commercial animation &Layout & Design &UPA 23 Apr 2012 05:15 am
The Man on the Flying Trapeze – pt.2
- Here is the 2nd half of the frame grabs of the UPA film, The Man on the Flying Trapeze. As I said, last week, the film is not the best of UPA. However, Paul Julian’s work, to me, is always sterling, and that’s my reason for putting some focus on the film. Julian did the design and backgrounds.
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35
36
36-39 is an interesting transition.
The guy walks through all types of weather
as the fleur du lis framing device falls away.
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39
40
39 dissolves to 40 and moves in.
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45
46
47
A beautiful layout and setup.
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47-49 pans down while revoving while pulling out.
It was impossible to try to hook up the artwork,
so I left it apart.
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Start at the bottom and quickly pan up.
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57
He reaches for the flower -
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– just out of reach.
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The ringmaster sees what is happening.
The Trapeze Artist tumbles and twirls and flies to the end of the routine.
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63
Crash !
He lets go og the cord at the end of the pan.
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The ringmaster jumps to get it.
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The end of the Trapeze Artist.
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Diamonds are a girl’s best friend.
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No more coins to put in the player piano.
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A car chauffering the girl comes crashing through the piano.
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It passes across the main title card.
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A knowing wink.
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The last scene should start at the feet and move up
to the full band, beaten. (There’s a hint of a move on
the DVD.) But it cuts off here to the End card.
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on 23 Apr 2012 at 7:03 am 1.steve fisher said …
Michael: My wish for you is to enjoy a wonderful day and be happy and healthy. My wish for us is that you continue to entertain us and share your art with us for a long, long time to come. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.
on 23 Apr 2012 at 3:04 pm 2.The Gee said …
hmmm.
Best to you on the start of your own New Year!
I stole this from Tom Sito’s blog but you probably already know this interesting list of people with whom you share the same birthdate:
Birthdays: William Shakespeare, President James Buchanan, Sergei Prokoviev, J.M.W. Turner, Vladimir Nabokov, Senator Stephen Douglas the Little Giant, Shirley Temple is 85, Roy Orbison, Halston, Sandra Dee,Valerie Bertinelli, Lee Majors is 71, Judy Davis, Simone Simon, Michael Sporn, Tony Esposito, Michael Moore is 57, Herve Villechaise- da plane ! da plane!
(http://tomsito.com/blog.php?post=2251)
on 23 Apr 2012 at 3:16 pm 3.Mark Mayerson said …
Happy Birthday, Michael. The people you share a birthday with would make one heck of a guest list for a party.
on 23 Apr 2012 at 4:10 pm 4.Thad said …
Let me also offer some birthday greetings, Michael!
This post, to me, illustrates some fairly poor drawing and animation. Matthews is trying to combine the buxom beauties he animated for Shamus Culhane ten years earlier with modern design, but it’s just coming out funky and gormless. Interesting that Grim Natwick succeeded in doing just this splendidly in ROOTY TOOT TOOT, when Natwick’s animation pales in comparison to Matthews’s in the Lantz pictures.
on 14 Jun 2012 at 8:18 pm 5.Chris Sobieniak said …
More of that “Columbia Favorite” hiding the truth from us! Again I shouldn’t be nitpicking over something so obvious but you do wish even in today’s era of going back to the original negs and restoring these as best as they could, that we wouldn’t have to see any of these ever again. Oh well, at least I can throw away my VHS tapes of the same cartoons from the 80′s I had (though I used eBay anyway)!