Cellulose Plastic (Cel) Animations
Cellulose Plastic animations are some of the first animation techniques for had drawn cartoons in the modern age from the start of the 1920s.
The process is made up from a hand drawing on paper that is then traced onto a slide of cellulose plastic. The initial trace of the drawing is simply the dark black outline of the drawing, the sheet is then turned over and painted on the other side inside the lines of the trace.
The drawings are then placed on a sort of filing system which is used to keep all the images aligned so they can then be photographed, the sheets of Cel' plastic has holes like filing paper or plastic wallets that are inserted into the the file, this secures the images accurately. This sets the wheels in motion for the animation to begin. An example of this technique is shown below.
This 1930's video shows in early 1900's style the exact procedure that Walt Disney had to go through to create his first masterpiece 'Snow White and the seven dwarfs.'
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was Walt Disney's first film to be received by critics back in 1937, it was a huge success being one of the first cartoon full length movie, the movie was made by using cellulose plastic animation. By the time the finish was completed almost years after Walt Disney made his dream become a reality over 250'000 cellulose sheets had been produced by women is a printing office. The budget for this film was: $1,488,423. The film came out of the box office with a staggering: $418.2 million.
The Quality of the animation from 'Steamboat Willie' to 'Snow White and the seven Dwarfs.' is obviously increased, not just because of the new addition of colour in the cartoon which creates a brand new dynamic theatre experience, but it is much smoother than the first cel animation Disney created, the reason for this is because more sheets where animated in one clip meaning there are almost 3 sheets for every 1 sheet in steamboat willie making the cartoon characters look like they are actually moving not a jagged 'laggy' movement.
Move on into the 1940s and and a young company is emerging, 'Hanna-Barbera' this company is responsible for a massive part of my own childhood, this company created the Cartoon shorts 'Tom and Jerry' a slapstick comedy cartoon for children about a devious mouse (Jerry) and a deranged cat (Tom) who will stop at nothing to catch the mouse, this cartoon was in my opinion the greatest cartoon series in history, but, like i said its my opinion. the difference between disneys cartoons and now Hanna-Barbera' is the speed and tone it has compared to its predecessor. Tom and Jerry is very slapstick and in some cases contained scenes of violence against two characters. This put a contrast between the two animators as Disney tried to keep his animations as child friendly as possible by today's standards, however back in the 40's not a single person would have an issue with tom and jerrys violence against each other, even though it is barely even violence at all because neither character ever actually got hurt, however, it would be difficult to air a show such as this to a new audience, it just wouldn't fit with the genre that parents expect unfortunately. never the less these cartoons showed that a children's cartoon can contain more than princesses and love story's, it can give you a real comical night of entertainment which that era was sorely missing.
A clip from Tom and Jerrys First televsion aired episode:
However the animation in snow white and the seven dwarfs is an artifact by today's standards, cartoons today are made in bulk, shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy to name a few. Today cartoons are created on the computer meaning they are much faster to create but that doesn't mean the main animation technique is gone, the cartoon is still drawn in separate shots they are just edited using a computer once they are all drawn, shows like family guy (right) show that animation has the ability to be more than a children's form of entertainment.
'The success of 'The Simpsons' really opened doors. It showed that if you were working in animation you didn't necessarily have to be working in kids' television.' this is a quote from Family guys Creator Seth Macfarlane.
More quotes from him can be found here along with many other celeb quotes:
Ryan - this section is coming on well and showing detailed understanding of key terms and landmark developments and a high degree of time management and organisation. If this was a part of a BTEC assignment , it would suggest working to the level of a Distinction. I look forward to seeing the finished version. Keep up the high standard of work!
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