1. Implementation of Live Action and Animation in Feature Films
using the examples Mary Poppins (1964) and Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

2. History of Live Action/Animated movies
First example of this combination was in 1914 with Winsor McCays, “Gertie the Dinosaur”
McCay drew out his animation and projected it on a white screen
He then stood in front of the projection screen and “told” Gertie to do different things like one would command a dog
You would then see Gertie act out the various commands
The live action and the animation are two completely different parts of the film and are not connected on one reel.

3. History of Live Action/Animated movies
Examples of interaction between Gertie and McCay
He called her out from her cave to start the act
He would command her to bow to the audience and she would obey
He would ask her to raise her right leg, then her left
One of the better acts was he would have an orange in his and hand and he would throw it to her to catch. He would palm it as he throw it and an animate version would appear on the screen where she would then catch it
For the finally he would hide back stage and an animated version of himself would be picked up by Gertie and carried away

4. Gertie the Dinosaur

5. History of Live Action/Animated movies
Some examples of this style of film making since then:
1945 The Three Caballeros
1946 Song of the South
1971 Bedknobs and Broomsticks
1977 Pete’s Dragon

6. Techniques Double printing two negatives onto the same release print
Optical printers
Aerial image animation cameras
Rotoscoping

7. Double Printing Negatives
Director would film the live action and the animation on two completely separate reels
They would then combine the two reels in the final edit to create one final release print that is then sent to the theaters to be viewed

8. Optical Printers
A devise consisting of one or more film projectors mechanically linked to a movie camera
This allows filmmakers to re-photograph one of more strips of film
In this case they could photograph the live action and the animation to create the one combined reel

9. Aerial Image and Animation Cameras
An aerial image is one that is basically floating in space and is added to an existing scene.
Used to add an animated character of scene to a live action shot or sequence
An animation camera is a type of rostrum camera (which is used to animate a still picture or a still object) that is adapted for frame-by-frame shooting

10. Rotoscoping
An animation technique where an animator traces over live action film movement
Instead of tracing over a live action sequence, they would use it as a reference to add the animation to play off the live action actors

11. Mary Poppins Released in 1964
It was the third live action/animation movie done by Walt Disney
This film is widely known as his crowning achievement

12. Mary Poppins
Technique used by Walt Disney
Disney used the sodium vapor process to combine the live-action actors and the animated background
An actor is filmed performing in front of a white screen and lit by powerful sodium vapor lights
Sodium light is used because it is a narrow spectrum source that falls neatly into a notch between sensitive layers of the color film
This allows the complete range of colors to be used in costumes, make up, and props

13. Mary Poppins Techniques cont.
They would then use a camera with a beamsplitter prism that exposes two separate film elements
The first film element is regular color negative film that is into very sensitive to sodium light
The second is a panchromatic fine grain black and white film that is sensitive to the color of the sodium vapor lights
The second film element is used to create a matte, to that the regular color footage can later be combined with another shot without the two images showing through each other

14. Mary Poppins Techniques cont.
The matte is then used as a the template for the animated portion of the movie
Making it at the same time as the live action makes it an easier fit in post production optical printing

15. Mary Poppins They had the actors acting to practically nothing.
They sometimes had cardboard cutouts marking the location of the object the actors had to react to

16. Mary Poppins

17. Mary Poppins

18. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Was released in 1988
Had a budget of 70 million dollars
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Animation director was Richard Williams

19. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Fun Facts:
Animation was all hand drawn
Rogers voice actor Charles Fleisher dressed as a rabbit and stood in for Roger in some of the scenes
Sparked the most recent era in American animation
Last appearance of famed cartoon voice artists; Mel Blanc (Daffy Duck, Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, and Sylvester) and Mae Questel (Betty Boop)

20. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Fun Facts:
First and only time were characters from several animation studios appeared in the same film
First time Bugs Bunny and Mickey mouse met on screen
First time Daffy Duck and Donald Duck met on Screen

21. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Techniques:
As a reference the film makers created exact, life sized rubber sculptures of the animated characters so that the live actors could react towards them
These models were also used to see the size of the character on camera and how the light would fall on them

22. Roger Rabbit as a Puppet

23. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Techniques cont:
They used a blue screen as a blank canvas when the live actor had to be in an all cartoon environment
The actors went to mime training to gain an understanding of how to make it look like there is something there event though there isn’t
Film makers created robots, machines and puppets to move the objects the cartoons came into contact with, such as guns, plates, pianos, etc.

24. Blue Screen vs. The Finished Scene

25. Robots as Cartoons

26. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Techniques cont:
When the animators where drawing out the individual slides for the animated characters they created 4 different layers per slide
created one where Roger Rabbit is alone
created one with Roger Rabbit as a matte where they backlit him
created one for highlights
created one for low lights
All the layers where then sent to ILM and using their optical printers would composite them with the live action plates

27. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Rule in animation is to keep the camera still so that you only see one side of the character, which makes it easy for the animator cause they only have to draw them from one angle
Zemeckis shot the live action like a normal movie, so the camera was always moving
The animators had to compensate for this movement and draw the characters more 3D then they usually would
Which meant drawing twice as much

29. where DOES it comes from??
Style in Animation
where DOES it comes from??
by erika bird

30. A movie clip:
from the beginning of Hercules

32. Greek Pottery (in case you’ve never seen one)

33. Abstract Muses world

34. Gerald Scarfe design consultant

35. Gerald Scarfe

36. Where is strong design seen in Hercules?

37. Landscapes

38. I see some greek columns here!
Phenomena
I see some greek columns here!

39. Characters

40. remember how Scarfe drew?
swoop and reverse-lines

41. Scarfe Characters
look at those lines! swoop and reverse!

42. Now, a clip to apply our learning (and to reward your patience)
I’ve edited this one, so in the first short bit, check out the cloud hades makes with his hand;
the rest of the clip is about the two minions (they are quite stylized-especially the pink one)

43. A clip to apply our learning

44. Hercules design permeated environs and characters; matched each other
an example of a 2-D animated movie with a strong design ethos
ok, now we’re done with it

45. Let’s shift to my other example, The Incredibles, another very stylish movie
I’ll preface this one with a clip about the film’s style from the Director, Brad Bird* and the Production Designer, Lou Romano*

47. Driving Forces in its Design
The Incredibles
Driving Forces in its Design
Retrofuture
graphic style
caricature

48. Retrofuture influences included Tomorrowland,
Hanna Barbera, Bauhaus, Minimalism

49. Incredibles house

50. Graphic style
Brad Bird wanted graphic, but CG requires photoreal surfaces.
So Teddy Newton, Character Designer did photo cutouts

51. Paper Cutouts

52. Simple Textures

53. Other Concept Art; emphasized pastels effective for palette

54. Palette (y’know--colors, lighting)
pure colors in the “Golden Years”; highly saturated
a shift to drained colors at Insuricare
introduce some color back in to support the story
at end of film, color is natural and balanced

55. Color Script for palette consistency The Golden Years

56. Color Script for palette consistency Insuracare

57. Color Script for palette consistency

58. Incredible Clip the setup:. a scene with the family at home, just
Incredible Clip the setup: a scene with the family at home, just normal family stuff you can get a good look at their house and furniture

59. An Incredible Clip

60. Conclusion style in animation doesn’t happen accidentally
most movies create the look first, and then everything stems from that ‘bible’
style can be really cool--you just don’t often notice it right away

61. for dessert, a final clip of something cool and only sort of relevant:
Flatworld