American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1942)

ink is used to outline the drawing, but in a picture such as "Bambi," where more realism and roundness in the characters is desired, a grey outline is used. Black outlines and the flat tones of the cell paint impart a one-dimensional, "cartoony" feeling to the characters which tends to be inconsistent with the halftones of the background. This discrepancy isn't too obvious ordinarily, but in "Bambi," realism and convincingness of characterization took precedent over accepted cartoon technitjue. The ijiker has to keep a careful eye on technical instructions regarding tracebacks, held cells, and registering of characters to the background. A "Color Model" (illustrated) is provided, defining the types of inks and paints to be used. When completely inked, the cells are sent to the Painting Dept. for coloring. The paints are applied in flat tones, on the backs of the cells, within the areas as indicated by the inked outlines. This process, while not quite as exacting as inking, requires a sureness and steadiness of hand, besides the all-important patience. Each painter usually handles all of the colors that are to go onto the cell — numbering anywhere from six to sevei-al dozen. The paint laboratory, where the mixing of the colors takes place, maintains a "library" of about 113 separate hues, with seven values, ranging from dark to very light, for each hue, giving a total of more than 800 colors to work with. And a feature cartoon might well use every one of those tints. The paints themselves are specially mixed at the studio, from formulas developed by trained chemists in a complete laboratory maintained for just thit I purpose. The pigments are obtained from many sources — animal, vegetable ' and mineral. One type of black, for example, is obtained from the residue of (burnt bones. The paints dry on the cells in about twenty minutes, but are by no means pemianent. They eventually dry out and chip off" the cell. In order to slow dowji the drying-out, a relatively high humidity is maintained in the air of the painting and camera departments. The paint laboratory is constantly at work on the problem of developing paints that will resist drying and chipping. However, permanence of either paint or cell beyond a certain point is hardly possible, as the Left, "color model" that guides the cell-painters. Right: evolution of a scene from "Bambi" from animator's rough extreme through clean-up drawing, inked cell, and painted cell, to the final scene with finished cell in place over the background. celluloid itself dries out and cracks in time. After the cells have been painted, some of them may be side-tracked to special artists for shadows or special effects. Shadows are painted with a transparent paint, and the air-brush is used for dust, certain types of highlighting, etc. For speed eff"ects, where forms are streaked or blurred, the paints are dry-brushed on. At times, a drybrush tone is used to help give roundness to a form. Transparent shadow paint is only practical for small areas. If the shadows are large, they are generally double-exposed onto the scene. In this case, the shadows are animated separately, painted in flat black tones, and after the scene has been shot once with the regular cell setups, the film is wound back and the shadows "d.x.'d" on at perhaps thirty percent exposure. This method gives a natural transparency to the shadows that cannot be obtained by paint. The problem of working out practical color-schemes for the characters is tackled by the layout-man and colormodel department. Many considerations enter into choosing a color pattern for a character. The patterns must be fairly simple, so as to be easily animated. Complicated patterns involve a lot of extn-a work and expense. Inharmonious patterns are avoided as are colors that would be out of key with the background. Bright, uncompi'omising colors are hard to look at, and so, in general, the tendency is to use subtler, pastel shades in the coloring of characters. These color-schemes are carefully planned. For example, the color scheme of a "sunlight Bambi" is considerably lighter than that used when the character is supposed to be in shadow. Also, Bambi as a new-born fawn is lighter in hue than at maturity. In winter, he is handled in dull gray tones, in spring, in warm browns. When painting is completed, the checking department again takes a final look at the technical correctness of the scene's mechanics, and if all passes muster, the cells and finished background are sent to the cameras to be shot. The shooting of a cartoon is the most mechanical procedure in the entire production process, and it is one of the most exacting. The instructions on the exposure sheet must be followed down to the last frame. It isn't a matter of simply sticking the cells under the camera and pushing a button to expose the film. Pan moves, tabulated to accuracies of 1/64 of an inch must be made. The camera itself also might be called upon to move towards or away from the set-ups, or around wfthin the 5 or 6V2 field limits. Pan moves and trucks often require the services of two or three men ■L Os4, '/ ^ 'i; American Cinematographer August, 1942 345