &Independent Animation 27 Sep 2010 07:27 am
Barrie Nelson’s Mime
- I’d posted a large scene from Everybody Rides the Carousel which was animated by Art Babbitt. The scene was the first one handed out when the film was scheduled to air as 3 half hour shows on consecutive nights. Babbitt did a stunning job, and John Hubley loved it. (He’d pulled me into the editing room to show it to me. “I want you to see the greatest piece of animation ever done,” were the words he greeted me with.
Hubley did some changes after the film was extended to a 90 minute TV special. It meant we needed an additional 10 mins of animation done within the same 6 month schedule. Hubley extended Babbitt’s scene putting it on four frame dissolves. Babbitt quit the project.
At the very end of production, John Hubley sent the rest of the mime to the brilliant animator, Barrie Nelson. The voice had changed, and the schedule offered little time to do the work. Barrie followed the voice rather than Art Babbitt’s mime. It came back a different character. True to Hubley’s style, schedule and budget, it was used regardless.
Here’s one of those Barrie Nelson scenes. I don’t have the exposure sheets, so I guessed at it.
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The following QT movie represents the drawings above
from Barrie Nelson.
I don’t have the X-Sheets, so I exposed straight ahead on two’s.
Right side to watch single frame.
on 27 Sep 2010 at 3:08 pm 1.Charles Brubaker said …
I’m enjoying these posts, Michael. Keep at it.
I found a clip from the special on YouTube. At the 0:37 mark you can see Babbit’s animation inked and painted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ7y6XJ5Kek
on 27 Sep 2010 at 7:06 pm 2.Michael said …
The YouTube clip you pointed to is very contrasty. You can just barely see the 4 frame dissolves on the piece which extends the action a bit. I have to admit the inking and coloring look better in this high contrast version. I feel that the I&Pt killed the scene more than timing/slowing it down did.
on 28 Sep 2010 at 7:26 am 3.Stephen Macquignon said …
It looks like it went from being jester outfit to Barrie’s version that looked more like a clowns. Do you know who made the necessary changes to the clothing before it went to ink & paint?
on 28 Sep 2010 at 9:05 am 4.Michael said …
Any costume changes were Barrie Nelson’s. I had to add the checks onto his blouse, trying to follow Art Babbitt’s lead. When you see the two in the final show, the discrepency isn’t so large for the average public (non-animator) viewer.