John W. Burton on Photographing Cartoons

 Cinematography has become a major point of discussion for live action film. Yet photographing animated films is something that is rarely discussed. That is what makes the following article so interesting. This is a 1941 article written by an actual camera man for animated cartoons, John W. Burton (remembered by animation buffs today for his work on Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons), for International Photographer magazine. 

"A far cry from the glamorous conditions of Class A feature production, animated cartoon photography, undoubtedly is no mystery to most of you, but for those of you who have never had the pleasure of being in a cartoon studio, a few words of explanation. 

"Those of you who are familiar with the subject know that motion pictures are photographed at the rate of ninety feet a minute which is exactly twenty four frames a second. The film thus obtained gives a photographic record of progressive positions of the action.

"In animated cartoon production this procedure is practically reversed. We analyze the action to be photographed, then make a series of cartoon drawings representing the number of frames required by the timing we want. These drawings are painted on clear sheets of celluloid and photographed in their proper sequence over a background that has been painted to represent the scene or setting. The result is a strip of motion picture film of progressive cartoon drawings that give us the illusion of motion when projected. 

"Our cartoon camera cranes are constructed so that the camera is suspended above the photographic field, which is like a table surface, equipped with a glass plate operated by air pressure to hold the celluloid drawings flat over the background. Bell & Howell cameras are used, equipped with a stop motion drive and are set on a worm gear which allows the cameras to be raised or lowered, permitting the cartoon equivalent of 'truck shots.' In certain shots to give the illusion of following the action, or 'panning,' long backgrounds are made and between each exposure the camera man moves the background a certain predetermined distance. 

"In cartoon photography, the cameraman must be gifted with a good deal of patience as well as a very methodical mind as each exposure requires an accurate set up. For example in many scenes in addition to seeing the camera, color-filters, take-up, etc., are operating correctly, he must remember to change the drawings correctly according to their sequence, move the background the required distance for pan shots, truck the camera up and down, follow focus, as well as possibly changing the shutter each frame should he be fading or dissolving. Each cartoon has about 12,000 such exposures. This may explain why most of us boys seem a bit 'tecthed in the head.' 

"For various camera and optical effects used in the production, the camera department has accumulated an amusing variety of home made trick lenses. For such effects as used in water scenes, heat effects and in shots requiring special distortions, a collection of glass dishes, bottles, bowls and pieces of window glass, some treated with solutions and some warped after heating, have been acquired, making a rather unusual assortment of optical equipment. 

"Some animation that should be quite lifelike or human in its action presents a rather difficult problem of analysis which we often overcome by actually photographing human actors and actresses going through the action to be done later in animation. This gives us our only excuse for occasional location trips as well as providing the opportunity to 'keep our hand in' with regular production equipment. The motion picture film of this human action is used by the animators to analyze and otherwise assist them in the animation of cartoon characters. Some of these shots have been quite interesting. For instance, the strip-tease sequence in the cartoon 'Cross Country Detours' and the bubble dancer in the picture 'Hollywood Steps Out.'

"Several color cartoons have been produced by Mr. Schlesinger that have incorporated actual motion picture sequences in conjunction with animation. They offered an interesting problem, as Technicolor cartoons are photographed on a single strip of negative with the three color separations for each frame in successive order, while regular Technicolor pictures use three separate negative strips. This make impossible the intercutting of cartoon Technicolor and regular Technicolor. To use regular Technicolor in our cartoons we made from the Technicolor positive a three successive frame negative strip by rephotographing each frame through the three color separation filter changed by hand from frame to frame. A rather laborious and tedious procedure, but never the less successful.

"Black and white positives have likewise been copied in Technicolor by the same process, color being added to the black and white picture by tinting the light with color filters. 

"Many cartoon scenes require special effects in the way of double and multiple exposures, which presents a fascinating problem to the camera man. Insomuch as each frame is accounted for in the timing of a cartoon and the camera is equipped with a feeder counter and kept in gear at all times and can be operated foreword or in reverse, the cameraman can go back to any particular frame and make what double exposure the scene requires. In many cases for special effects such as double exposures, light effects, multiple exposures or montages the film has been through the camera as many as ten or twelve times, each time receiving whatever exposure is required before the film is finally taken out of the camera for development.    

"In this respect animated cartoon photography is unique in that all of these effects, as well as dissolves, wipe offs, fades, split screen, etc., are made in the camera at the time if photography and not added later by printing or in the laboratory."