South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1921-08-15

According to the Cartoonist
the Job Demands 1.-THE
Patience of Job"

Patience of Job"
How do they make those funny
E animated" cartoons you see in the
movies? The question is often ask
ed. but very little in the way Of ex-
+ PLANTATION has found its way into
print When you watch the grotee-
que. vet astonishing life-like, action
in the best Of them il seems incred-
ible that such results can be &C
complished simply by drawing a Sc
ries OF pictures photographing them
/ separately in sequence and project
+ ing them on the picture screen.
What an enormous number Of
drawings much be made, so many of
them apparently identical, yet nee
/ essarily different in some detail in
I order TO produce the effect Of life
and movement in the figures What
/ extraordinary patience on the part
Of the animated" cartoonistl
Yes, that's the answer. When you
were a child. and your Sunday
school teacher put the question:
who was the most patient manY'
sure OF your ground, you answered
Job" Nowadays, II you should put
that question 10 AL animated" car
toonist, the chances are that he
would answer promptly, Il am"
you can't get any more out OF
animated cartoons than you put In
to them" declares Bert Green, a
recognized master Of the art, who
"animates" maps and charts and
otherwise dry statistical tables and
diagrams. "The job demands the
\ patience Of job"
But the job is important enough
TO maintain a complete mechanical
plant for turning out this special
\ product-including the photograph
ing apparatus with the motion pic
ture camera standing on its head
and shooting" straight down at the
| separate drawings-one click Of the
shutter-when the operator touches
the electrical button controlling the
mechanism.
This is another JOB" part Of the
Job. Remove the photographed
wing-substitu the next one
press the button; and do this several
times to make a picture that viii
run on the screen for eight or ten
minutes
| And these Job jobs" are steadily
| increasing in the motion picture in
dustry. In the eight or ten years
I since Windsor Mckay completed a
series of some 10000 separate draw
tings and moved them in procession
before the lens Of a motion picture
camera to illuminate upon the screen
an amazing day in the life Of Ger
tie" the dinosaur. the creation OF
most Of the celebrated comic artists
have been subjected TO the same
treatment. Animated cartoons
have become to the screen what
comic strips are 10 the daily and
Sunday papers, and they are the
product of the same type Of pictorial
genius
There is a sufficient reason for this
growing popularity or animated car
toons The principle involved Is
fundamentally sound. Whatever the
artist is able 10 create with his pen
appears on the screen in all its orig
.nal perfection, with the TREMENDOUS
added effect Of apparent life and mo-
ton. Transserence to film being al
most entirely mechanical, that par
of the process is mechanically ac'
| curate The Bristol board actors are
not "temperamental;" they always
are at their best
The making of an animated car
toon has remained practically zone
r. sr-t n
? creative part OF the picture-iti
scenes and characters and incident
p must be dSne by the same hand
Details of action. however-such a:
/ movements of a mans legs in run
ning-are supplied by the cartoon
, lists assistants. called "animators.
Formerly the entire figure. and alsC
the scene represented. was copied
: along with each change Of detail
. with apparent necessity. for how else
q would a complete negative result
Not long ago however this immense
{ labor was obviated by the invention
OF the "ceuuloid sheet" which is suf
5 fcientlv transparent TO enable photo
% graphing through il changing details
of figure. Thus. if through a Sc
, duence of a score or more Of draw
I ings there is movement only Of tbs
] characters head. or arm or leg. thu
"animators'' have only TO redraw the
= part that moves, the main part OF th'
o. figure and the whole set" remain
: ing under the camera lens on th'
I transparent sheet.
$ This device. OF course. demands
= that all the detail drawings regis
teri perfectly with the outlines o.
the fixed main scene and figures OF
1.-THE ccIluloid sheet-but that is {
simple matter of mechanical effici
p encv at the "animatOr's' drawins
board
Out Of the art OF making animated
cartoons have developed many de
7 vices and so-caued camera tricks
that are exceedingly effective. espe
: ciaIly i'm a decorative way. You se'
) pen with no hand guiding it writ
ing words across the screen. or draw
. ing picture. YOU see a monkey
b friskinC across the screen and leav
. ing I'm the trail Of his long tail TIT
! autograph signature Of the author
j as in the main title OF Paul Terry''
b "Aesop's Film Fables" you see lot.
OF other seemingly miraculous Oc
currences most Of which accom-
panied the development OF thi:
screen specially whose chief ingre
dent is the patience Of Job"
r.-e- o.