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spective. Detailed portions of the char¬ acter action had to be adjusted. New animation was added where necessary and several scenes shortened to main¬ tain overall proportion and timing.
Bass’ story concept was an excellent animated prologue that mixes ex¬ tremely well with the subsequent hilar¬ ious and zany live-action of Stanley Kramer’s Ultra Panavision production for United Artists.
According to Bass, the film title is a series of wild happenings in which a symbol of the world is the central character. This world-symbol interacts with the credits, and in turn becomes a globe, an egg, a spinning top, a yo¬ yo, ping-pong ball, etc.
“Actually, it is my hope that the audience will be continually surprised and amused by the series of comical happenings involving the globe,” said Bass. “I have tried to get across a feeling that would create a sense of madness.”
The film credits aro tastefully de¬ signed by Bass, but integrated and timed with the action.
The 315-foot title sequence runs ap¬ proximately three and one-half min¬ utes. The first problem was the curtain¬ raising interval required for the Cine¬ rama screen — a screen that is 90 feet long and 35 feet high and for which it takes 22 seconds to open or raise the proscenium curtain before it. A normal screen opening usually takes four sec¬ onds. Thus, the timing of the title it¬ self was most important in order to coincide with the curtain opening. In order to utilize the full impact of the curtain opening, the first credit — “Stanley Kramer Presents — A Cinera¬ ma Production” — was especially de¬ signed to bridge and utilize this time gaP
The extreme simplicity and sharp¬ ness of Bass’ story concept minimized the color problem. Only black and white textures were utilized in the drawings. Then, using solid color back¬ grounds and 65mm Eastman Color Negative Film, Type 5251, color was included in the animated title.
The new Eastman negative, which has been on the market since Septem¬ ber, 1962, is especially adaptable to large screens, where graininess has always been a problem. The much finer grain structure is not the only improve
Continued on Page 728
FRAME BLOWUPS of five of the title cards in the animated main and credit titles sequence which gets “Mad World" off to a hilarious start.
AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER, DECEMBER, 1963
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