Indiana daily times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1914-1922, 1921-07-27
THE MODERN JOBS JOB IN MOVIES
Is the Making of the MoUie Animated Cartoons

How do they make those funny "ani-
mated" cartoons you see In the moviesi
The question is often asked but very
little in the way Of explanation has
found its way into print.
When you watch the grotesque, yet
astonishingly nfenke, action in the best
Of them it seems incredible that such re-
suits can be accomplished simply by
drawing a series Of pictures, photograph
ing them separately in sequence and pro-
jecting them on the picture screen.
What an enormous number of draw
ings must be made, so many of them
apparently identical, yet necessarily diff
ferent in some detail in order to produce
the effect of life and movement in the
iguresi What extra ordinary patience on
the part Of the animated" cartoonist!
Yes. that's the answer. When you
were a child, and your Sunday school
teacher put the question: who was
the most patient MANI sure Of your
ground. you answered "Job." Nowadays,
if you should put that question 10 an
animated" cartoonist, the chances are
that he would answer promptly, Il am"
You can't get any more out Of anil
mated cartoons than you put into them"
declares Bert Green, a recognized master
Of the art, who "animates" maps and
charts and otherwise dry statistical
tables and diagrams in Pathe News.
THE Job demands the patience of Job"
But the job is important for Pathe
News to maintain a complete mechanical
plant for turning out this special prod
uct-including the phOtographing APP
paratus with the motion picture cam
era standing on its head and shooting
straight down at the separate drawings
one click of the shutter-when the oper-
ator touches the electrical button con-
trolling the mechanism.
This is another Job" part of the job.
Remove the photographed drawing-sub
stitute the next one-press the button,
and do this several thousand times to
make a picture that viii run on the
screen for eight or ten minutes
And these Job jobs" are steadily in
creasing in the motion picture industry.
In the eight or ten years since windsor
Mckay completed q series of some 10000
separate drawings 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
! .'Gertie" the dinOsaur, the creations of
most Of the celebrated comic artists have
been subjected to the same treatment.
I Animated cartoons have become to the
screen what "comic strips" are TO 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 of animated cartoons.
The principle involved is fundamentally
sound. Whatever the artist is able to
create with his pen appears on the screen
in all its original perfection, with the
tremendous added effect of apparent life
and motion. Transference to film being
almost entirely mechanical, that part of
the process is fundamentally accurate.
The Bristol board actors are not ten
peramentaI;" they always are at their
best.
The making Of an animated cartoon has
remained practically a "one-man job. "
( All that enters into the creative part OF
the picture-its scenes and characters
and incidents must be done by the same
hand. Details of action. however-such
as movements Of mans legs in running
are supplied by the cartoonist's assist
ants. called "animators" Formerly the
entire figure, and also the scene repre-
sented, was copied along with each
change OF detail-with apparent necessity,
for how else would a complete negative
resultl Not long ago, however, this i'm
mense labor was obviated by the inven-
ton of the "celluloid sheet" which IS
sufficiently transparent TO enable photo
graphing through It, changing details of
. figure Thus, II through a sequence
Of a score or moro OF drawings there is
movement only Of the characters head
or arm, or leg. the 'animators" have only
TO redraw the part that moves. the main
part Of the figure and the whole set
remaining under the camera lens on the
T transparent sheet.
! This device. Of course, demands that
all the detail drawings register" per
fectly with the outlines OF the fixed main
Z scene and figures on the celIuloid sheet
but that Is a simple matter of
mechanical efficiency at the "animators''
/ drawing board.
! Out Of the art OF making animated
: cartoons have developed many devices
and so-called camera tricks" that are
/ exceedingly effective, especially in a
decorative way. You see a pen with no
hand guiding It writing words across
. the screen. or drawing a picture; you
see a monkey frisking across the screen
and leaving in the trail Of his long tail
the autograph signature Of the author
as in the main title OF Paul Terrys
'Aesop's Film Fables" you see lots OF
other seemingly miraculous, occurrences
most Of which accompanied the develop
/ ment OF this screen speciality whose
. chief ingredient is the patience OF
job
L = =
ON VIEW TODAY.
The following attractions are on view
today at the local theaters: "Monna
Wanna" at the Murat; popular vaude-
vile at the Lyric; Life" at the Ohio
| 1.-The Sky Pilot" at the Circle; "Black
Roses" at Loew's State; as Life Worth