ANIMATED CARTOC^NS •\ \ • \ ". . ' . ' . « • .• .' .• / / / ,' .' .* • • » *. V * '. ,* • • • • t * ' • / ' '■::': mMMmm nt Ail books are subject to recall after two weeks ! Olin/Kroch Library DATE DUE Wtf l«79l -^a^^^ ^^^^^^ JmJ HfW" 1 infflffl UK OCL-2^ £04 JfH'f?'""""'' sjys GAYLOnO PRINTED IN U.S.A. EB Cornell University VB Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924075701304 BOOKS BY E. G. LUTZ With Illustrations by the Author PRACTICAL GRAPHIC FIGURES The technical side of drawing for car- toons and fashions PRACTICAL DRAWING A book for the student and the general reader PRACTICAL ART ANATOMY Structural anatomy of the human figure easily understood by ingeniously drawn diagrams ANIMATED CARTOONS How they are made, their origin and development DRAWING MADE EAS'T A helpful book for young artists CHARLES SCRJBNER'S SONS ANIMATED CARTOONS ILLUSTRATING THE METHOD OF MAKING ANIMATED CARTOONS BY CUT-OUTS. Above: Background scene and the separate items. Below : Completed scene showing one phase of the performance of the little cardboard actors and stage property. [See page 90| ANIMATED CARTOONS HOW THEY ARE MADE THEIR ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT BY E. G. LUTZ ILLUSTRATED NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 1926 COFTEIGHT, 1920, SY CHARLES SCRlBNiTR'S SONS Printed in the United States of America /yi^'^^ /v' "^ i""^" " 1 %. INTRODUCTION We learn through the functioning of our senses; sight the most precious shows us the appear- ance of the exterior world. Before the dawn of pictorial presentation, man was visually cogni- zant only of his immediate or present surround- ings. On the development of realistic pictur- ing it was possible, more or less truthfully, to become acquainted with the aspect of things not proximately perceivable. The cogency of the perceptive impression was dependent upon the graphic faithfulness of the agency — a pictorial work — that gave the visual representation of the distant thing. It is by means of sight, too, that the mind since the beginning of alphabets has been made familiar with the thoughts and the wisdom of the past and put into relationship with the learn- ing and reasoning of the present. These two methods of imparting knowledge — delineatory vi Introduction and by inscribed symbols — have been concurrent throughout the ages. It was nearly a century ago that Joseph Nic^- phore Niepce (1765-1833), at Chdlons-sur-Sa6ne, in France, invented photography. Since that time it has been possible to fix on a surface, by physico- chemical means, pictures of the exterior world. It was another way of extending man's horizon, but a way not dependent, in the matter of literal- ness, upon the variations of any individual's skill or intent, but rather upon the accuracy of material means. Thoughts and ideas once represented and pre- served by picture-writing, recorded by symbolical signs, and at last inscribed by alphabetical marks were, in 1877, registered by mere tracings on a surface and again reproduced by Mr. Edison with his phonograph. As in the photograph, the pro- cedure was purely mechanical, and man's artificial inventions of linear markings and arbitrary sym- bols were totally disregarded. Through photography we learn of the exterior nature of absent things and the character of the views in distant places. Or it preserves these Introduction vii pictorial matters in a material form for the future. The phonograph communicates to us the uttered thoughts of others or brings into our homes the melodies and songs of great artists that we should not otherwise have the opportunity to hear. And now a new physicochemical marvel has come that apprehends, reproduces, and guards for the future another sensorial stimulus. It is the motion-picture and the stimulus is movement. Photography and the rendering of sotmds by the phonograph have both been adopted for in- struction and amusement. The motion-picture also is used for these purposes, but in the main the art has been associated with our leisure hours as a means of diversion or entertainment. Dur- ing the period of its growth, however, its adapt- abiUty to education has never been lost sight of. It is simply that development along this line has not been as seriously considered as it should be. Motion-pictures, it is true, that may be considered as educational are frequently shown in theatres and halls. Such, for instance, are views in strange lands, scenic wonders, and pictures showing the manufacture of some useful article or the manner viii Introduction of proceeding in some field of human activity. But these are effected entirely by photography and the narration of their making does not come within the scope of this book. Our concern is the description of the processes of making "animated cartoons," or moving screen drawings. Related matters, of course, including the inception and the development of motion- pictures in general, will be referred to in our work. At present, of the two divisions of our subject, the art of the animated comic cartoon has been most developed. It is for this reason that so much of the book is given to an account of their pro- duction. But on the making of animated screen drawings for scientific and educational themes little has been said. This is not to be taken as a measure of their importance. It is interesting to regard for a moment the vicissitudes of the word cartoon. Etymologically it is related to words in certain Latin tongues for paper, card, or pasteboard. Its best-accepted employment — of bygone times — was that of designating an artist's working-size preliminary Introduction ix draft of a painting, a mural decoration, or a de- sign for tapestry. Raphael's cartoons in the South Kensington Museum, in London, are the best-known works of art coming under this mean- ing of the term. (They are, too, the usual in- stances given in dictionaries when this meaning is explained.) The most frequent use of the word up to recently, however, has been to specify a printed picture in which the composition bears upon some ciurent event or pohtical topic and in which notabilities of the day are generally cari- catured. The word cartoon did not long particu- larize this kind of pictorial work but was soon ap- plied to any humorous or satirical printed picture no matter whether the subject was on a topic of the day or not. When some of the comic graphic artists began to turn their attention to the making of drawings for animated screen pictures, nothing seemed more natural than that the word "animated" should be prefixed to the term describing their products and so bringing into usage thfe expres- sion "animated cartoons." But the term did not long remain restricted to this application, as X Introduction it soon was called into service by the workers in the industry to describe any film made from drawings without regard to whether the subject was of a humorous or of an educational char- acter. Its use in this sense is perhaps justified as it forms a convenient designation in the trade to distinguish between films made from drawings and those having as their basic elements actuality, that is, people, scenes, and objects. Teachers now are talking of "visual instruc- tion." They mean by this phrase in the special sense that they have given to it the use of motion- picture films for instructional purposes. Travel pictures to be used in connection with teaching geography or micro -cinematographic films for classes in biolegy are good examples of such films. But not all educational subjects can be depicted by the camera solely. For many themes the artist must be called in to prepare a series of draw- ings made in a certain way and then photographed and completed to form a film of moving diagrams or drawings. As it is readily understood that any school topic presented in animated pictures wiU stim- Introduction xi ulate and hold the attention, and that the proper- ties of things when depicted in action are more quickly grasped visually than by description or through motionless diagrams, it is likely that visual instruction by films wUl soon play an important part in any course of studies. Then the motion- picture projector will become the pre-eminent school apparatus and such subjects as do not lend themselves to photography will very generally need to be drawn; thereupon the preponderance of the comic cartoon will cease and the animated screen drawing of serious and worth-while themes will prevail. E. G. L. CONTENTS FAQB I. The Beginning of Animated Drawings . 3 II. The Genesis of Motion-Pictuhes ... 35 III. Making Animated Cartoons 57 IV. Fukther Details on Making Animated Car- toons 83 V. On Movement in the Human Figure . . 99 VI. Notes on Animal Locomotion .... 131 VII. Inanimate Things in Movement . . . 153 VIII. Miscellaneous Matters in Making Ani- mated Screen Pictures 171 IX. Photography and Other Technical Mat- ters 201 X. On Humorous Effects and on Plots . . 223 XI. Animated Educational Films and the Fu- ture ... . . 245 ILLUSTRATIONS Illustrating the method of making animated cartoons by cut-outs Frontispiece PAOB Magic-lantern and motion-picture projector compared ... 7 Geneva movement 9 A motion-picture projector 11 Illustrating the proportions of light and dark periods during projection in two types of shutters 12 Section of an animated cartoon film 15 The thaumatrope 17 Two instruments used in early investigations of optical phenomena 18 Apparatus on the order of Faraday's wheel 19 An antecedent of the phenakistoscope 20 A phenakistoscope 21 Phenakistoscope combined with a magic-lantern .... 22 Phenakistoscope with a cycle of drawings to show a dog in movement . 23 The zootrope 24 Zoetrope of WilUam Lincoln 25 Reynaud's praxinoscope 26 The theatre praxinoscope 28 XV xvi Illustrations Projection praxinoscope 29 Optical theatre of Beynaud 30 The kineograph 31 Plan of the apparatus of Coleman Sellers 36 The ostrich walking; from Muybridge . . . Facing page 40 Marey's photographic gun 42 Plan of the kinora 43 Plan of Edison's first kinetoscope 46 Projector and motion-picture camera compared 48 A negative and a positive print 49 Plan of a motion-picture camera 50 T^es of camera and projector shutters 51 One foot of film passes through the projector in one second . 53 "Animator's" drawing board 61 A sheet of perforated paper and the registering pegs ... 63 Illustrating the making of an animated scene 67 Illustrating the making of an animated scene with the help of celluloid sheets 71 Arrangement of board, pegs, and hinged frame with glass . . 75 Balloons 78 Three elements that complete a scene 79 Phenakistoscope with cycle of drawings of a face to show a movement of the mouth .... 80 Cardboard model of an airplane with separate cut-out propellers Facing page 84 Illustrations xvii PAGE The laws of perspective are to be considered in "animating" an object 86 Perspective applied in the drawing of birds as well as in the picturing of objects 87 Articulated cardboard figures 89 Illustrating the animation of a mouse as he runs around the kitchen 95 Successive phases of movements of the legs in walking . . 101 Illustrating the action of the foot in rolling over the ground 103 Successive phases of movements in walking 105 Phases of movement of a quick walk 107 Contractions and expansions as characteristic of motion . . 109 Order in which an animator makes the sequence of positions for a walk 112 and 113 Phases of movement of a walk. Six phases complete a step 115 A perspective walk 117 Four positions for a perspective run 118 Phases of movement for a perspective run 119 Running figure 121 Phases of movement for a quick walk 123 Walking movements, somewhat mechanical 124 Phases of movement for a lively walk 125 Phases of movement for a quick walk 127 Walking movements viewed from above 128 Trotting horse 134 Trotting horse (continued) 135 xviii Illustrations PAOB A panorama ^ect 138 Galloping horse for a panorama effect 139 The elephant in motion 140 The elephant in motion {conUnued) ■ 141 Pigeon b flight; from Muybridge .... Facing page 142 Comic walk of a duck 143 Cycle of phases of a walking dog arranged for the phenakisto- scope 144 Phenakistoscope with a cycle of drawings to show a dog in movement 145 Running cow 147 Phases of movement of a walking lion 148 Dog walking 149 Various kinds of wave motion . 150 Cycle of drawings to produce a screen animation of a waving flag 157 Cycle of drawings for an effect of falling water 159 Cycle of drawings for a puff of vapor 161 An explosion 162 The finishing stroke of some farcical situation 163 Piano practice 164 Three drawings used in sequence and repeated as long as the particular effect that they give is desired 165 A constellation 166 Simple elements used in animating a scene 167 Symbolical animation of snoring 172 Illustrations xix rAGB Series of drawings used to show a baby crying 173 A "close-up" 175 Illustrating the use of little "model" hats to vivify a scene . 176 "Cut-out" eyes 178 Illustrating the making of "in-between" drawings .... 179 Illustrating the number of drawings required for a movement 180 Illustrating a point in animating a moving limb .... 182 Making drawings in turning the head 183 Easily drawn circular forms and curves 186 Foreground details of a pictorial composition 190 Maldng an animated cartoon panorama 193 Illustrating the apparent slowness of a distant object compared to one passing close to the eye 195 Distinguishing marks on wheels to give the illusion of turning 197 Elements used in giving a figure the effect of trembling . . 198 Typical arrangement of camera and lights 203 Part of a length of film for a title 208 Vignetter or iris dissolve 211 To explain the distribution of light in a cross dissolve 213 Illustrating the operation of one type of motion-picture printer 217 Another plan for an animator's drawing board 218 Canine thoughts 219 Plenty of movement demanded in screen pictures .... 224 The plaint of inanimate things 227 XX Illustrations FAOE The pinwheel effect of two boys fighting, elements needed in producing it ... ... 231 Cycle of drawings to give the illusion of a man spinning like a top . . . . 235 A blurred impression like that of the spokes of a turning wheel is regarded as funny 236 Hats 239 Radiatmg "dent" lines 240 A laugh-provoking incident in an animated cartoon . . . 241 The Mad Hatter 246 Detail of a fresco by Michel Angelo 248 Mr. Frost's spirited delineation of figiu-es in action . . . 249 The peep-show 250 Demeny's phonoscope 251 Drawings used in making a film of a gasolene engine in opera- tion ... 255 Character of drawings that would be prepared in producing moving diagrams of the muscles in action 258 THE BEGINNING OF ANIMATED DRAWINGS CHAPTER I THE BEGINNING OF ANIMATED DRAWINGS 'TT^HE picture thrown on the wall by the magic- -■- lantern, although an illusion, and no more tangible than a shadow, has nevertheless a certain tactile quality. If it is projected from a draw- ing on a glass sUde, its design is definite; and if from a photographic slide, the tones are clearly discernible. It is — unless it is one of those quaintly moving amusing subjects operated by a crude mechanism — a quiescent picture. The spirited screen picture thrown by the lens of a motion- picture projector is an illusion, too. It exemplifies, however, two varieties of this class of sensory de- ceptions. First: it is an illusion for the same reason that the image from the magic-lantern is one; namely, a projected shadow of a more or less opaque design on a transparent material in- tervening between the illuminant and the lens. And secondly, it is an illusion in that it synthesizes mere pictorial spectres into the appearance of life and movement. This latter particular, the seem- 4 Animated Cartoons ing activity of life, is the fundamental dissimilarity between pictures projected by the magic-lantern and those thrown on the screen by the motion- picture apparatus. And it is only the addition to the magio-lantem, of a mechanism that makes possible this optical vibration of Kfe and motion, that constitutes the differing feature in the two tj^es of projecting machines. In the magio-lantem and its improved form, the stereopticon, separate views of different sub- jects are shown in succession. Each picture is allowed to remain on the screen long enough to be readily beheld and appreciated. But the pic- ture is at rest and does not move. With the mo- tion-picture projector a series of slightly varying pictTires of the same subject are projected in quick succession. This succession is at such a rapid rate that the interval of time during which one picture moves out of place to make way for the next is so short that it is nearly imperceptible. In consequence, the slightly varying pictures blend on the screen and we have a phantasmagoria of movement. The phenomenon of this movement — this sem- The Beginning of Animated Drawings 5 blance to life — takes place, not on the screen, but within the eye. Its consideration, a subject proper for the science of physiology (and in some aspects psychology), has weight for us more particularly as a matter of physics. Memory has been said to be an attribute of all organic matter. An instance of this seems to be the property of the eye to retain on its retina an after-image of anything just seen. That is to say, when an object impresses its image upon the retina and then moves away, or disappears, there still remains, for a measurable period, an image of this object within the eye. This singular- ity of the visual sense is spoken of as the per- sistence of vision or the formation of positive after-images. And it is referred to as a positive after-image in contradistinction to another vi- sional phenomenon called the negative after- image. This latter kind is instanced in the well- known experiment of fixing the eyes for a few moments upon some design in a brilliant color and quickly turning away to gaze at a blank space of white where instantly the same design will be seen, but of a color complementary to that of the particular hue first gazed at. 6 Animated Cartoons The art of the motion-picture began when physicists first noticed this peciiliarity of the organ of sight in retaining after-images. The whole art is based on its verity. It is the special quality of the visual sense that makes possible the appreciation of living screen pictures. An interesting matter to bear in roind is the circumstance that the first attempt at giving to a screen image the effect of life was by means of a progressive series of drawings. When photo- graphs came later, drawings were forgotten and only when the cinematographic art had reached its great development and universality, were drawings again brought into use to be synthesized on the screen. To describe how these drawings are made, their use and application to the making of ani- mated cartoons, is the purpose of this book. Before proceeding with a sketch of the de- velopment of the art of making these cartoons, it will make the matter more readily understood if we give, at first, in a few paragraphs, a brief description of the present-day method of throw- ing a living picture on the screen by the motion- picture projector. The Beginning of Animated Drawings 7 The projector for motion-pictures, like the magic-lantern, consists of an illuminant, reflector, condenser, and objective. This last part is the combination of lenses that gather and focus the B Refieeton L Light C Condenser O Objective S Screen. GLASS SLIDE PICTURE 15 upside; dovn ■s^ UAGIC LANTERN -FILM THE PICTURES ARE UPSIDE DOWN P>ROt/SCTQR MAGIC-LANTERN AND MOTION-PICTUEE PROJECTOR COMPARED. h'ght rays carrying the pencils of lights and shadows composing the picture and throwing them on the screen. There is, in the magic-lantern, immediately back of the objective, a narrow aper- 8 Animated Cartoons ture through which the glass slide holding a picture is thrust. In the motion-picture apparatus, the transparent surface containing the picture also passes back of the objective, but instead of the simple process of pushing one slide through to make way for another, there is a" complicated mechanism to move a long ribbon containing the sequence of pictures that produces the image on the screen. Now this ribbon consists of a strip of transparent celluloid * divided into a series of little rectangular spaces each with a separate photograph of some one general scene but each with slight changes in the moving details — ob- jects or figures. These changes record the move- ments from the beginning to the end of the par- ticular story, action, or pantomime. Along the edges of the ribbons are rows of perforations that are most accurately equalized with respect to their size and of the distances between them. It is by means of wheels with teeth that engage with the perforations and the movement of another toothed part of the mecha- * Celluloid is at this date the most serviceable material for these ribbons. But as it is inflammable a substitute is sought — one that has the advantages possessed by celluloid but of a non-combustible material. The Beginning of Animated Drawings 9 nism that the ribbon or film is carried across the path of light in the projecting machine. The device for moving the film, although not of a very intricate character, is nevertheless of an in- genious type. It is intermittent in action and operates so that one section of film, containing a picture, is held in the path of Kght for a fraction of a second, moved away and another section, with the next picture, brought into place to be projected in its turn. This way of working, in most of the projectors, is obtained by the use of a mechanical construction known as the Geneva movement. The pattern of its principal part is a wheel shaped somewhat like a Maltese cross. The form shown in the illustration is given as a type; not aU are of this pattern, nor are they all four-parted. FOUR PHASES OF THE ACTION OF THE INTERMITTENT GEARING KNOWN AS THE GENEVA MOVEMENT. 10 Animated Cartoons It is obvious that while one picture moves out of the way for the next, there would be a blur on the screen dtu-ing such a movement if some means were not devised to prevent it. This is found by eclipsing the light during the time of the change from one picture to another. The detail of the projector that effects this is a revolving shutter with a solid part and an open section. (This is the old type of shutter. It is noticed here because the way in which the light rays project the pic- ture is easUy explained by using it as an example.) This shutter is so geared with the rest of the me- chanism that (1) the solid part passes across the path of light while another picture is moving into place; and that (2) the open section passes across the path of light while a rectangular area con- taining a picture is at rest and its details are being projected on the screen. It may be asked, at this point, why the eye is not aware on the screen of the passing shadow of the opaque part of the shutter as it echpses the light. It would seem that there should be either a blur or a darkened period on the screen. But the mechanism moves so rapidly that the passing of the soUd portion of the shutter is not ordinarily perceptible. The Beginning of Animated Drawings 11 A MOTION-PICTURE PROJBOTOR. A. Film. B. Upper magazine. C. Feed reel. D. Lower magazine; con- taining tlie talce-up reel. E. Crank to operate mechanism by hand. F. Motor. G. Where the film stops intermittently to be projected. H. Lamp-house. /. Port, or window in the fireproof projection booth. J. Rotating shutter. K. Lens. L. Condenser. M. Switches. N. Fire shutter; automatically drops when the film stops or goas too slowly. One foot of cellviloid film contains sixteen sepa- rate pictures, and these pass in front of the light in one second. One single tiny picture of the film takes up then one-sixteenth of a second. But not all of this fraction of a second is given to the projection of the picture as some of the time is taken up with moving it into place immediately before projection. The relative apportionment 12 Animated Cartoons of this period of one-sixteenth of a second is so arranged that about five-sixths of it (five ninety- sixths of a second) is given to the holding of the film at rest and the projection of its picture, and the remaining one-sixth (one ninety-sixth of a second) is given to the movement of a section of the film and the shutting off of the light by the opaque part of the shutter. In the last few paragraphs we have referred to the old type of shutter which caused a flicker, or unsteadiness of light on the screen. Nowadays a three-bladed shutter that nearly —%- ILLUSTRATING THE PROPORTIONS OF LIGHT AND DARK PERIODS DURING PROJECTION IN TWO TYPES OF SHUTTERS. 1. Old single-blade type; caused a "flicker." 2. Regular three-blade type; light evenly distributed. It is to be noted that while the picture is on the screen two opaque sections of the shutter eclipse the light. The Beginning of Animated Drawings 13 does away with an unsteady light is in general use. Its operation, approximately for the pur- poses of description is like this: It turns once in one-sixteenth of a second; one-sixth of this time is taken up with the moving of the film and the eclipsing of the light by one blade of the shutter. During the remainder of the time — five-sixths of it, the following takes place: the film is stationary and reafdy for projection, then two blades of the shutter and three of its open sections pass across the path of the light. From this it can be seen that when the picture is viewed on the screen, there are actually two short moments when the light rays are cut oflf. This is not perceived by the spectator on account of the speed of the revolving shutter and the strong illuminant. Instead, the use of a shutter of this pattern evens the screen lighting by making an equal apportioning of light flashes and dark periods. With the old shutter there was one long period of light and one short period of darkness. It was this unequal distribution that gave rise to the flicker. At times, under certain conditions, a two-bladed shutter is used also. A reel of film may vary in length for a short 14 Animated Cartoons subject of fifty feet (or even less), to a very long "feature" of a mile or so in length. In width, the strip of celluloid measures one and three- eighths inches. Between the two rows of per- forations that engage with the teeth on the sprocket-wheels and by which a certain part of the intermittent mechanism pulls the film along, are little rectangular panels, already alluded to, containing the photographs. Sometimes these panels are called "frames," generally though, in the parlance of the trade, they are simply des- ignated as "pictures." They measure one inch across and three-quarters of an inch in height. As noted above, these frames contain photo- graphs of scenes that record, by changes in their action, the incidents and episodes of the story of any particular reel. In the case of animated cartoons, the frames on the film also contain photo- graphs, but these photographs are made from sets of progressive drawings depicting the action of the characters of the animated cartoon. In concluding this brief account of the modem motion-picture, the attention is directed, as the subject is studied, to a few details of the mechanism and to the general procedure that are found to be SECTION OP AN ANIMATED CAR- TOON FILM. Exact size. The Beginning of Animated Drawings elementary features in nearly all apparatus used during the round of years that the art was develop- ing. They are as follows: (1) A series of pictures — drawings or photographs — representing an action by progressive changes in their dehneation. (2) Their pres- entation, one at a time, in rapid succession. (3) Their synthesis, directly upon the retina of the eye, or projected on a screen and then viewed by the eye. (4) Some means by which light — or the vision — is shut off while the change from one picture to an- other is taking place. (Pro- jecting machines have been 15 16 Animated Cartoons made, however^ in which the film is moved so rapidly, and in a particular way, that a shutter to eclipse the light is not needed.) Now, as stated before, the phenomenon of the persistence of vision is the fundamental physiolog- ical fact upon which the whole possibility of seeing screen pictures rests. One of the first devices made that depended upon it, and that very simply demonstrated this faculty of the retina for holding a visional image for a time, was an optical toy called the thaumatrope. It dates from about 1826. It was a cardboard disk with two holes close to the edge at opposite points. Strings were passed through these holes and fastened and the dangling ends held and roUed between the thumbs and fingers so that the disk was made to twirl rapidly. Each side of the disk had a picture printed or drawn upon it. These two pictures when viewed together while the disk was twirled appeared as one complete picture. A favorite design for depiction was an empty bird-cage on one side and a bu'd on the other. The designs were placed with respect to each other in the same way as the marks and insignia of the two sides of most coins. (The coins of Great Britain are The Beginning of Animated Drawings 17 an exception, on them the designs are placed differently. In reading their marks or looking at the images of the two sides, we turn the coin over like the page of a book.) The thaumatrope illustrates the persistence of vision in a very elementary way. Simply ex- plained, the face of one side of the disk with its design is before the eye, the design impresses its true image upon the retina, the disk turns away and the picture disappears, but its after-image remains on the retina. The disk having turned, brings the other picture into view. Its true image is impressed upon the retina to blend with the THE THAUMATROPE. Above: How the designs of the two aides are placed with respect to each other. _. , J Below: The combined Image when the thaumatrope la twirled. 18 Animated Cartoons after-image of the first picture. In rapid sequence this turning continues and the two images com- mingle to give the fantasy of a perfect design. A limited number of subjects only were suitable for demonstration by a toy of this character. Two other subjects were those showing designs to give the effect of a rider on a horse and a tight-rope dancer balanced on a rope. 1S57 FARADAY'5 WHEEL 1'841 , ^ ^m TWO INSTRUMENTS USED IN EARLY INVESTIGATIONS OF OPTICAL PHENOMENA. From The Saturday Magazine of 1837 and 1841. Later when scientific investigators were busy inquiring into the phenomena of Adsual distortions exhibited by the spokes and teeth of turning wheels The Beginning of Animated Drawings 19 when seen in contrast with certain intervening objects, a curious apparatus was contrived by Faraday the English scientist (1791-1867). This apparatus was so constructed that two disks were made to travel, by cogged gearing, in opposite directions, but at the same speed. Around the circumferences of the disks were cut narrow slots at equal distances apart and so making the solid portions between them like teeth, or spokes of a wheel. APPARATUS ON THE ORDER OF FARADAY'S WHEEL. With the disks moving as marked, the disk B wiU appear to be motionless when viewed through the passing slots of disk A. When this machine was set in motion and the eye directed through the moving and blurred teeth of the front disk toward the far disk, this far disk appeared to be stationary. Its outline — 20 Animated Cartoons the teeth, dots, and circumference — ^were distinctly seen and not blurred. Then it was found that the same effect could be obtained with the use of one slotted disk by simply holding it in froht of a mirror and viewing the reflected image through the moving slots of the disk. The reflection answered for the second disk of the instrument of the first experiment. AN ANTECEDENT OP THE PHENAKISTOSCOPB. When the disk is twirled the reflections of Its spokes appear Btatlonary when viewed through the moving slots. From this type of optical toy it was but a step to the contriving of various tjrpes of instruments constructed on the pattern of a slotted disk, or some sort of a turning mechanism with a series of apertures, to use in giving the illusion of move- ment in connection with drawings or photographs. The Beginning of Animated Drawings 21 The best-known was the phenakistoscope, the invention of which has been credited to the Bel- gian physicist, Plateau (1801-1883). This toy was a large cardboard disk with pictures on one side that were to be viewed by their reflections through slots in the disk while it was held before a mirror. The pictures drawn in sequence rep- resented some action, as a horse running, an acro- bat, a juggler, or some amusing subject that could be drawn easily in a cycle of actions and that would lend itself to repetition. The phenakistoscope has some rough resem- blance in its plan to a motion-picture projector — the cycle of slightly different drawings represents the film with its sequence of tiny pictures; the slots in the disk by which the drawings are viewed in the mirror correspond to the open sections of the revolving shutter; while the solid por- tions of the disk an- axaor +r» +Vi<» nnnnilP Holding a phenakistoscope before a mirror SWer to ine opaque and ready to twin it around. parts of the shutter. 22 Animated Cartoons As it only was possible in the phenakistoscope that one person at a time could view conveniently the reflected pictures, the attempt was made to arrange it for projection. A lens was added with a light and mirrors so that a number of people could see its operation at the same time. In an- other form the pictures were placed on a glass disk which was made to rotate back of a magic- lantern objective. When the number of slots in a phenakistoscope correspond to the number of drawings in the cycle, the different figures of the cycle are in action but they do not move from the place where they are depicted. Only their limbs, if it is an action in which these parts are brought into play, are in movement. But if there is one slot more and the disk turned in the proper direction, the row of drawings will appear to be going around a circle. C'i?-t.r'-^-'^"'" PHENAKISTOSCOPE COMBINED WITH A MAGIC-LANTEEN. The Beginning of Animated Drawings 23^ PHENAKISTOSCOPE WITH A CYCLE OP DRAWINGS TO SHOW A DOG IN MOVEMENT. This is particularly adapted to series of running animals. Another method of giving the semblance of motion to a series of progressive drawings, soon devised after the invention of the phenakisto- scope, was the zootrope, or wheel of life. It em- bodied the idea, too, of a rapidly moving opaque 24 Animated Cartoons flat portion with a row of slots passing between the eye and the drawings. In form the zootrope was Kke a cylindrical lidless box of cardboard. It was pivoted and balanced on a vertical rod so that it could be made to turn easily and very rapidly. The slots were cut around the upper rim of the box. Long strips of paper holding pictures fitted into the box. When one of these strips was put in place, it was so adjusted that any particular draw- ing of the series could be viewed through a slot of the opposite side. These drawings appeared THE ZOOTBOPE. to be in motion when the zootrope was made to twirl. This type of optical curiosity, as a matter of priority, is associated with the name of Desvignes, The Beginning of Animated Drawings 25 1 f U.S. Pa^t No.641ir ii I I! i i A pp. 25, 1867 &5j^^^ ^:^:&SS^^s,^^; ZOETKOPE OF WILLIAM LINCOLN. as he obtained a patent for it in England in 1860. Later in 1867, a United States patent was issued for a similar instrument to William Lincoln, of Providence, R. I. He called his device the zoetrope. This cyhndrical synthesizing apparatus was sold as a toy for many years. Bands of paper with cycles of drawings of a variety of humorous and entertaining subjects thereon were prepared for use with it. But the busy inventors were not satisfied with the simple form in which it was first fabricated. Very soon from the zootrope was evolved another 26 Animated Cartoons optical curiosity that preserved the general cy- lindrical plan, but made use of the reflective property of a mirror to aid the illusion. This was the praxinoscope of M. Reynaud, of France. He perfected it and adapted its principles to create other forms of rotating mechanisms harmonizing progressive drawings to show movement. Miprops placed half-way between, tlie ccntpe and+Ke cipcumfepence Dead pomt,on the line of jv^hich the peflected image appears ] Pidupes are placed outhe innep side the drum. A. EEYNAUD'S PRAXINO- SCOPE. B. PLAN OF THE PRAX- INOSCOPE. The Beginning of Animated Drawings 27 The praxinoscope held to the idea of a box, cylindrical and lidless, and pivoted in the centre so that it turned. The strip of drawings, and the plan of placing them inside of the box — two features of the zootrope^were both retained. But instead of looking at the drawings through apertures in the box rim, they were observed by their reflections in mirrors placed on an inner section or drum. The mirrors were the same in number as the drawings and turned with the rest of the apparatus. The mirrors were placed on the drum — the all-important point in the con- struction of the praxinoscope — half-way between the centre and the inner side of the rim of the box. As the drawings were placed here, the eye, looking over the rim of the box, viewed their re- flections in the mirrors. But the actual place of a reflection was the same distance back of the surface of a mirror that a drawing was in front of it; namely, at the dead centre of the rotating cylinder. It was here, at this quiet point, that it was possible to see the changing images of the succession of graduated drawings blending to give the illusion of motion. Reynaud next fixed his praxinoscope with im- 28 Animated Cartoons provements that made the characters in his draw- ings appear to be going through a performance on a miniature stage. He called his new con- trivance the theatre praxinpscope. This new me- chanism, was fixed in a box before which was Z7\ THE THEATBB PBAXINOSCOPE. placed a mask-Uke section to represent a pro- scenium. Another addition in front of this had a rectangular peep-hole and small cut-out units of stage scenery that were reflected on the surface of a glass inserted into the proscenium opening. Not satisfied with this toy theatre, Reynaud's The Beginning of Animated Drawings 29 PROJECTION PRAXINOSCOPE. (After picture in La Nature, 1882.) next step was to combine with the praxinoscope, condensers, lenses, and an illuminant with which to project the images on a screen, so that spec- tators in an auditorium could see the illusion. A more intricate mechanism, again, was later devised by Reynaud. This was his optical theatre in which there was used an endless band of grad- uated drawings depicting a rather long panto- mimic story. It, of course, was an enlargement of the idea of the simple early form of praxinoscope with its strip of paper containing the drawings. But this optical theatre had such a complication of mirrors and lenses that the projected Kght reached the screen somewhat diminished in il- luminating power, and the pictures were con- sequently dimmed. 30 Animated Cartoons From the time of the invention of the thauma- trope in 1826, and throughout the period when the few typical machines noted above were in use, drawings only in graduated and related series, were applied in the production of the illusion of movement. OPTICAL THEATRE OP REYNAUD. (After picture in Im Nature, 1892.) Drawings, too, were first employed for a little optical novelty in book-form, introduced about 1868, called the kineograph. It consisted of a number of leaves, with drawings on one side, firmly bound along an edge. The manner of its manipula,tion was to cause the leaves to flip from The Beginning of Animated Drawings 31 under the thumb while the book was held in the hands. The pictures, all of a series depicting some action of an entertaining subject, passed quickly before the vision as they slipped from under the thumb and give a con- tinuous action of the particular subject of the kineograph. Now when the camera began to be employed in taking pictures of figures in action, one of the first uses made of such pictures was to put a series of them into the book-form so as to give, by this simple method of sallowing the leaves to flip from under the thumb, the visional decep- tion of animated photographs. THE KirrEOGEAPH. THE GENESIS OF MOTION-PICTURES CHAPTER II THE GENESIS OF MOTION-PICTURES ALTHOUGH the possibilities of taking pic- '- tures photographically was known as early as the third decade of the nineteenth century, drawings only were used in the many devices for rendering the illusion of movement. In the preceding chapter in which we have given a brief historj'- of the early efforts of synthesizing related pictures, typical examples of such instruments have been given. But the pictorial elements used in them were always drawings. It was not until 1861 that photographic prints were utilized in a machine to give an appearance of life to mere pictures. This machine was that of Mr. Coleman Sellers, of Philadelphia. His instrument brought stereoscopic pictures into the Une of vision in turn where they were viewed by stereoscopic lenses. Not only did this arrange- ment show movement by a blending of related pictures but procured an effect of relief. 35 36 Animated Cartoons It is to be remembered that in the days of Mr. Sellers, photography did not have among its means any method of taking a series of pictures on a length of film, but the separate phases of a move- U.5 Pat. No.31357. Feb. 5. 1661 PLAN OP THE APPARATUS OF COLEMAN SELLERS FOR GIV- ING THE ILLtJSION OF LIFE TO A SERIES OF PHOTOGRAPHS. ment had to be taken one at a time on plates. The ribbon of sensitized film, practical and de- pendable, did not come until more than twenty- five years later. Its introduction into the craft was coincident with the growth of instantaneous photography. The Genesis of Motion-Pictures 3/ When scientists began to study movement with the aid of instantaneous photographs, they quite naturally cared less for synthesizing the pictorial results of their investigations than they did for merely observing and recording exactly how movement takes place. At first diagrams and drawings were used by students of movement to fix in an understandable way the facts gained by their inquiries. In Eng- land, for instance, Mr. J. Bell Pettigrew (1834- 1908) illustrated his works with a lot of carefully made diagrammatic pictures. He made many in- teresting observations on locomotion and gave much attention to the movement of flying crea- tures, adding some comment, too, on the pos- sibihty of artificial flight. Again in Paris, M. E. J. Marey (whose work is to be considered a little farther on) embellished his writings with charts and diagrams that were made with the aid of elaborate apparatus for the timing of animals in action and the marking of their footprints on the ground. Then he traced, too, by methods that involved much labor and patience, the trajectory of a bird's wing. And in his continued searching out of the principles 38 Animated Cartoons of flight registered by ingenious instruments the wing-movements in several kinds of insects. In our first chapter no instructions were given as to how animated cartoons are made. And although this is the specific purpose of the book, we must again in this chapter refer but slightly to the matter, as there is need that we first devote some time to chronicling the early efforts in solving animal movements by the aid of photography. Then we must touch, too, upon the modes of the synthesis of analytic photographs for the pur- pose of screen projection. Both these matters are pertinent to our theme : the animated screen artist makes use of instan- taneous photographs for the study of movement, and the same machine that projects the photo- graphic film is also used for the animated cartoon film made from his drawings. What appears to have been the first use of photographs to give a screen synthesis in an au- ditorium, was that on an evening in February, 1870, at the Academy of Music, in Philadelphia. It was an exhibition given by Mr. Hen^ II. Heyl, of his phasmatrope. He showed on a screen, life- sized figures of dancers and acrobats in motion. The Genesis of Motion-Pictures 39 The pictures were projected, with the aid of a magic-lantern, from photographs on thin glass plates that were placed around a wheel which was made to rotate. A "vibrating shutter" cut off the light while one photograph moved out of the way, and another came in to take its place. The wheel had spaces for eighteen photographs. It was so planned that those of one set could be taken out and those of another slipped in to change a subject for projection. The photographs used in the phasmatrope were from posed models; a certain number of which were selected to form a cycle so that the series could be repeated and a continuous per- formance be given by keeping the wheel going. At this period there were no pliant sensitized ribbons to take a sequence of photographs of a movement, and Heyl had to take them one at a time on glass plates by the wet collodion process. A notable point about this early motion-picture show was that it was quite like one of our day, for according to Heyl, in his letter to the Journal of the Franklin Institute, he had the orchestra play appropriate music to suit the action of 40 Animated Cartoons the dancers and the grotesqueries of the acro- bats. Better known in the fields of the study of move- ment and that of instantaneous photography and pictorial synthesis are M. Marey, already men- tioned (1830-1904), and his contemporary, Mr. E. Muybridge (1830-1904). While Marey conducted his inquiries in Paris, Muybridge pursued his studies in San Franscisco and Philadelphia. Marey, who in the beginning recorded the changes and modification of attitudes in move- ment by diagrams and charts, later used diagrams made from photographs and then photographs themselves. He studied the phases of movement from a strictly scientific standpoint, in human beings, four-footed beasts, birds, and nearly all forms of life. And he did not neglect to note the speed and manner of moving of inorganic bodies, such as falling objects, agitated and whirl- ing threads. Muybridge, on the other hand, seemed to have a trend toward the educational, in a popular sense of the word; and had a faculty of giving his works a pictorial quality. He showed this in the choice of his subjects and the devising of machines 00 m -' s •a a ■d ■s S3 « Eh 00 o s c3 ^' g ■* ■^ 3 u 2 19 3 fa If Ct-I O o > O o g« as .S . {A ^ .2 S 2 'S o .ad b Q, §8 P4 The Genesis of Motion-Pictures 41 that combined his photographs somewhat suc- cessfully in screen projection. In Muybridge's first work in which he photo- graphed a horse in motion, he used a row of cameras in front of which the horse proceeded. The horse in passing before them, and coming before each particular camera, broke a string con- nected with its shutter. This in opening exposed the plate and so pictured the horse at that mo- ment, and in the particular attitude of that mo- ment. This breaking of a string, optening of a shutter, and so on, took place before each camera. Muybridge in his early work used the collodion wet plate, a serious disadvantage. Later he had the convenience of the sensitized dry plate and was also able to operate the cameras by motors. When Marey began to employ a camera in his researches he registered the movements of an entire action on one plate; while Muybridge's way was to take but one phase of an action on one plate. The two men differed greatly in their objects and methods. Marey in his early experi- ments, at least, traced on one plate or chart the successive changes in attitudes of limbs or parts, or the positions of certain fixed points on his 42 Animated Cartoons models. But Muybridge procured single but related pictures of attitudes assumed by his sub- jects in a connected and orderly sequence. The latter method lent itself more readily to adapta- tion for the projecting lantern and so became popularly appreciated. Perhaps it is for this reason that Muybridge has been referred to as the father of the motion-picture. The photographic gun was Marey's most novel camera. With this he caught on a glass plate the movements of flying birds. This instrument was suggested by a similar one used by M. Janssen, the astronomer, in 1874, to make a pho- tographic record of the transit of a planet across the sun's disk. The kineograph, mentioned at the beginning Bdiprel contaiRing laftS Breech holding sensitized Plata and laachanism to turn '.|t MAREY'S PHOTOGRAPHIC GUN. The Genesis of Motion-Pictures 43 of this chapter, by which the illu- sion of motion was given to a series of pictures arranged like a book, formed the basic idea for a number of other popular cointrivances. One of these was the mutoscope, in which the leaves were fast- ened by one edge to an axis in such a way that they stood out like spokes. The machine in opera- tion brought one leaf for a moment at rest under the gaze of the eye and then al- lowed it to snap away to expose another picture in its place. When this was viewed in its turn, it also disappeared to make way for the next in order. As yet experimenters were not altogether sure in what particular way to combine a series of graduated pictures so as to produce one living image. Besides the ways that have been ex- PLAN OF LUMIEBE'S KINOBA. An apparatus similar in principle to the mutoscope. 44 Animated Cartoons emplified in the apparatus so far enumerated, some experimenters tried to put photographs around the circumference of a large glass disk somewhat on the order of the phenakistoscope. Heyl's phasmatrope, of 1870, was on this order. On this plan of a rotating disk, Muybridge constructed his zoopraxiscope by which he pro- jected some of his animal photographs. Another expedient tried by some one was that of putting a string of minute pictures spirally on a drum which was made to turn in a hehx-hke fashion. The pictures were enlarged by a lens and brought into view back of a shutter that worked inter- mittently. Although the dry plate assuredly was a great improvement over the slow and troublesome old-fashioned wet plate, there was felt the need of some pliant material that could be sensitized for photography and that could furthermore be made in the form of a ribbon. The suitableness of the paper strips for use in the zootrope and the praxinoscope obviously demonstrated the advantages of an elongated form on which to put a series of related pictures. Experiments were made to obtain a pliant The Genesis of Motion-Pictures 45 ribbon for the use. Transparent paper was at one time tried but found unadaptable. Event- ually the celluloid film came into use, and it is this material that is now generally in use to make both the ordinary snap-shot film and the "film stock" for the motion-picture industry. Edison's kinetoscope of 1890, or more partic- ularly its improved form of 1893, that found imme- diate recognition on its exhibition at the Word's Fair at Chicago, was the first utilization on a large scale of the celluloid film for motion-pic- tures. It is to be remarked, however, that in the kinetoscope the pictures were viewed, not on a screen in an auditorium by a number of people, but by one person at a time peering through a sight opening in the apparatus. It was the kinetoscope, it appears, that set others to work devising ways of using celluloid bands for projecting pictures on a screen. While some inventors were busy in their efforts to construct workable apparatus both for photog- raphy and projection, others were endeavoring to better the material for the film and improve the photographic emulsion covering it. There is no need in this book, in which we shall 46 Animated Cartoons Sight opaning Pulley LigM - Reflector Endless band OP film. contairang the p!cfui>«s Receptacle t^d^lSlivg alum, solution to absopb he^kt pays Reel driven by a motor" Rollers Rdl leps PLAN OF EDISON'S FIRST KINETOSCOPB. Modified team the Patent OfBce drawing. try to explain the making of animated screen drawings, to recount the whole story of the pro- gressive improvements of the machines used in the motion-picture industry. But a short notice of the present-day appliances will not be out of place. The three indispensable pieces of mechanism are the camera, the projector, and the printer, or apparatus that prints pictures photographically. All three in certain parts of their construction The Genesis of Motion-Pictures 47 are similar in working principles. The mechanical arrangements of the camera and projector espe- cially are so much alike that some of the first apparatus fabricated were used both for photog- raphy and projection. A few early types of cameras served even for printers as well. The essential details of the three machines named above can be described briefly as follows: (1) A camera has a light-tight compartment with- in which a fresh strip of film passes and stops intermittently back of a lens that is focussed on a subject, a rotating shutter with an open and an opaque section makes the exposure. (When the strip of film is developed it is known as the negative.) (2) A printer pulls the negative, to- gether with a fresh strip of film in contact with it, into place by an intermittent mechanism before a strong Ught. A rotating shutter flashes the light on and off. (The new piece of film, when it is developed and the pictures are brought out, is known as the positive.) (3) The projector moves the positive film by an intermittent mechanism between a light and a lens; a rotating shutter, with open and opaque sections, alternately shuts the light off and on. When the Hght rays are 48 Animated Cartoons allowed to pass the pictures contained on the positive film are projected on the screen. It seems unnecessary, perhaps, in these days of the ubiquity of snap-shot cameras, and the fact that nearly every one becomes acquainted with their manipulation, to mention that a photo- SHUTTER SUBJECT Vresh unexposed film lUUMINANT CAMERA SCREEN SHUTTER / POSITIVE FILM CONDENSER PRINCIPLES OP THE PROJECTOK AND THE MOTION- PXCTUBB CAMERA COMPARED. graphic negative records the light and shade of nature negatively, and that a positive print is The Genesis of Motion-Pictures 49 one that gives a positive representation of such light and shade. A motion-picture camera of the most approved pattern is an exceedingly complicated and finely adjusted instrument. Its principle of operation can be understood easily if it is remembered that it is practically a snap-shot camera with the ad- dition of a mechanism that turns a revolving A NEGATIVE. A POSITIATB PRINT. shutter and moves a length of film across the exposure field, holds it there for an interval while the photographic impression is made, and then moves it away to continue the process until the desired length of film has been taken. This movement, driven by a hand-crank, is the same as that of a projector — previously explained — namely, an intermittent one. This is effected in a variety of ways. The method in many instruments is an alternate one of the going back and forth of a pair of claw-levers 50 Animated Cartoons PLAN OF A MOTION-PICTUKE CAMERA. A. Film. B. Top loop to allow for the pulling down of the film during the intermittent movement. C. Magazine to hold the blank film. D. Maga^ zine to hold the exposed film. E. Claw device which pulls down the film three-quarters of an inch for each picture. F. Sprocket-wheels. O. Ex- posure field. H. Focusing-tube. I. Eye-pieoe for focusing . J. Shutter. K. Lens. L. Film gate. that during one such motion draw the film into place by engaging the claws into perforations on the margins of the film. The patterns of the shutters in camera and projector differ. That of the projector is three or two parted, as stated in our observations pre- viously made. A camera shutter is a disk with an open section. The area of this open section can be varied to fit the light conditions. The Genesis of Motion-Pictures 51 The general ^actice relative to taking motion- pictuTes is to ha,ve one-half foot of film move along for each turn of the camera handle. Eight separate pictures are made on this one-half foot of film. But in a camera that the animated cartoon artist uses, but one turn of the handle for each picture is the method. In most cameras the gearing can be changed to operate either way. To photograph drawings in making animated films a good reliable instrument is necessary, and requirements to the purpose should be thought of in selecting one. One important matter that may be mentioned here is that there TYPES OF CAMERA AND PBOJEOTOR SHUTTERS. should be an easy way of focussing the scene. Generally in taking topical pictures and views, an outside finder and a graduated scale for dis- tance and other matters is made use of, but for 52 Animated Cartoons drawings it is essential to be able to focus on a suitable translucent surface within the exposure field in the camera. There are certain numerical formulas that those going into motion-picture work should learn at the start. It is well, too, for the general reader, even if he is interested only as a matter of information to take note of them. Their com- prehension will help to a better understanding of how both the ordinary photographic film, and the film from animated drawings, are made, pre- pared, and shown on the screen. As the ordinary phrase goes, any single sub- ject in film form is spoken of as a reel; but in strict trade usage the word means a length of one thousand feet. As it is generally reckoned, sixty feet of film pass through the projecting ma- chine every minute. This means that a reel of one thousand feet will take about seventeen min- utes. Now with ^xty feet of film crossing the path of light in one minute, we see that one foot hurries across in one second. And as sixteen little pictures are contained in one foot of film, we get an idea of the great number of such separate pictures in a reel of ordinary length. The Genesis of Motion-Pictures 53 All these particulars — especially that regarding the speed at which the film moves — are vital matters for the animated cartoon artist to keep in mind as he plans his work. ONE FOOT OF FILM PA55ES THROUGH THE PHPJECTOa IN ONE 5EC0ND MAKING ANIMATED CARTOONS CHAPTER III MAKING ANIMATED CARTOONS IN the preceding chapter the attention was called to the fact that a foot of film passes through the projector in one second, and that in each foot there are sixteen pictures, or frames, within the outlines of which the photographic images are found. When a camera man sets up his apparatus before a scene and starts to operate the mechanism, the general way is to have the film move in the camera at this same rate of speed; to wit, one foot per second. As each single turn of the camera handle moves only one-half of a foot of film, the camera man must turn the handle twice in one second. And one of the things that he must learn is to appraise time durations so ^accurately that he will turn the handle at this speed. The animated cartoon artist, instead of using real people, objects, or views to take on his film, must make a number of related drawings, on every one of which there must be a change in a proper, 57 58 Animated Cartoons progressive, and graduated order. These drawings are placed under a camera and photographed in their sequence, the film developed and the re- sultant negative used to make a positive film. This is used, as we know, for screen projection. All the technical and finishing processes are the same whether they are employed in making the usual reel in which people and scenes are used, or animated cartoon reels from drawings. When it is considered that there are in a half reel (five hundred feet, the customary length for a comic subject) exactly eight thousand pictures, with every one — theoretically — different, it seems like an appalling job to make that number of separate drawings for such a half reel. But an artist doesn't make anywhere near as many drawings as that for a reel of this length, and of all the talents required by any one going into this branch of art, none is so important as that of the skill to plan the work so that the lowest possible number of drawings need be made for any particular scenario. "Animator" is the special term appUed to the creative worker in this new branch of artistic endeavor. Besides the essential qualification of Making Animated Cartoons 59 bestowing life upon drawings, he must be a man of many accomplishments. First as a scenario is always written of any screen story no matter whether serious, educational, or humorous, he must have some notion of form; that is to say, he must know what good composition means in putting components together in an orderly and proportional arrangement. If the subject is an educational one he must have a grasp of pedagogical principles, too, and if it is of a humorous nature, his appreciation of a comic situation must be keen. And then with the terrifying prospect confront- ing him of having to make innumerable drawings and attending to other incidental artistic details before his film is completed, he must be an untir- ing and a courageous worker. His skill as a mana- ger comes in when planning the whole work in the use of expedients and tricks, and an economy of labor in getting as much action with the use of as few drawings as possible. Besides the chief animator, others, such as assistant animators, tracers, and photographers, are concerned in the production of an animated film from drawings. 60 Animated Cartoons Comments on the writing of the scenario we do not need to go into now. Often the artist him- self writes it; but if he does not, he at least plans it, or has a share in its construction. Presuming, then, that the scenario has been written, the chief animator first of all decides on the portraiture of his characters. He will pro- ceed to make sketches of them as they look not only in front and profile views, but also as they appear from the back and in three-quarter views. It is customary that these sketches — his models, and really the dramatis personae, be drawn of the size they will have in the majority of the scenes. After the characters have been created, the next step is to lay out the scenes, in other words, plan the surroundings or settings for each of the different acts. The rectangular space of his drawings within which the composition is contained is about ten or eleven times larger than the little three-quarter-by-one-inch pictures of the films; namely, seven and one-half by ten inches, or eight and one-quarter by eleven inches. For some kinds of films — plain titles and "trick" titles — ^the making of which will be remarked upon further on — a larger field of about thirteen and one-half by eighteen inches is used. Making Animated Cartoons 61 Now with a huge pile of white linen paper cut to a uniform size of about nine by twelve inches, the animator apportions the work to the several assistant animators. The most important scene or action, of course, falls to his share. There are several ways of going about making animated cartoons, and trick titles, and these methods will be touched upon subsequently. But in the par- ticular method of making animated cartoons G12lSS fitted into pcctangulap opeaing in. the board The two pegistzping pcds Electric •ANIMATOR'S" DRAWING-BOARD. which we are describing now— that in which paper is the principal surface upon which the drawings are made in ink — all the workers make their drawings over a board that has a middle portion cut out and into which is fitted a sheet 62 Animated Cartoons of thick glass. Under this glass is fixed an electric light. On the board along the upper margin of the glass, there is fixed to the wood a bar of iron to which two pins or pegs are firmly fixed. These pegs are a little less than one-half inch high and distant from each other about five inches. It doesn't matter much what this distance is, ex- cepting this important point: all the boards in any one studio must be provided with sets of pegs that are uniform with respect to this distance between them. And all of them should be most accurately measured in their placing. Sometimes as an expedient, pegs are merely driven into the board at the required distance. These pegs are seven thirty-seconds of an inch in diameter. That the animator should use this particular size of pegs was determined, no doubt, by the fact that an article manufactured originally for perforating pages and sheets used in certain methods of bookkeeping was found available for his purposes. This perforator cuts holes exactly seven thirty-seconds of an inch in diameter. Each one of the sheets of paper from the huge pile spoken of above, before it is drawn upon, has two holes punched into one of its long edges at Making Animated Cartoons 63 A SHEET OF PERFORATED PAPER AND THE REGISTERING PEGS. the same distance apart as the distance between the two pegs fixed to the animator's drawing- board. Fitting one of these sheets of paper over the pegs, the artist-animator is ready for work. As the paper hes fiat over the glass set into the board, he can see the glare of the electric light under- neath. This illumination from below is to enable him to trace lines on a top sheet of paper from 64 Animated Cartoons lines on a second sheet of paper underneath; and also to make the slight variations in the several drawings concerned in any action. Now the reason for the pegs is this: as in an ordinary motion-picture film certain characters, as well as objects and other details are quiescent, and only one or a few characters are in action, so in an animated cartoon some of the figures, or details, are quiescent for a time. And as they stay for a length of time in the same place in the scene, their portrayal in this same place through- out the series of drawings is obtained by tracing them from one sheet to another. The sheets are held in place by the pegs and they insure the registering of identical details throughout a series. When the animator designs his setting, the stage scenery of any particular animated play, he keeps in mind the area within which his figures are going to move. Reasons for this will become apparent as the technic of the art is further ex- plained. The outline of his scene, say a back- ground, simply drawn in ink on a sheet of paper is fitted over the pegs. The light under the glass, as explained immediately above, shows through Making Animated Cartoons 65 it. Next a fresh sheet of paper is placed over the one with the scene, and as the paper is selected for its transparent qualities, as well as its adapt- ability for pen-drawing, the ink lines of the scene underneath are visible. Let us presume now, that the composition is to represent two men standing and facing each other and talking. They are to gesticulate and move their lips slightly as if speaking. (In the follow- ing description we will ignore this movement of the mouth and have it assumed that the artist is drawing this action, also, as he proceeds with the work.) The two men are sketched in some passive position, and the animation of one of the figures is started. With the key sketch of the men in the passive position placed over the light, a sheet of paper is placed over it and the extreme position of a gesticulating arm is drawn, then on another sheet of paper placed over the light the other extreme position of this arm ac- tion is drawn. Now, with still another sheet of paper placed over the others, the intermediate position of the gesture is drawn. As the man was standing on the same spot all the time his feet would be the same in all the drawings and 66 Animated Cartoons other parts of his figure would occupy the same place. But the animator does not draw these parts himself but marks the several sheets where they occur with a number, or symbol, that will be understood by one of his helpers — a tracer — as instructions to trace them. The other man in the picture, who all this time has been motionless, is also represented in all the drawings line for line as he was first drawn in the preliminary key sketch. This again is a job for the tracer. When the action of the second figure is made, the drawing of the three phases of movement in his arms is proceeded with in the same way, and the first figure is repeated in his passive position during the gesturing of the second man. It can be seen from this way of working in the division of labor between the animator and his helper that the actual toil of repeating monotonous details falls upon the tracer. The animator does the first planning and that part of the subsequent work requiring true artistic ability. So that the artists can see to do the work de- scribed above — tracing from one sheet of paper to another and distinguishing ink lines through two or more sheets of paper while they are over COMPLETE -SCENE 1^/ t^ -»"»»'^«* o A ILLUSTRATING THE GREAT AMOUNT OP DRAWING RE- QUIRED IN ANIMATING A SCENE WITHOUT THE HELP OF TRANSPARENT CELLULOID. 67 68 Animated Cartoons the illuminated glass — the expedient is adopted of shading the work-table from the glare of strong daylight. In this typical process of depicting a simple , action, or animating a figure, as it is called, we have left out specific explanations for drawing the details of the scenery — trees, foreground, or what- ever is put into the composition as an accessory. They go into a finished composition, to be sure. One way would be to trace their outlines on each and every sheet of paper. It is a feasible way but not labor-saving. There is a much more convenient way than that. In beginning this exposition on animation it was noted that the artist in designing the scenery gave some thought to the area within which his figures were placed, or were to act. He planned when he did this, that no part of the components of the scenery should interfere by crossing lines with any portions of the figures. The reason for this will be apparent when it is explained that the scenery is drawn on a sheet of transparent celluloid. Then when the celluloid with its scenery is placed over one of the drawings it completes the picture. The celluloid sheet has also two Making Animated Cartoons 69 perforations that fit over the pegs, and it is by their agency that its details are made to corre- spond with the drawings on paper. And it can further be understood that tJhis single celluloid sheet will complete, if it is designed properly, the pictorial composition of every one of the drawings. (A sheet of this substance that we are referring to now is known in the craft as "a celluloid" or shortened sometimes to "cell.") The employment of celluloid can be extended to save other work in tracing parts of figures that are in the same position, or that are not in action throughout several drawings. In this case a second celluloid will be used in conjunction with that holding the scenery. To exempKfy: In giving an account of the drawing of the arm gestures in the instance above, it was noted that an animator drew the action only while he had a tracer com- plete on all the drawings the parts that did not move. Now, to save the monotony of all this, the tracer takes celluloid and draws the similarly placed quiet parts on it but once. This celluloid is used during the photography with the several action phases to complete the picture of the figure, or figures. 70 Animated Cartoons A matter that the animator should guard against, however, in having several celluloids over his drawings, during the photography, is that they will impart a yellowish tinge to his white paper underneath if he uses more than two or three. This would necessitate care in timing the exposure correctly as a yeUow tint has non-actinic Scenery, drawn on celliiloid, used with the elements on the opposite page. qualities that make its photography an uncertain element. The methods so far described of making draw- ings for animated films are not complex and are easy to manage. For effective animated scenes, many more drawings are required and the adapta- tion of celluloids is not always such an easy matter as here described. For complete films of ordinary length, the drawings, celluloids, and other items — expedients or ingenious devices to help the work — ^number into the hundreds. » !ii||it,iiiii'i""' •^Ihii B^ ON CCLt-ULCXD- ■o -a y ON CELLULOID ^Sm t2^' t ILLUSTRATING THE SAVING OF TIME AND LABOR IN MAK- ING USE OF THE EXPEDIENT OP DRAWING THE STILL PARTS ON CELLULOID SHEETS. 71 72 Animated Cartoons We will use, however, our few drawings and celluloids that we have completed to explain the subsequent procedure in the making of animated cartoons; namely, the photographic part of the process. A moving-picture camera is placed on a frame- work of wood, or iron, so that it is supported over a table top or some like piece of carpentry. It is placed so that it faces downward with the lens centred on the table. The camera is arranged for a "one picture one turn of the crank" move- ment, and a gearing of chain belts and pulleys, to effect this, is attached to the camera and frame- work. This gearing is put into motion by a turn- ing-handle close to where the photographer is seated as he works before the table top where the drawings are placed. Each time the handle is turned but one picture, or one-sixteenth of a foot of film, is moved into the field back of the lens where the exposure is made. The view or studio camera, as we know, when a complete turn of the crank handle is made, moves eight pictures, or one-half of a foot of film, into position. On the table directly under the lens and at Making Animated Cartoons 73 the proper distance for correct focussing, a field is marked out exactly that of the field that was used in making the drawings. Two registering pegs are also fastened relatively to the field as those on all the drawing-boards in the studio. Over the field, but hinged to the table top so that it can be moved up and down, a frame holding a clear sheet of glass is placed. The glass must be fitted closely and firmly in the frame, as it is intended to be pressed down on the drawings while they are being photographed. Wood serves the purpose very well for these frames. A metal frame would seem to be the most practical, but if there is in its constructon the least inequality of surface where glass and metal touch, the pres- sure put upon the frame in holding the drawings down is liable to crack the glass. With wood, as there is a certain amount of give, this is not so likely to happen. Considering now that the camera has been filled with a suitable length of blank film and properly threaded in and out of the series of wheels that feed it to the intermittent mechanism, and then wind it up into its proper receptacle, we can proceed with the photography. 74 Animated Cartoons The pioneers in the art who first tried to make animated cartoons and similar film novelties at- tempted the photography by dayhght. Their results were not very good, for they were much handicapped by the uncertainty of the hght. Nowadays the Cooper Hewitt mercury vapor light is used almost exclusively. The commonest method of fighting is to fix a tube of this illumi- nant on each side of the camera above the board, but so placed that fight rays do not go slantingly into the lens, or are caught by any pofished sur^ face, and so cause reflected fights that interfere with the work. To get the exact position of the light for an even filumination over the field means a fittle prefiminary experiment. In looking over the material for our little film we find that we have but a few drawings and celluloids. Now, if we were to photograph them and give each drawing one exposure — one pic- ture, or section on the film for each drawing — we should get a length of film not even a foot long, and the time on the screen not even lasting a second, but an insignificant result for so much work. Here at this stage of the work the able animator must exercise his talents in getting as Making Animated Cartoons 75 much film as possible, i. e., "footage," out of his few drawings. To begin : The first drawing in which the men ARRANGEMENT OF BOARD, PEGS, AND HINGED FRAME WITH GLASS. (For Its position under the camera, see engraving on page 203.) A per- forated sheet of paper holding a drawing Is fitted oyer the pegs and the firame lowered. are quiescent is fitted over the pegs; but the pic- ture is not complete until the celluloid with the scenery is also fitted over the pegs. When this is pirt in place and the frame with the glass is pressed down it is ready for photography. The first figures will not begin to geniculate imme- diately — no, a certain time is necessary for the audience to appreciate — have enter into their con- 76 Animated Cartoons sciousness — that the picture on the screen rep- resents two men fa'cing each other and about to carry on a conversation. Therefore the drawing showing the men motionless is photographed on about two or three feet of film. This will give on the screfen just so many seconds — ^two or three — ^for the mental grasping by the audience of the particulars of the pictorial composition. Next to show the first figure going through his move- ments we lift the framed glass and take off the celluloid with the scenery and the paper with the two men motionless. Now we put down over the pegs the sheet of paper with one of the ex- treme positions of the moving arms, and then as that is all there is on the paper we must, to complete the portrayal, place over it the celluloid with the rest of his figure. (This celluloid also holds the complete drawing of the other individual as he is motionless during the action of the first one.) Next the entire composition is completed by putting down the scenery celluloid. Then when the framed glass is lowered and pressed down so that everything presents an even sur- face, the picture is photographed. After two Making Animated Cartoons 77 turns of the handle — ^photographing it on two sections of the film — the frame is raised and the celluloids and the drawing are both taken oflf of the pegs. The photographing of the second or intermediate position is proceeded with in the same way. After this the third or other extreme phase of the action is photographed. The photographer is continued by taking the intermediate phase again, then the first position, then back to the intermediate one, and so on. The idea is to give a gesticulating action to the figure by using these three drawings back and forth in their order as long as the story seems to warrant it. It is not to be forgotten that the celluloid with the scenery is used every time the different action phases are photographed. The same procedure will be followed with the celluloid and drawings of the other figure, only before beginning his action a little extra footage can be eked out by giving a slight dramatic pause between the ending of the first man's gesticulat- ing and the beginning of that of the other one. By this is meant that the first scene with the 78 Animated Cartoons' men motionless is taken on a short length of film. In a little incident of this sort, dialogue, of course, is required to help tell the point of the story. This is effected by putting the wording on a separate piece of paper — balloons, they are called — for each case and placing it over the de- sign somewhere so that it will not cover any important part of the composition. The neces- BALLOONS. sary amount of film for one of these balloons with its lettering is determined by the number of seconds that it takes the average spectator to read it. It is by the interjection of these balloons with their dialogue that an animator, in comic themes, can Making Animated Cartoons 79 get a considerable length of film from a very few drawings. After the photography is finished the exposed film is taken out of the camera and sent to the laboratory for development. CELLULOID CEU-HLOID Three elements when fitted over the pegs complete the scene above. 80 FURTHER DETAILS ON MAKING ANIMATED CARTOONS CHAPTER IV FURTHER DETAILS ON MAKING ANIMATED CARTOONS ONE of the inspiriting things about this new art of making drawings for animated car- toons is that it affords such opportunities for a versatile worker to exercise his talents. A true artist dehghts in encountering new problems in connection with his particular branch of work. The very fact that he selects as his vocation some art activity, rather than employment that is mechanical, evinces this. In making drawings for animated films and in following the whole process of their making, the artist will find plenty of scope for his ingenuity in the devising of expedients to advance and finish the work. The first animated screen drawings were made without the labor and time-saving resources of the celluloid sheet. As has been explained, it holds the still parts of a scene during the photog- raphy. The employment of this celluloid is now 83 84 Animated Cartoons in common usage in the art. It is found an ex- pedient in various way^; sometimes to hold part only of a pictorial composition as in the method touched upon in the preceding chapter where ink drawings are made on paper; or, again, in an- other method to be used instead of paper, to hold practically all of the picture elements. By this latter method, in which a pigment is also put on the transparent material, the projected screen image is in graduated ton^ giving the appearance of a monochrome drawing. Animators sometimes are released from the irksomeness of making the innumerable drawings for certain cases of^ movement, as that of an ob- ject crossing the picture field from one side to the other, by using little separate drawings cut out in silhouette. It is an airplane, as an instance, we will say, that is to fly across the sky. For this, the air- plane will be drawn but once on a piece of thin cardboard, finished in light and shade and then carefully cut out around its contour so that it will be like a flattened model. This model, specif- ically spoken of as a "cut-out," is pushed over the background under the camera and photo- « s w ■rl d S H i>. s ^ « 3 h a s H fl P S O E.4 B ? ■S U o >. O .!='S a H X! ^ 43 H ■«1 C cfl p; -1 a H ^a ^ =:.■ i H II a 8 3 Cm o hH C s- ffl u t- d A ^■^ i' O »8 0-S 3 O 43 t8 1^ 11 a o « t 4S be o as ■a hti §-s tJ a ?^ S-r. si '^ a II o ^ " M a jD • h ft §1 k * y, 1-^ •Ss o gl O 3 o OS ■g s > S ^ ■ < h T3 m gOJ .§■£ g » 11 a-" II II ^« 1* o IS -£5 Si) 4>' ^ 03 ^ o ™ -^ Och ^ A cycle of three drawings Is siifBcient to give a vivid representation of the puffing exhaust from an automobile. Little happenings that form part of a general scene are managed, as a rule, too, by cycles of drawings or cycles of details in a drawing. To specify a few things, we may cite puffs of vapor from an automobile, steam pouring out of the spout of a teakettle, and smoke from a chimney. 162 Animated Cartoons Vapor, steam, and smoke are best represented by pigment, as hard ink contours are not exactly- suited for such elements of a pictorial composi- tion. But such elements defined by ink lines in a comic drawing are, of course, excusable. Some- times to show smoke moving where the drawings are all on paper, representing it by crayon-sauce with a stump has been found to be effective. If an artist is picturing in a comic cartoon the firing of a cannon, he indicates a globular pro- jectile leaving the cannon's mouth. The artist does not do this because of any scrupulous care in picturing reaUty but merely that it seems in keeping with the idea of vivid comic deUneation. In producing the appearance of a cannon-ball following its trajectory off into the far distance he takes heed of the law of perspective that re- quires an object to become visionally smaller as it nears the horizon. This animation is easily AN EXPLOSION. Inanimate Things in Movement 163 managed. A certain number of models of the missile are cut out of thin cardboard graduated in size from the first that leaves the cannon's mouth to the smallest for the distance. They are used by putting one at a time in their propor- tionate places under the camera in connection with the other work during the photography. Not many of these models would be required, as the action is so rapidly represented that almost any sort of illusive effect will do for the purpose. According to the popular idea, every comic scenario should provide for some cataclysmic chmax in which the entire picture area, or a large part of it, is to be filled with the graphic symbols denoting an explosion or any sudden occurrence or mishap. Such things for the animator are not hard. Then radiating lines, exclamation-points, zig- zagging lines, and similar whimsical markings — THE FINISHING STROKE OF SOME FARCICAL SITUATION. PIANO PRACTICE. A. General effect of the animation. B. Fart of the design which is drawn on the transparent celluloid. Below: Three separate drawings, used in sequence, with the design on the stationary celluloid. 164 Inanimate Things in Movement 165 shorthand signs emphasizing the comic note — are ideographs of expression that the animator de- lights to put into his work. Besides their forcible- ness, they add variety to the film. But bits of dramatic business like these should Tbeae three drawings are used in sequence and repeated as long as the particular effect that they give is desired. be used in moderation and in tteir proper places and always at the right time. Besides, being easily drawn, their accomplishment on the film presents no diflBculties. The several methods by which they can be produced are: (1) To arrange their components 166 Animated Cartoons in cycles; (2) drawing them in their order under the camera and photographing progressively; (3) have little cut-out pieces to move about under the camera and photographed at each place that they have been moved to. Take for instance such a nonsensical conceit <^. A CONSTELLATION. The fovir simple elements above give on the screen the lively animation indicated by the lower sketch. as that of having a constellation of stars encircling a dazed man's head. This could be made by having (1) a cycle of drawings for the effect; or (2) drawing it progressively under the camera over a piece of celluloid; or, again, (3) by having a number of little stars cut out of paper and Inanimate Things in Movement 167 The simple elements, 1, 2, and 3, are used with sketch B to give the screen effect shown in A. moved around and manipulated the same as other cut-out models. One can see from all these particulars that mak- ing animated cartoons is not always a matter of 168 Animated Cartoons drawings pure and simple. The animator would make very little progress if he were to refuse to take advantage of any proper expedients or tricks to accelerate his work. The animator, as weU as the comic graphic artist, makes use of signs to elucidate the story. MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS IN MAKING ANIMATED SCREEN PICTURES CHAPTER VIII MISCELLANEOUS MATTERS IN MAKING ANIMATED SCREEN PICTURES TV yfANY of the striking ways of telling in- -^*-'- cidents of an animated cartoon put one in mind of the pictorial symbols of primitive man. An example is that of a vision appearing above the head of some one in doubt or in a revery. Then there is the miniature scene floating over a sleeper to tell that of which he is dreaming. These and other similar forms are supplementary ways of explaiming incidents in a screen story. They are also used in the regular photographic film; but they are specifically typical of the animated cartoon. They are amusing additions to a film that are certain to please whether used to apprise the audience of what is going on in the character's mind, or to explain the dream of a sleeper as he lies abed. There are several modes of creating any of 171 172 Animated Cartoons these effects. The usual way would be that of having the quiescent part, say it is a sleeper, limned on the celluloid; and the details of the moving part, say the vision, on three or five sheets of paper. Perhaps the humorist-artist wishes to make his picture a little bit more telling by indicating, with ^ appropriate onomatopoeic consonants, the sound of snoring. These additions can be drawn SYMBOLIC ANIMATION OF SNOKING. To effect this, the sleeper would be drawn on celluloid and the pictvires in the clouds on separate sheets of paper. while the photography is taking place on a blank celluloid sheet superimposed over all the draw- ings in a way explained in a preceding chapter. Symbols of musical notation and sound-imi- Making Animated Screen Pictures 173 -4 V ^ ' 1 j5* 1 snS* ^ Series of drawings marked A show the screen effect desired. Below: the elements representing it that are used with the simple component — on celluloid — marked B. tating words are often introduced into a screen picture. They can be made to dance in rhythm, or at haphazard, by drawing them in series of three or so, on celluloid sheets. These would be placed, one at a time, in their order over the gen- eral scene and repeated as long as desired. 174 Animated Cartoons The employment of balloons — they have been alluded to before — ^is a frequent one in comic screen work. They are the mouthpieces con- taining the dialogue of the characters. Their outline, more or less balloon-shaped, hovers over the heads of the speakers. The lines defining the balloons can come into the scene gradually in a lively way, and the dialogue itself can come in word by word. This latter scheme' itself suggests talking. When the first animated cartoons were pro- duced and an effect with balloons was intended, the artist thought that he was doing well enough if he showed the lettering and merely had the person supposed to be speaking standing mo- tionless. But now an artist who cares enough for his craft to put as much business into the scenes as possible will show tiie Ups moving and the arms gesticulating at the same time that the' letter- ing appears. There are innumerable things that the artist must think of while he is photographing his draw- ings, and one of the weighty ones is to have the lettering for any particular dialogue, or explana- tion, held long enough on the screen for it to be Making Animated Screen Pictures 175 read. Every studio has its own special rule as to the number of separate frames of a film to allow for a word. The only way to arrive at any con- clusion as to how much film to take for any sentence in a balloon, or on a title, is 'to have some one read it and then time this reading. In A "CLOSE-UP.' this way the artist will be able to tell how much to give any particular wording. He will be able, too, after a while, to formulate his own rule with regard to the matter. A favorite method of telling something, or to hint as to that which is to follow, is to have a 176 Animated Cartoons "Sy ^ ■f' character discovered reading a newspaper upon which the item explaining the matter shows in an exaggerated type. The design is usually en- closed within a circle with the outside space a solid black. There is no special reason for using this particular encircling design. It is a way often used. Technic- ally it is a good plan to employ this tele- scopic mat, as it may be called, as its forcible contrast of solid black margin breaks the monotony of the general uni- form photographic tone of the rest of the film. An amusing oc- currence sometimes brought into a story is that of having a man's hat fly from To vivify this on the screen, little ^^^ head into the air "model" hats are used during the „„j j photography. and come down upon ^~^\ ^<^ ife^y Making Animated Screen Pictures 177 his head again. Of course, the practical way of putting this on a length of film would be that of having a little cut-out dummy. The artist, how- ever, takes the trouble of making several dum- mies of the hat drawn in different views. A single dummy would show but a mere mechanical turn- ing, but by using several in different views, he gets a very good similitude of actuality in the wind twirling the hat around in a Kvely way. A little point to help the humor of the situation is that of having the hat hesitate, as it were, and give an extra spin immediately before it lands upon the head. It isn't always necessary for an artist to make a cycle or a series of drawings for a movement. For instance, he is showing a rather large face on the screen and it is intended that the eyes move. This could be effected by drawings, but there is a much simpler way. The places for the eyes on the main drawing are left blank and holes cut out the size of these blank spaces. On a nar- row piece of paper at the proper distance, two eyes are drawn. This paper, with the eyes, is slipped underneath the one with the drawing that has the eye spaces cut out. Now the ma- Animated Cartoons • <» "Ata^""™ • ' » > «m ■ CUT-OUT" EYES. nipulation of this paper, holding the eyes while in position under the face, is easy. The various posi- tions in which the eyes are placed, it is under- stood, will be photographed by the stop-motion method. The true artist, in keeping with his talent for creative work, will be disposed to devise helpful contrivances or expedients to Ughten irksome and monotonous details arising in this art. And in addition to the possession of this talent, and that of good draftsmanship, he must be quick in deciding on the best means of economizing labor, so that he can spend more time where thor- ough drawing is needed. He must, in short, in Making Animated Screen Pictures 179 any particular case, put in as much work as it requires and no more. By experience he will learn to know where to sUght — "slight" isn't ex- actly the word, but it will do — the drawing. With respect to this latter point, suppose there is some arm movement, with the arm swing- ing as it does in a hurried walk. Hands, it is cer- tain, are difficult details to draw, and if they are carefully rendered in all of the positions it would take a long time to draw the entire series. But the experienced animator has learned that at times he can, for some of the positions, every other one perhaps, make quickly lined marks indicative of hands. These quickly made lines, however, must be drawn in a way that will help the action. Exactly how to make them and to what extent to "sHght" them is learned only by long experience. For some quick actions, "in-between" drawings can be slighted as shown In numbers 2 and 4. 180 Animated Cartoons Often there is a question as to the number of drawings necessary for a movement. If a hand, for example, is to be moved from the side of the thigh to the head and then to touch the brim of the hat, one single position half-way between the 3 ILLUSTRATING THE NUMBER OP DRAWINGS REQUIRED FOR A MOVEMENT. Above : for a quick movement. Below: for a slower movement. two extreme ones may do for some swift action in a humorous cartoon, but if it is for a slower action it should have at least three positions be- tween the extremes. But it doesn't worry the skilled animator very much whether he makes three, five, or even more Making Animated Screen Pictures 181 drawings between the extreme positions of any gesture or action. Nevertheless, while the artist is making these arm movements he must put thought into the work. There is, for instance, a certain matter with respect to drawing the rela- tive axes of the segments of a limb that reqmres reflective attention. To be precise, suppose the action is to represent an arm moving from below and pointing with the index-finger skyward. Now, in any directly following phases of the movement the same degree of flexure at the articulations must not be present in the drawings. The whole arm as it hangs by the side, before the action begins, is nearly straight, with very little bending at either elbow or wrist. In moving it upward, it is not to be traced with this same relative straightness and same degree of joint angularity in all the positions. It would move then on the screen with the ungracefulness of an automaton. Instead, the several drawings should have the joints — elbow and wrist — at different degrees of flexure. Especially is this difference to vary from one drawing to a succeeding one, with the angle at the joint, just a little more, or just a little less. The whole matter can be best com- 182 Animated Cartoons prehended if the artist, before depicting this ac- tion, try it himself. Then he would see that if he moves the arm as if it were a rigid thing, only ILLUSTRATING A POINT IN ANIMATING A MOVING LIMB. Above: movlne automaton-like with no bending at the joints. Below: moving with various degrees of flexion at the joints. hinged at the shoulder, the movement would be false and not characteristic of a living organ- ism. The natural way is an unconstrained, easy bending movement. The animator in his draw- ings slightly emphasizes this manner of moving. Making Animated Screen Pictures 183 An artist shows his aptness for character delin- eation in the way in which he draws the views of a face for turning it from side to side. A graphic caricaturist of limited scope has a proneness for adhering to a few stencil patterns, in the matter of pose, for his characters. Front face, profile, and occasionally a three-quarter view make up his catalogue of facial picturing. The animator uses this delineatory trilogy, too, in the ordinary turning of the head from side to side. But he must be skilled, besides that of portraying a face in these views, in drawing it in any view. And a skill that is still more needed is that of being able to keep the portraiture of a character through- out any series of drawings. In tiiming the head from profile to ftill face, one drawing between the «ctremes is sufBcient for a quick moTement. But when It is desired that the action be "smoother" two more drawings are required. 184 Animated Cartoons To keep the features the same throughout a number of drawings it is found advantageous to spend a little more time in the preliminary plan- ning when creating the original sketch for the character. The idea is not so much to make a face that is easy to draw as to give it certain dis- tinguishing lineaments that are recognizable in the varying positions needed in animating it. Besides, when originating a face for frequent repetition in a cartoon, seeking one that can be drawn quickly and easily represented in any view facilitates the work of the tracers. A Uttle trick of comic graphic artists is that of making the features of a face in small circles, or somewhat roundish curves. This sort of thing is not conducive to good character drawing. The animator also uses these forms — ^round eyes, circle- like nose, and a circular twist in other parts of the features. Now in his case, this can be for- given, perhaps, when one considers the diflSculties of his art; for these particular forms are, as we shall try to explain immediately below, easy to copy and trace. As in caligraphy, unfixed and diverse in its qualities and pecuHarities, so with every individual in pen drawing, certain traits Making Animated Screen Pictures 185 occur in the strokes. In pen-and-ink draw- ing the more individual and distinctive the style, the harder it will be to copy or counterfeit it. But if the markings approach the geometric, definite and precise, then they are easily copied and imitated. This is why the little circles and similar curved markings are so frequently used in animated cartoons. There is nothing ambig- uous in the lineaments of a face made with saucer- like eyes, and a nose like a circle. Its peculiarities are quickly noticed, easily remembered, and traced with faciUty. As has been explained, an artist rarely finishes an entire set of drawings for a film without help, but has a staff of helpers. It can be well imder- stood, then, that an essential to success is that the members of this staff keep the same quality of line in all the drawings. One of the difficulties in a staff of helpers is that of keeping a uniform- ity of portraiture in the characters. And because the circTilar lineaments are easy to trace that is the reason why they are chosen to form the basis for the details of a face. There is a tendency in every one, even on the part of the author of the original model, to depart 186 Animated Cartoons Easily drawn circular farms and curves make for speed In animated car- toon work. from the first-planned type of face. The approved way of avoiding this is to have a set of sketches of the characters drawn on special sheets of paper that are to be used by all the workers to trace from. In a studio with numerous workers, all rushing to finish a five-hundred-foot reel in every week, it is the custom to have plates engraved from the original sketches and a number of copies printed, so that all may have a set. With these Making Animated Screen Pictures 187 printed copies it will then be merely a matter of having a steady hand and an ability to trace accurately from the copy on to a fresh sheet of paper placed over the illuminated glass of the drawing-board. No doubt, as it has been referred to so many times, it is clearly understood now what an im- portant part transparent celluloid plays in this art. It is employed not only to save the labor of reproducing a number of times the details of a scene, but also to help keep these details coin- cident, or uniform. In a face, there is a certainty that its lineaments will be the same if it is drawn but once on celluloid; but if it is copied each time on a long string of successive sheets of paper, there is a likelihood that it will vary and so give the lines on the screen an effect of wiggling about. There are many little matters of technic and rendering that arise in this art. For example, in making certain parts of a figure, say a coat, in solid black, it has been found best, instead of making it an absolute silhouette, to indicate by the thinnest of white lines the contours of the details. A sleeve, for instance, should be outlined with such a white line. This seems to be 188 Animated Cartoons a lot of trouble for so little, but, judged by the result on the screen, has been shown to be worth while. At this point we can touch upon the question of what is meant by "animation." An artist with little experience may make a series of move- ment phases for an action, but when the drawings are tested it is found that they do not animate; that is, give in synthesis the illusion of easy motion. It may be a matter of incorrect drawing, per- haps, or he may have the drawings nearly correct, but he has failed to make use of certain little tricks, or, shall we say, failed to observe certain dexterous points in the technic of the art? We will cite one little trick — humoring the vision, if one may put it this way: have a spot, or patch, of black repeated relatively in the same position throughout the series of a move- ment. An example is that of having the boots of a figure of a solid black. The eye catching the two black spots as they alternately go back and forth is deluded with respect to the forcible- ness of the animation even if the walking action is not as correctly drawn as it should be. An added effect is given to this illusory ruse if a tiny Making Animated Screen Pictures 189 high light is left on the toe of each black boot. The final test for drawings for animation is, it stands to reason, the result on the screen. One may, though, approximately find out whether or not any sequence of drawings animate by flapping them in a sort of way akin to the book-form kineograph novelty noted in a preceding chapter. Two immediately following drawings can be tested this way: with one hand they are held near one comer pressed against the drawing- board, then with the other hand the top drawing is moved rapidly up and down. In this way the two drawings are synthesized somewhat, and if the action is delineated correctly there will be some notion of the appearance on the screen. This little experiment crudely demonstrates the phenomenon of after-images and the operation typifies a simple synthesizing apparatus. A significant addition to a scene, if it is suited to the story and consistent with the general plan, •is to have some foreground detail in front of the moving figure, or figures. This sometimes con- sists of a rock, a clump of foliage, or a tree trunk. The contrast of the inertness in these details gives 190 Animated Cartoons an added force to the animating that takes place back of their mass. This feature of a picture is drawn on celluloid that is placed on top of the rest of the set having to do with the particular animation. It is pos- Foreground details of a pictorial composition help the animator in several ways. Their inertness, for one thing, affords a contrast to the moving figure. sible, though, for an artist, if he is dexterous, to fasten this inert foreground to the under-side of the glass in the frame which is pressed down over the drawings during the photography. The fore- ground feature, of course, is cut out in silhouette and fastened with an adhesive like rubber cement. Making Animated Screen Pictures 191 This cement is an article of great usefulness in a photographic studio; especially for temporary- use over drawings, as it can be easily rubbed off afterward by the friction of the finger-tips. Radically opposite in method to the scheme described above, in which an inert object helps the animation, is the panorama. In this screen illusion the figure, which is thought of as moving, occupies the same position; while the landscape, normally quiet, is in motion. Certainly we have all experienced the sensa- tion, when seated in a railway-train waiting for it to go, of suddenly imagining that it has started; when, in fact, it has not budged. This simply has happened: while occupied with thoughts not pertaining to our surroundings — perhaps read- ing — we casually caught sight of a moving train on an adjacent track, and as we were in the state of expectancy of at any moment being on the move, we immediately thought that our anticipa- tion had been fulfilled. Even if, in a moment or two, we reahze that our senses have deceived us, it is hard to shake off the first-formed de- lusion of being in motion. Now the screen panorama is a similar delusion. 192 Animated Cartoons We see near the centre of the screen a figure going through the motions of progression, but we know perfectly well that he is in the same place all the time. And we know that the landscape is drawn on a band of paper that is pushed along back of the figure. All our knowing does not help us. In spite of it the little figure spectrally advances and the landscape deceptively passes by as we know it does (visionally) when we ourselves are running very fast. The manner in which a panorama is produced is this: the landscape is drawn on a long strip of paper; this is to be moved httle by little and photographed at each place to which it has been moved. The figure that is to walk, or run, is drawn in the different phases of action on sheets of cellu- loid. These are placed in their order over the landscape during the photography. The sepa- rate drawings of the actions of the figure were drawn so that the bodies remained" relatively in the same place, but the limbs, or heads, varied in attitudes. The planning of the action in a figure for a panorama is proceeded with in the same way as that for producing a regular walk or run. One special care in the work, however, B.f'l m 193 194 Animated Cartoons is this: the limbs as they are sketched in their appropriate attitudes in the several drawings must not have identical outlines. That is, ex- plaining it in another way, if all of the set are placed together over the Ulumrnated tracing glass, no two drawings should correspond with respect to the positions of the limbs. The bodies in the drawings should exactly concur in position, but if some attention is given to the rise and fall of the trunk, as in a typical walk, the screen illusion will be very much better. Slightly shifting it up and down on a vertical would effect this. The band of paper with the landscape is moved in the direction opposite to that in which the figure is supposed to go. The photographer has many things to think of while he is putting this panorama effect on a film. He must move the landscape strip; some- times as little as one-sixteenth of an inch at a time; put a celluloid sheet with one of the phases of the action in place, get it in its proper order, and then turn the camera gearing to make the exposure. In some special cases he will have another matter to think of; namely, a second panorama strip to move, and at a different speed. Making Animated Screen Pictures 195 This is when he wishes to give a little better representation of verisimilitude than that produced by the single panorama strip. Far-off moving ob- jects, as we know, ap- pear to go slower than those that are close to us. We are aware of this in looking at a distant airplane high up in the sky that we know is going very fast but seems as though it is going very slowly. And at night an illu- minated railway-train in the valley below us, when we are on an elevation, seems to creep along like a snail. To bring it to pass that a panorama have the effect of near objects going faster than those that are distant, it is necessary to have two strips of ILLUSTRATING THE APPAR- ENT SLOWNESS OP A DIS- TANT MOVING OBJECT COMPARED TO ONE PASS- ING CLOSE TO THE EYE. 196 Animated Cartoons panorama detaik One strip will represent the foreground, which is to be moved much quicker, one-eighth of an inch, or so. A second strip will answer for the distance, which is moved, about one-sixteenth of an inch, or even less. If the foregrotmd strip is moved at rather wide in- tervals, the effect on the screen will be a little like that which we see from the window of a rail- way-coach when telegraph-poles and near ob- jects seem to fly by. The panorama strip for the foreground is de- signed with simple elements so that it can be cut out in silhouette and laid over the other one. With reference to the quaUty of the details of a scene on a panorama; although it is usual to fill up the whole length with items of interest, there must be observed some degree of simplicity. Per- haps it might be best to say that there should be a subordination in the details, even if they are numerous, and then have some striking fea- ture or object occurring every once in a while, to catch the eye and so help the movement. Objects, too, automobiles and other vehicles, are combined with these panoramas. This brings us to the consideration of the matter of animat- Making Animated Screen Pictures 197 Some distinguishing mark on a wheel is needed to give it the screen il- lusion of turning. ing wheels, or making them turn in the screen illusion. A wheel true and accurately adjusted and going rapidly gives — with the exception of a blurring of spokes, if there are any — very little evidence of rotation. It is only when it turns unsteadily, or when there is some distinguishing mark found on or near the rim, that we see plainly that the wheel turns. Sometimes it is a stain, a spot on the tire, a temporary repair, or a piece of paper that has caught in the spokes that indicates a turning of the wheel. Further amplification is needless, as a glance at the vehicles, as they pass in the roadway, will make clear. So the ani- mator, when he wishes to show a wheel turning, simply copies actuality by drawing a wheel with some such feature as noted above. A mere black spot on a wheel near the circumference is some- 198 Animated Cartoons times sufficient. It is usual to have the wheels drawn on thm cardboard and cut out and fast- ened in their proper places so that they can be turned. They are turned a little at a time and photographed after each turn. To represent the haater in sketch A suddenly trembling with fear as In sketch B, two drawings, 1 and 2, with varying wavy lines are used al- ternately daring the photography. PHOTOGRAPHY AND OTHER TECHNICAL MATTERS CHAPTER IX PHOTOGRAPHY AND OTHER TECHNICAL MATTERS TlESPECTING adaptability and results, the -'-^ same motion-picture camera that is used in the field, or the studio, can be used to make films for animated cartoons. In making cartoons, however, two particulars at variance with the usual procedure first must be noted: (1) The camera is pointed downward and not horizontally, as is ordinarily the case, and (2) with each turn of the camera handle only one frame — one-six- teenth of a foot of film — ^is photographed, and not eight, as is commonly the case. The camera in making animated cartoons is held, pointing downward, by a firmly biult frame- work. The artist, having decided on the dimen- sion of the field for his drawings", determines the height approximately of the camera above the table top, where the drawings are placed. Nat- urally it will be high enough so that when he works 201 202 Animated Cartoons at the table while disposing the drawings, ad- justing the dummies, or in some cases making drawings, his head will not come in contact with the front of the lens. The particular distance between the lens and the table top is dependent upon the kind of lens in the camera. It is a com- mon practice to equip a camera with a two-inch (fifty-millimetre) lens. It is possible to use a lens of this focus for cartoons. There is no special type of structure for sup- porting the camera above the board upon which the drawings are placed for photography. An artist contemplating embarking upon this line of work, and intending to carry on the whole process from the beginning to the time when he hands the exposed film to the laboratory for de- velopment, will have a chance to put any inven- tive ability that he may have into practice in designing a framework for the purpose. In build- ing such a structure these things must be thought of: (1) The structure must be firmly built so that the hkehhood of the camera being jarred is less- ened; (2) the distance between the camera and board to be ascertained, approximately at first; (3) an arrangement for fixing the camera in a Photography and Other Technical Matters 203 C dHMUi| yM TYPICAL ARRANGEMENT OF CAMERA AND LIGHTS TO PHOTOGRAPH DRAWINGS FOR ANIMATED CARTOONS. C. Camera. L. Lights. M. Mechanism to turn camera shutter. F. Hinged frame irith glass to press down on the drawings. B. Board holding the registering pegs. grooved sliding section so that its exact height can be adjusted when the field and focus are definitely fixed or there is to be any later read- justment. The camera, for instance, may get jarred and put out of focus, or get set obliquely with respect to the lines defining the field. Some animators have mounted their camera so that the same framework can be used for a 204 Animated Cartoons small field as well as a larger one. This neces- sitates, each time that the size of field is changed, a troublesome setting of the camera in order again. It is wisdom to keep to one size of field for all work, so that when the camera is once in position it need not be changed. The frame that holds the glass, and which is hinged to the board where the drawings are placed, and the registering pegs have already been de- scribed. It is an excellent plan to have this board with the above-named adjuncts separate but screwed down upon the table top. By having it this way it is possible to have another means of getting the camera and the field Knes adjusted. Then if the outline of the field on the board and those defining the field in the camera do not fit each other exactly, the board can be unscrewed, shifted until it is right, and fastened again. In any film where there is a preponderance of straight lines — horizontal ones, especially — it is a serious fault to have the slightest obliquity. It will be emphasized on the screen. The outhnes of the little rectangular area, where the pictures are taken in the camera, must coincide with the outlines of the field on the board. When the Photography and Other Technical Matters 205 field is fixed and permanently marked with ink lines, it is a good plan to draw a smaller rectangle, one-half inch all around, within the outer one. The idea of this is to have a limiting area within which all important matters of the drawing are kept. If the animator has had any experience with the ordinary still camera, the practical knowledge gained then will help him in the matter of focus- sing, or regulating the diaphragm of the lens, so that all the details of the picture are sharply de- fined. This comes next, or rather in conjimction with the determining of the field and the perma- nent fixing of the camera. In a still camera — that is to say, an ordinary portrait or view apparatus — the focussing is on a ground glass, while in a cine- matographic instrument it is usual to place a piece of celluloid with a grained surface some- what like ground glass into the place where the film passes. The picture is focussed on this cellu- loid. Some, however, find a piece of blank film answers the purpose. To the above consideration of setting up the camera and ascertaining the correctness of the field and the sharpness of the image, the worker 206 Animated Cartoons wise in perception will, before beginning any im- portant work, make a test. This is merely a matter of photographing a drawing, or two, on a short length of film, taking it out of the camera, and developing it. Here, again, any knowledge of photographic processes previously learned will be found useful. There are in all metropolitan centres film laboratories to which the animator can send his exposed films to be developed and printed. But for a test before beginning the work it is prudent and expeditious to keep a supply of chemicals on hand, and then, in a few minutes, it will be pos- sible to tell how matters stand in any particular that is in doubt. The next step, after the camera has been fixed in place, is to construct a mechanism by which it can be turned conveniently by the photographer, as he is seated below at the board where the draw- ings are placed. This is contrived by a system of sprocket-wheels and chain-belts coming from the camera and carried down to the side of the table top, where it ends in a wheel with a turning handle. For the average individual this would not be a difficult construction to put up; but it Photography and Other Technical Matters 207 would be an altogether different problem if the animator wished to equip his camera with an electric motor to turn the camera mechanism. In this case he would have many things to con- sider, getting the particular type of motor, for instance, that will operate with the continual turning on and off of the power. Here certainly the best course is to have an expert install the motor and fix the intermediary mechanism con- necting it with the camera-working parts. Electric motors to drive camera mechanisms are in general use among those who make titles for moving-picture films. For this particular branch of the industry they are an indispensable adjunct. It would seem to the spectator in the theatre, unfamiliar with the technic of cinematography, that when he sees a title held on the screen for any lengthy period, the practical way of effect- ing this would be to have a single picture of this title kept stationary during the period. But this is not the way the matter is worked out. A title in a screen story is given a certain length of film, with every frame in this length containing the same words. The particular length — foot- 208 Animated Cartoons WhIAT EVERY HEART KNOWS WHAT EVERY HEART KNOWS WHAT EVERY HEART KNOWS jnt 5PMIN.X, riLM C'-.p WHAT EVERY HEART KNOWS P P |d jo p p p p p Id P P In WHAT EVERY HEART KNOWS PART OP A LENGTH OF FILM FOR A TITLE. For every second that the wording is viewed on the screen, sixteen of these frames pass through the pro- jector. age — allowed for a title depends upon the amount of its read- ing-matter. Some titles are very long. One such, requiring, say, fifteen feet, makes it necessary to turn the camera han- dle two himdred and forty times, if the operation is by hand. A very monotonous job. So title studios attach a motor and appropriate mechan- ism to a camera, and with it, too, an au- tomatic counter. Then in photograph- ing a title it is a sim- ple matter of starting the mechanically driven shutter, watch- ing the figures on the Photography and Other Technical Matters 209 counter dial, and when the required exposures have been registered, pulling the lever that stops the mechanism. Where a camera, however, is used for animated drawings exclusively, a motor is not absolutely necessary. An automatic counter would be a very useful addition to a camera in making dissolves. One form of these fantasies is that in which the screen is perfectly black at first and then a small spot of hght appears, which grows larger by degrees, to reveal at the full opening the scene or sub- ject of the film. This is produced by a vignetter, or iris dissolve. A vignetter is a device, fixed generally in front of a lens, that consists of a num- ber of crescent-shaped segments of thin metal pivoted on a circumference. When these seg- ments move in unison toward the centre, they gradually decrease the aperture in the lens tube. But when the movement is in a contrary direc- tion, they cause the aperture to open by degrees. Those who have used an ordinary snap-shot camera no doubt are familiar with a similar de- vice — ^the iris diaphragm, or lens stop. But in the diaphragm the segments do not completely close, and there is always a tiny opening left in the 210 Animated Cartoons centre. The iris dissolve, or vignetter, is made to close completely. The way by which pictures are "faded on" is to start with the vignetter closed and then open it while the camera handle is turned to take the picture. To "fade off" a picture, the process is simply reversed; i. e., gradually closing the vignetter while the last part of the picture is being taken. The most frequent application that an animated cartoon artist makes of a vignetter is making cross dissolves, or causing one picture to blend into another. Imagine now that the idea to be expressed, through the medium of one of these cross dissolves, is that of a character standing in an attitude of reflection and supposed to be thinking of how he would look in a complete suit of armor. There will be two drawings: one with the figure in ordinary dress, and the other with him clad in the armor. First the picture with ordinary dress is photographed. During this operation the vignetter is closed by degrees. When it is closed, the film that was just photographed upon is wound back again into the magazine. Now, as we know, during this procedure the Photography and Other Technical Matters 211 light, which was getting weaker and weaker, pro- portionately lessened its effect on the sensitized emulsion of the film, so that its picture-forming property was not all used up. There is still a certain proportion of photographic potency left for the next exposure. The next step is to replace the first drawing with the one showing the char- acter in armor. We left the vignetter completely closed, and the same length of film that had just passed back VIGNETTER, OR IRIS DISSOLVE. Below: Three stages during the movement of the pivoted segments. 212 Animated Cartoons of the lens has been wound back into the maga- zine and is ready to cross the exposure field again and be photographed upon the second time. Now the vignetter is gradually opened, the new pic- ture is being taken and blended with the image of the first picture. These two procedures in their method of operat- ing and their effects compensate one another. The gradual closing of the vignetter has its re- ciprocal part in the gradual opening; the lessening of the light strength is reciprocal to the increase of the light strength; then the fading of definiteness in one picture is made up by the gradually in- creasing clearness in the other. In trick work of this kind a mechanical counter would be very useful in measuring the length of film as it is turned into the magazine and then out again. It is understood, of course, that our particular counter also counts backward. And, again, with reference to cameras: an animator when he selects his camera should be certain that he gets one with which it is possible to turn the camera backward for making these dissolves and any other trick work involving like manipulation. Immediately above we gave certain reasons Photography and Other Technical Matters 213 for the making of tests on a small piece of film before photographing. Another matter for which tests should be made is the question of illumina- tion. It is important that the field should be evenly illuminated. All this is an affair of ad- justing the hghts; that is, getting them one on each side of the camera in their proper positions with reference to the lens opening and the dis- tance away from the drawing-board. 'OOOOOOO Sf/i. 75 QZ'A 50 37/2 as 121^ 'OOOOOOO 12'/2 as 37/2 50 etVz 75 57/2 'CCCCCCO lOO lOO lOO lOO 100 100 100 DIAGRAM TO EXPLAIN THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIGHT IN A CROSS DISSOLVE. A. When the vlgnetter is gradually closed during the taking of the first picture. (The film having been wound back is ready to be photographed upon again for the second part of the procedure.) B. While the vignetter is gradually opened during the taking of the second picture. C. The percentages of light in the two exposures combined and giving the com;- plete exposure time. 214 Animated Cartoons The mercury vapor-lamp which, as has been mentioned, is in general use for cartoon films, has besides its illuminating qualities another great merit. It is this: it does not emit heat rays. When it is remembered that an artist some- times spends hours at a stretch photographing his numerous drawings for a cartoon film, and that all this time his head is but a few inches from the Hghts, this absence of heat is a desirable feature. The manner of going about the photography, which is the next stage of the work, has been touched upon in another part of the book. There are many more minute particulars in the making of an animated film to be considered. Take, for instance, the technical questions re- specting the preparation of the drawings. In the process where most of the drawings are made on paper, the paper should be a fair quality of white linen ledger paper — but not too thick, as trans- parency is a thing to think of, and it is preferable, too, that there be no water-mark. The design of a water-mark would be a disturbing element in tracing from one drawing to another. Ordi- nary black drawing ink is used for the line work. Photography and Other Technical Matters 215 but when a large area is to be solid black, it has been found best to employ one of the black varnish stains that are mixed with turpentine. In spite of the turpentine medium it is possible to apply it to paper. These black stains are an intense black and do not lose their strength when viewed through the celluloid sheets. It is not usual to obliterate a mistake in draw- ing with white pigment, as it is an uncertain quan- tity in photography. Whether or not it will come out as a patch of gray, or photograph correctly as white, is difficult to judge beforehand. It is best to take out ink lines that are not wanted with a sharp-bladed penknife and then smooth the sur- face of the paper with an ink eraser (of rubber). In drawing over the smooth surface of the celluloid a preliminary cleaning with weak am- monia water will make the ink flow evenly. It is of course imderstood that the celluloid sheets can be used again after any particular film is finished. Ink or pigment can very easily be washed off with water. In drawing on celluloid with a pen it is well to select one that will not scratch the surface. Scratches will hold, in their shallow depths, enough 216 Animated Cartoons ink or pigment to break the evenness of a uniform background. They will come out as spots on the film. A well-worn pen, one that has been "broken in," as the pen draftsmen say, is the best. The scheme of employing celluloid sheets to hold simple ink drawings, which scheme is in common usage in the art, has been adapted to the purpose of holding intricate drawings in dis- temper pigment. Before drawing any series of movements on celluloid it is the usual plan to work out all the scenes and actions on paper first and then trace them, from these drawings, to the surface of the celluloid. When the drawings for a cartoon have been photographed, the magazine into which the ex- posed film has been wound is taken out of the camera. Then, in the dark room, the film is taken out of this magazine and put into a regulation tin can and sent to the laboratory. And so as to make it quite certain that the lid will not slip off and spoil the whole reel, it is sealed around the edge with a piece of adhesive tape. After the film has been developed, the next step in the process is that of printing the posi- Photography and Other Technical Matters 217 tive. This as well as the remaining technical matters is attended to by the laboratory. Titles, to be sure, could have been made at the same time that the animated pictures were taken; but it is found advisable to have titles made by a NEGATIVE FILM ^ Device to eclipse the light PRINTING APERTURE tlSHT Part of the Intermittent mechamism FRESH UNEXPOSED rtLM EXPOSED FILM- When developed it is called the POSITIVE NEGATIVE FILM ILLUSTBATING THE OPERATION OF ONE TYPE OF MOTION- PICTUKE PKINTEB. studio that does this work exclusively and then have them joined to the film in their proper order. With respect to this joining, or spUcing, this is also looked after for the animator at the film laboratory. But as it is not difficult to do, the animator — impatient to have his film completed, 218 Animated Cartoons PAPER, REG15TERJNG PEG LIGHT ANOTHER PLAN FOR AN ANIMATOR'S DRAWING BOARD. Beflecttng the light with a mirror does away with the direct glare of the electric lamp. and not caring to wait until the laboratory finish it — will try his hand at it, no doubt. He needs for this a little device to hold the two ends of the film together in their proper re- lationship while he spreads on the overlapping section a little film cement. This is a firm ad- hesive. The emulsion on the film where the cement is spread must be removed by a little moistening. Photography and Other Technical Matters 203 C J^HH yM TYPICAL AREANGEMENT OF CAMEBA AND LIGHTS TO PHOTOGRAPH DRAWINGS FOR ANIMATED CARTOONS. C. Camera. L. Lights. M. Mechanism to turn camera shutter. F. Hinged firame with glass to press down on the drawings. B. Board holding the registering pegs. grooved sliding section so that its exact height can be adjusted when the field and focus are definitely fixed or there is to be any later read- justment. The camera, for instance, may get jarred and put out of focus, or get set obliquely with respect to the lines defining the field. Some animators have mounted their camera so that the same framework can be used for a 204 Animated Cartoons small field as well as a larger one. This neces- sitates, each time that the size of field is changed, a troublesome setting of the camera in order again. It is wisdom to keep to one size of field for all work, so that when the camera is once in position it need not be changed. The frame that holds the glass, and which is hinged to the board where the drawings are placed, and the registering pegs have already been de- scribed. It is an excellent plan to have this board with the above-named adjuncts separate but screwed down upon the table top. By having it this way it is possible to have another means of getting the camera and the field lines adjusted. Then if the outline of the field on the board and those defining the field in the camera do not fit each other exactly, the board can be unscrewed, shifted until it is right, and fastened again. In any film where there is a preponderance of straight lines — horizontal ones, especially — it is a serious fault to have the sKghtest obliquity. It will be emphasized on the screen. The outlines of the little rectangular area, where the pictures are taken in the camera, must coincide with the outlines of the field on the board. When the Photography and Other Technical Matters 205 field is fixed and permanently marked with ink lines, it is a good plan to draw a smaller rectangle, one-half inch all around, within the outer one. The idea of this is to have a limiting area within which all important matters of the drawing are kept. If the animator has had any experience with the ordinary still camera, the practical knowledge gained then will help him in the matter of focus- sing, or regulating the diaphragm of the lens, so that all the details of the picture are sharply de- fined. This comes next, or rather in conjunction with the determining of the field and the perma- nent fixing of the camera. In a still camera — that is to say, an ordinary portrait or view apparatus — the focussing is on a ground glass, while in a cine- matographic instrument it is usual to place a piece of celluloid with a grained surface some- what like ground glass into the place where the film passes. The picture is focussed on this cellu- loid. Some, however, find a piece of blank film answers the purpose. To the above consideration of setting up the camera and ascertaining the correctness of the field and the sharpness of the image, the worker 206 Animated Cartoons wise in perception will, before beginning any im- portant work, make a test. This is merely a matter of photographing a drawing, or two, on a short length of film, taking it out of the camera, and developing it. Here, again, any knowledge of photographic processes previously learned will be found useful. There are in all metropolitan centres film laboratories to which the animator can send his exposed films to be developed and printed. But for a test before beginning the work it is prudent and expeditious to keep a supply of chemicals on hand, and then, in a few minutes, it will be pos- sible to tell how matters stand in any particular that is in doubt. The next step, after the camera has been fixed in place, is to construct a mechanism by which it can be turned conveniently by the photographer, as he is seated below at the board where the draw- ings are placed. This is contrived by a system of sprocket-wheels and chain-belts coming from the camera and carried down to the side of the table top, where it ends in a wheel with a turning handle. For the average individual this would not be a difiicult construction to put up; but it Photography and Other Technical Matters 207 would be an altogether different problem if the animator wished to equip his camera with an electric motor to turn the camera mechanism. In this case he would have many things to con- sider, getting the particular type of motor, for instance, that will operate with the continual turning on and off of the power. Here certainly the best course is to have an expert install the motor and fix the intermediary mechanism con- necting it with the camera-working parts. Electric motors to drive camera mechanisms are in general use among those who make titles for moving-picture films. For this particular branch of the industry they are an indispensable adjunct. It would seem to the spectator in the theatre, unfamiliar with the technic of cinematography, that when he sees a title held on the screen for any lengthy period, the practical way of effect- ing this would be to have a single picture of this title kept stationary during the period. But this is not the way the matter is worked out. A title in a screen story is given a certain length of film, with every frame in this length containing the same words. The particular length — foot- 208 T/-Mr SPZ-MNX FILM C.-.ip WHAT EVERY MEART KNOWS Trtfcr SPMINX FrLM Corp P K L -_l NTS WHAT EVERY MEART KNOWS TA& SPMINX FILM Corp WHAT EVERY MEART KNOWS TMe SPMINX. FILM Cn.p WHAT EVERY HEART KNOWS WHAT EVERY MEART KNOWS PAST OP A LENGTH OF FILM FOR A TITLE. For every second that the wording is viewed on the screen, sixteen of these frames pass through the pro- jector. Animated Cartoons age — allowed for a title depends upon the amount of its read- ing-matter. Some titles are very long. One such, requiring, say, fifteen feet, makes it necessary to turn the camera han- dle two hundred and forty times, if the operation is by hand. A very monotonous job. So title studios attach a motor and appropriate mechan- ism to a camera, and with it, too, an au- tomatic counter. Then in photograph- ing a title it is a sim- ple matter of starting the mechanically driven shutter, watch- ing the figures on the P la P |a jo P P [a la P P P P P la Photography and Other Technical Matters 209 counter dial, and when the required exposures have been registered, pulling the lever that stops the mechanism. Where a camera, however, is used for animated drawings exclusively, a, motor i^ not absolutely necessary. An automatic counter would be a very useful addition to a camera in making dissolves. One form of these fantasies is that in which the screen is perfectly black at first and then a small spot of light appears, which grows larger by degrees, to reveal at the full opening the scene or sub- ject of the film. This is produced by a vignetter, or iris dissolve. A vignetter is a device, fixed generally in front of a lens, that consists of a num- ber of crescent-shaped segments of thin metal pivoted on a circumference. When these seg- ments move in unison toward the centre, they gradually decrease the aperture in the lens tube. But when the movement is in a contrary direc- tion, they cause the aperture to open by degrees. Those who have used an ordinary snap-shot camera no doubt are familiar with a similar de- vice — ^the iris diaphragm, or lens stop. But in the diaphragm the segments do not completely close, and there is always a tiny opening left in the 210 Animated Cartoons centre. The iris dissolve, or vignetter, is made to close completely. The way by which pictures are "faded on" is to start' with the vignetter closed and then open it while the camera handle is turned to take the picture. To "fade off" a picture, the process is simply reversed; i. e., gradually closing the vignetter while the last part of the picture is being taken. The most frequent apphcation that an animated cartoon artist makes of a vignetter is making cross dissolves, or causing one picture to blend into another. Imagine now that the idea to be expressed, through the medium of one of these cross dissolves, is that of a character standing in an attitude of reflection and supposed to be thinking of how he would look in a complete suit of armor. There will be two drawings: one with the figure in ordinary dress, and the other with him clad in the armor. First the picture with ordinary dress is photographed. During this operation the vignetter is closed by degrees. When it is closed, the film that was just photographed upon is wound back again into the magazine. Now, as we know, during this procedure the Photography and Other Technical Matters 211 light, which was getting weaker and weaker, pro- portionately lessened its effect on the sensitized emulsion of the film, so that its picture-forming property was not all used up. There is still a certain proportion of photographic potency left for the next exposure. The next step is to replace the first drawing with the one showing the char- acter in armor. We left the vignetter completely closed, and the same length of film that had just passed back VIGNETTEB, OB IKIS DISSOLVE. Below: Three stages during the movement of the pivoted segments. 212 Animated Cartoons of the lens has been wound back into the maga- zine and is ready to cross the exposure field again and be photographed upon the second time. Now the vignetter is gradually opened, the new pic- ture is being taken and blended with the image of the first picture. These two procedures in their method of operat- ing and their effects compensate one another. The gradual closing of the vignetter has its re- ciprocal part in the gradual opening; the lessening of the light strength is reciprocal to the increase of the light strength; then the fading of definiteness in one picture is made up by the gradually in- creasing clearness in the other. In trick work of this kind a mechanical counter would be very useful in measuring the length of film as it is turned into the magazine and then out again. It is understood, of course, that our particular counter also counts backward. And, again, with reference to cameras: an animator when he selects his camera should be certain that he gets one with which it is possible to turn the camera backward for making these dissolves and any other trick work involving Hke manipulation. Immediately above we gave certain reasons Photography and Other Technical Matters 213 for the making of tests on a small piece of film before photographing. Another matter for which tests should be made is the question of illumina- tion. It is important that the field should be evenly illuminated. All this is an affair of ad- justing the lights; that is, getting them one on each side of the camera in their proper positions with reference to the lens opening and the dis- tance away from the drawing-board. 'OOCXX)00 Q7'/2. 75 GZ'A 50 57'/z 25 12 '/a 'OOOOOOO IZVz 2.5 37/2 50 62-/2 75 87/2 'OOCXXDOO lOO lOO lOO lOO 100 100 100 BIAGKAM TO EXPLAIN THE DISTRIBUTION OF LIGHT IN A CROSS DISSOLVE. A. When the vignetter is gradually closed during the taking of the first picture. (The film having been wound back is ready to be photographed upon again for the second part of the procedure.) B. While the idgnetter is gradually opened during the taking of the second picture. C. The percentages of light in the two exposures combined and giving the com- plete exposure time. 214 Animated Cartoons The mercury vapor-lamp which, as has been mentioned, is in general use for cartoon films, has besides its illuminating quaHties another great merit. It is this: it does not emit heat rays. When it is remembered that an artist some- times spends hours at a stretch photographing his numerous drawings for a cartoon film, and that all this time his head is but a few inches from the hghts, this absence of heat is a desirable feature. The manner of going about the photography, which is the next stage of the work, has been touched upon in another part of the book. There are many more minute particulars in the making of an animated film to be considered. Take, for instance, the technical questions re- specting the preparation of the drawings. In the process where most of the drawings are made on paper, the paper should be a fair quality of white linen ledger paper — but not too thick, as trans- parency is a thing to think of, and it is preferable, too, that there be no water-mark. The design of a water-mark would be a disturbing element in tracing from one drawing to another. Ordi- nary black drawing ink is used for the line work, Photography and Other Technical Matters 215 but when a large area is to be solid black, it has been found best to employ one of the black varnish stains that are mixed with turpentine. In spite of the turpentine medium it is possible to apply it to paper. These black stains are an intense black and do not lose their strength when viewed through the celluloid sheets. It is not usual to obliterate a mistake in draw- ing with white pigment, as it is an uncertain quan- tity in photography. Whether or not it will come out as a patch of gray, or photograph correctly as white, is difficult to judge beforehand. It is best to take out ink lines that are not wanted with a sharp-bladed penknife and then smooth the sur- face of the paper with an ink eraser (of rubber). In drawing over the smooth surface of the celluloid a preliminary cleaning with weak am- monia water will make the ink flow evenly. It is of course understood that the celluloid sheets can be used again after any particular film is finished. Ink or pigment can very easily be washed off with water. In drawing on celluloid with a pen it is well to select one that will not scratch the surface. Scratches will hold, in their shallow depths, enough 216 Animated Cartoons ink or pigment to break the evenness of a uniform background. They will come out as spots on the film. A well-worn pen, one that has been "broken in," as the pen draftsmen say, is the best. The scheme of employing celluloid sheets to hold simple ink drawings, which scheme is in common usage in the art, has been adapted to the purpose of holding intricate drawings in dis- temper pigment. Before drawing any series of movements on celluloid it is the usual plan to work out aU the scenes and actions on paper first and then trace them, from these drawings, to the surface of the celluloid. When the drawings for a cartoon have been photographed, the magazine into which the ex- posed film has been woimd is taken out of the camera. Then, in the dark room, the film is taken out of this magazine and put into a regulation tin can and sent to the laboratory. And so as to make it quite certain that the lid will not slip ofif and spoil the whole reel, it is sealed aroimd the edge with a piece of adhesive tape. After the film has been developed, the next step in the process is that of printing the posi- Photography and Other Technical Matters 217 tive. This as well as the remaining technical matters is attended to by the laboratory. Titles, to be sure, could have been made at the same time that the animated pictures were taken; but it is found advisable to have titles made by a NEGATIVE FILM ■■^ Device to eclipse the light PRINTING APERTURE LIGHT Part of the Intermittent mechanism FRESH UNEXPOSED rtUI EXPOSED FILM- Wh«r\ developed it is cailed ttie POSITIVE NEGATIVE FILM ILLUSTRATING THE OPERATION OF ONE TYPE OP MOTION- PICTURE PRINTER. studio that does this work exclusively and then have them joined to the film in their proper order. With respect to this joining, or splicing, this is also looked after for the animator at the film laboratory. But as it is not difiicult to do, the animator — impatient to have his film completed, 218 Animated Cartoons ANOTHER PLAN FOB AN ANIMATOR'S DRAWING BOARD. Reflecting the light with a mirror does away with the direct glare of the electric lamp. and not caring to wait until the laboratory finish it — ^will try his hand at it, no doubt. He needs for this a little device to hold the two ends of the film together in their proper re- lationship while he spreads on the overlapping section a little film cement. This is a firm ad- hesive. The emulsion on the film where the cement is spread must be .removed by a little moistening. On Humorous Effects and on Plots 235 A cyide of drawings, like those above, used in turn and repeated for a time will give the screen illiision of a man spinning like a top. the following incident often introduced into ani- mated scenes. A little figure is observed run- ning up hill and down dale. The manner of his performance is like this : he runs up the first hill and disappears; there is a moment or so when the scene is empty and during which he is supposed to be running down the far side of the hill. Soon he is discovered running up the second hill, at the top of which he again disappears for a time to 236 Animated Gafrtoons A blurred Impression like that of the spokes of a turning wheel is regarded as funny In comic picturing. run down its far side. In another moment he is scrambling up the next hill and down the other side again. This continues until he is lost as a tiny black spot near the horizon. This disjointed hill-climbing causes hilarious laughter and, as in the case cited above, comes in waves. The rise and fall of the laughter waves can be distinguished as the little figure runs up the hills and down the valleys. A pause is a necessary element in any continued comic situation. It is, in fact, proper to any series intended to arouse the emotion of laughter. And in some respects a pause corresponds to the negative moment of flexion — adverting our On Humorous Effects and on Plots 237 thoughts for a moment to physical activity -^ while the sutburst of laughter corresponds to the positivity of extension. A bit of striking animation is that of having a continuous stream of individuals pouring out of a building, or a procession of funny animals com- ing out of a receptacle from which we did not expect such a parade. These episodes of move- ment do resemble a parade — a species of regularly recm-ring stimulation. The psychological questions in regard to these effects is related certainly to the matter of the dehght of the human mind in a stirring up by FBOM "THE 'BAB' BALLADS." repetition. Undoubtedly the same liking or plea- sure in these little bits of screen animation bear a resemblance to the delight eKperienced in watch- ing a parade. What is there in a spectacle of this 238 Animated Cartoons sort that tickles our senses ? Is it the regulamess of the step-keeping, the hypiiotic music of the band, or the show of varied uniforms? Perhaps the principles of unity and variety — two essen- tials of any art work — enter into the matter. The variety in the uniforms of the different sections Pictures of this sort can be presented on the screen more vividly than In this simple graphic sketch. satisfies the eye, and the unity of the marching pleases the mind. Keeping step is an artificial recurrence of move- ment. It pleases, of course, but when this motion is rendered strongly mechanistic it takes on im- mediately an element of the comic. In some of the little figures droUy drawn by Bab (W. S. Gil- bert, of "Pinafore" and "Mikado" fame), this is On Humorous Effects and on Plots 239 HATS. well expressed. A little picture of his, for instance, shows three tiny men stepping out like mechanic- ally operated toys. One of the most primitive of practical jokes is that of throwing a stone at a hat on some one's head. And its most aggravated form as a joke is that in which the hat is of a stovepipe pattern. In a humorous stage play, merely to show an individual with a stone in his hand while a sprucely 240 Animated Cartoons dressed one wearing a high hat is passing is mo- tive enough to cause laughter. The graphic artist copies this situation by representing a stone in the air nearing the hat. Action hnes, as they are called, indicate that the missile is flying through the air. In both of these cases — in reality and in Radiating "dent" lines give emphasis to this bludgeon blow. the picture — mere anticipation is enough to awaken the risibilities. The animator, of course, can gratify both the spectator's joy of anticipa- tion and the mischievous delight of seeing the consummation of the action. Many professional entertainers have built their reputation on some dramatic business with hats. Either they wear some odd head-gear or else it On Humorous Effects and on Plots 241 will be in their manner of wearing a hat or a trick in doffing it. If a hat is too small, it is sure to create laughter; and if too large, it is a certainty that there will be mocking hilarity. And even if it is of the right size, it need only to be perched on the head at an angle to be considered ludicrous. The spirited screen actors, too, of the animator's pencil are shown going through all sorts of strange doings with their hats. A chase around some object is a never-failing langh-provoklne incident In an animated cartoon. ANIMATED EDUCATIONAL FILMS AND THE FUTURE CHAPTER XI ANIMATED EDUCATIONAL FILMS AND THE FUTURE NEARLY everything in our book so far, in accord with its title, has had reference to the making of comic screen drawings. They gratify a proper human longing and they strike a re- sponsive chord in the consciousness. Now there is another kind of appeal, in the matter of satis- fying a human need, to which animated screen drawings can be put. It is that touched upon in the introductory chapter; namely, animated films of educational subjects. By educational films woidd be meant, if the strict definition of the term is intended, only those that are instruc- tional. It is to be remarked, however, that en- lightened opinion now includes in the category of educational subjects any theme, or story for children, even if a sHght touch of the humorous or diverting is to be found in it. The kind of stories, with the latter thought par- 245 246 Animated Cartoons ticularly in mind, especially fitted for the screen are those of Lewis Carroll. His "Alice in Won- derland" is a good example of the type of fanciful tale on the order of which animated cartoons could be made for children. And Sir John Tenniel's interpretations of the characters seem to have been created especially THE MAD HATTER. for translation to the animated screen. The Mad Hatter, with his huge beaver (signalizing again the hat as inspiring the comic), would make an admirable figure to pace across the screen. An artist desiring to be the author of an ani- mated story built on the model of Carroll's classics would need a gleeful imagination and a turn for the fantastic. And he would require, besides, if he hoped to draw characters on a par with Educational Films and the Future ■ 247 Tenniel's depictions, more than the ordinary quali- fications of a screen draftsman. As in the rough-and-tumble antics of the rustic clown little refinement is either prevalent or ex- pected, so in the ordinary comic animated car- toon exquisiteness of drawing is neither found Bor ordinarily looked for. But in a story with fineness of wit, and told artistically, it is obliga- tory that its interpretation be of a corresponding quality. It is necessary, in other words, that the artist be good at figure work and especially skilful in drawing difficult actions and perspec- tive walks. As remarked before, when the latter subject was considered, this requires dexterity in picturing figures in foreshortened views. And to become expert in this particular means study. For examples of foreshortened figures to contem- plate, the student of animation can find no better ones than those in the frescos of Michael Angelo. Especially valuable are the decorations of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Photographs or copies, no doubt, of these wonderful art works can be foimd in the print-rooms of public libraries or in any collection of engravings of a picture- gallery. 248 Animated Cartoons ^C^ DETAIL OP A PBESCO BY MICHAEL ANGELO. It is an entertaining speculation as to whether or not Michael Angelo, being a man of many ar- tistic activities, would have tried his hand at animating drawings, had the art been in existence in his time. In our own day, patterns for emulation in the matter of depicting action and the delinea- tion of character are found in the drawings of Mr. A. B. Frost. Witness his achievements in these respects in his book "Stuff and Nonsense." Then, too, Mr. Frost's appreciation of the comic spirit is particularly noteworthy. His graphic work could with every success be set forth on the animated screen. The old-fashioned peep-show has long since Educational Films and the Future 249 passed its way, and in its place has come the cine- matographic exhibition. Children consider it a commonplace occurrence in their lives to be taken to the "movies." Very soon they will imbibe knowledge as well as receive entertainment through MB. FROST'S SPIRITED DELINEATION OP PIGXJRES IN ACTION. 250 Animated Cartoons the medium of the films. There are many in- structional themes that could be elucidated in the school by animated drawings. Educational, travel, and scenic films are fre- THE PEEP-SHOW. Detail of a composition of a French eighteenth-centviry tapestry designed by Bouclier. quently presented in motion-picture theatres, but the possibilities in these subjects have not been exhausted. Some of the first investigators who looked into the problems connected with photographic analy- Educational Films and the Future 251 sis and pictorial synthesis to produce the appear- ance of movement had ideas of applying the results of their labors to practical purposes. M. G. Demeny, in Paris, to cite an instance, invented an instrument by which deaf-mutes could learn to speak and to read lip movements. His in- strument consisted of an optical contrivance that gave the representation of a person speaking by the turning of a glass disk upon which there was placed a series of photographs of a person speaking. The pic- tures were arranged in a . ^ cycle which, when the disk [ , was made to rotate, pro- duced a continuous effect of the action. One form of this appa- demeny's phonoscope. ratus, or photophone, was ^™"if ^mr^! ?^r *" made to be turned by hand, and the combined picture or illusion viewed through a lens by one person at a time. Another type was constructed so that the synthesized pic- ture of the speaking face could be thrown on a screen. 252 Animated Cartoons There is a natural curiosity in nearly every one to want to know about methods in art. And the interest is general in watching a craftsman create an object of art, or an artist bring into graphic being some imagery of his brain. It would not be out of place for these reasons, as well as a matter of instruction, to produce films showing art methods. Especially for elementary pupils would it be a desirable thing to show the way of making simple free-hand drawings. Then, instead of an instructor repeating the process — sometimes with indifferent interest or enthusiasm — ^it can be ar- ranged that some one skilled in drawing, and when he is feeUng at his best, go through the procedure under the motion-picture camera. The result could be multipUed a number of times and shown in many classrooms with an evenness of performance not possible when some one does it day in and day out. Methods and principles of the more advanced branches of art instruction — ^pictorial composition, for instance, could be taught, too. As one example, we will suppose that the pur- pose is to show what good pictorial composition Educational Films and the Future 253 is. First an indiflferent picture, poorly arranged, is shown; the various components appear on the screen exactly as they would in making a picture on canvas or paper; then little things pointed out that are lacking in artistic merit, or an explanation given of any detail that is not quite clear. (For this purpose a drawing of a pointer is made on cardboard and cut out in silhouette. It is moved around precisely as if it were a real pointer.) After showing the faulty construction the various components can be moved again, but into places to form the well-composed pic- ture. Methods of designing in the crafts could be demonstrated by animated drawings; and they could also be employed to explain visually the story or history of design. Ornament can be shown as it evolves from its natural form, to the first rudimentary basic type; then it passes into the best classical style, after which it becomes, as in all art evolution, the merely decorative. And it can be shown, as is usually the case in the his- tory of an ornamental form, terminating in a de- based and meaningless figure or scroll. All these screen pictures could be managed so that the pic- 254 Animated Cartoons tures go through their mutations before the eyes as if they were living things. Presuming that in the acquiring of knowledge all brains function in a similar way, what could be better as a means of instruction than a film of some educational subject? In any special study or theme in physics, for instance, an entire course could be planned for an animated film. Some of the divisions of the theme could be actual photographs of the experi- mental apparatus in operation. But other matters would need to be moving diagrams, or progres- sively changing charts. Explanations on the titles and other wording, previously thought out with due regard to their educational value, would be combined with the film. Could there be anything more interesting than screen drawings of machinery in operation? To draw the successive pictures required for work of this character would present no great difficul- ties to any one trained in mechanical drafting. It would be a great improvement on the diagrams and mechanical plans with their complicated markings to see the work of the draftsman pro- jected on the screen and giving the appearance 1^ Rockcp Arm.'* Fop Canvs ' Fop Valve Fop Pistoa. -■-' Conncctiag Rod. Etc. .*.?ft. /Celluloid ■^'m.'. A FEW OF THE DRAWINGS USED IN THE MAKING OF A FILM TO SHOW A GASOLENE-ENGINE IN OPERATION. 255 256 Animated Cartoons of motion. With vivid object-lessons of this kind, the eye can comprehend in a few moments that which it would take lengthy paragraphs to make clear. On this subject of animating machinery, it is an interesting fact to note that as early as 1860, Desvignes, who invented one form of the zoo- trope, is recorded as having made a series of pic- tures for his optical instrument that showed a steam-engine in motion. The teaching of history could be made still more interesting than it is by series of changing maps. Such maps would show, as their outlines changed, the growth or modification of a coimtry as affected by events of history. Historical battles could be illustrated with the usual reference marks and symbols. But they would not be still; instead, they would move about to illustrate the progress of the battle. This form of animated maps fre- quently has been used in connection with pictorial- news reels. Physiology and anatomy are two studies that need good pictorial exposition in the classroom. Scientific moving pictures of the actual subjects are in many cases available and their photography Educational Films and the Future 257 is feasible. But for some details that cannot be taken with the camera, animated diagrams would have to be substituted. To suggest a very- good theme in physiology, we may mention that of the circulation of the blood. Only a few par- ticulars of this could be photographed. Most of the story of the blood circulation would have to be told by animated diagrams. There would be at first, perhaps, a sectional view of the heart showing the auricles, and ventri- cles with the valves and their reciprocal action. The flow of the vital fluid, to be sure, would be indicated very clearly as it passes through the cavities. A striking animation of this film would be that of the blood flow in its course through the body. This would be represented by a schematic diagram like those usually set forth in the books. It would have an added interest if the fluid were colored — ^the arterial blood red and the venous blood blue. (This is the usual way, when printed in colors, in which they are distinguished in text- books.) A film like this, it can be understood, must be planned well — a scenario practically would be written for it. The manner in which the muscles move the 258 Animated Cartoons bony frame of the body can be strikingly dem- onstrated by animated diagrams. Take as a simple case the bending of the arm. The two antagonist muscles of the front and the back of the upper arm can be made to show as swelling and lengthen- ing, alternately, as they flex and extend the fore- arm. A similar animation of the skeleton would be that of the bony levers in the human frame. And as a com- parison, actual mechan- ical levers of all three orders could be made TPE ACTION OF THE MUSCLES ON THE FRAME COULD BE SHOWN ON THE SOBEEN. A series of drawings like this would be the flrst thing to prepare for making the film. Educational Films and the Future 259 to operate in connection with the levers in the skeleton. It would be possible, to some extent, to put the "Origin of Species" on the screen with the help of animated diagrams. For the vertebrates, a section of the film could represent a schematic evolutionary tree. On it, the lower forms of back- bone life, such as amphibians and fishes, would be placed on an offshoot near the lowest part of the main trunk. Odd creatures like marsupials would branch off a little higher up, and still higher a larger branch of the tree would split into two minor branches for reptiles and birds, respec- tively. The tree would show above a branching off into three important divisions for the ungulates, car- nivores, and quadrumana. The story could be continued by separate delineations of the different branches and tell in further detail the develop- ment of the forms that belong to them. The art of the animated cartoon and the edu- cational screen drawing has as yet not been de- veloped to its highest point. It needs, for one thing, color. Such films are only shown, at pres- ent, in monochrome or simple outlines. Of course 260 Animated Cartoons colored cartoons will come. Effecting the tinting by hand would be easy as a process, but very tedious and costly. A practical way of coloring the ordinary photographic film is now in use by tinting them with the aid of stencils. Both the stencil-cutting and the coloring are accomplished by the help of machinery. At present there are color processes that pro- duce very beautiful photographs on the screen; but they do not show, at least in those that so far have come under the observation of the author, all colors of nature. The craft is awaiting the in- spired inventor who will produce motion-pictures in colors that will exhibit nature's full range of hues and shades. Then in comparison with Niepce's simple process, of about 1824, of fixing a lens- formed image upon a metal plate coated with bitu- men, the photographic art will have attained to a marvellous degree of technical development. A consummate color process should reproduce, too, an artist's work upon the canvas without losing any variations of hue that he has set forth. Then it will be possible to have animated paint- ings. One will go, when this wonder has been achieved, to an exhibition gallery to see art Educational Films and the Future 261 works with the additional interest of movement as well as those of color and individual interpre- tation. And, too, our museums will have project- ing rooms and fireproof Ubraries for keeping films. It seems like fantastic dreaming to hold such notions; but many things that were once consid- ered purely visionary — have now become common- places.