The Entertainment Value Of Movement

One thing you see a lot of in cartoons from the 1930s and 40s is movement that is entertaining for its own sake.

You can tell this animator had fun making this cat shadow box.

The still drawings don't really convey the movement.

Clampett encouraged his animators to make every bit of their work move in a fun way. He figured it was "animation" and that was the main thing audience watched cartoons for. It wasn't enough to merely connect the narrative points, which more and more became the trend in later animation - even as the stories themselves got less entertaining.

The magic of animation is largely in the performance. Animated characters at their best move in unrealistic yet beautiful ways.

HEP CAT SHADOW BOXES

1942 and 1946 - 2 important years at WB

I have this new theory that roughly around 1942 the top directors began to consciously really experiment with new ideas and techniques.http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/12/clampett-structure-clever-and.html

Even Norm McCabe did some experimenting in this period. I included the 1943 "Confusions Of A Nutsy Spy" because it is one of the first WB cartoons to really try modern things with composition and layout.

1943 Experiments:

By 1946, they were still experimental to an extent but it was less conscious. By this time the directors and animators were so in-synch with each other that they just intuitively and confidently knocked out masterpieces. Here's Jones in top form at his most confident and least conscious of trying to be clever or experimental:
Friz and McKimson were never really too experimental, they basically did their jobs and followed along with the what the trendsetters did but added their own personalities to the cartoons.
Tashlin may have tried many conscious experiments, but he never really got into a flow where everything worked smoothly together. Maybe because his mind was always on his next career and he didn't stay anywhere long enough.

http://www.davemackey.com/animation/wb/1942.html

http://www.davemackey.com/animation/wb/1946.html

Cinematic Cutting and Accents For Punctuation and to Tell the Story

I always loved this chase sequence from "Eatin' On the Cuff". It's full of great ideas - like the character ziping off screen and leaving a ghost image of himself and then the ghost follows.
It's also full of great cuts and contrasts. Clampett weaves the shots together to build suspense and excitement - and does it with musical pacing and comedic timing - which is very similar to being a drummer.
Starting from tiny characters and running towards camera from a 3/4 up angle delivers a punch to the screen.


The characters weave in and out all around this scene creating wild chaos, but then ends with an added gag.

Another dynamic shot and action wth tiny characters.

Now we have strict left to right chasing, but with great accents in the runs.

Wo is this animator? Manny Gould?

When the spider lady sids to a stop Clampett feeds us a quick succession of accents in the actions, which aren't gags in themselves, but are a great use of filmic punctuation to let us follow the action and enjoy the rhythms -while incidentally - helping us follow the story.


Contrasts in timing: After the wild actions, he punctuates by having a slow bit - the hair floating up on a bubble
then a fast pop and the hair snapping and floating for a beat, before falling again and hitting the water. These are all great cartoon cinematic techniques to keep the pacing exciting. Without them - if he just merely told the story straight, it would all just float by and nothing would stand out against anything else. All story points would be indiscernible from connecting bits of continuity - like a Friz cartoon from the same period.

another pause to let the audience take a breath and to see the spider lady thinking up her next plan of attack. This is using punctuation both for entertainment and musical good feeling - AND to tell the story. To make these 2 things work together is what a good director should do. You can't just merely illustrate the story points in continuity - as most writers expect you to do.
Then, after the pause....ZAM! up fast and shake the butt vigorously to announce more action or a gag coming






another contrast - into dialogue. Notice the dialogue is completely musical, and the actions between the phrases have accents and beats to match the rhythm of the dialogue reading.


This pause below accentuates the rhythm of the previous poetry and reenforces the evil of the character. Again using timing for fun and to tell the story. Entertainment and functionality perfectly blended.
I love this animation by Bob McKimson. Even the flames are solidly drawn and animated.









Amazing stuff! McKimson has a superhuman ability - totally unique from all other animators. He just inventde his own way of animating and drew his poses and actions straight ahead with unbelievable directness and confidence. No bullshit about it.



Another great shot
followed by speed, dynamic angles and acents




Something Clampett never gets credit for is his mastery of cinematic technique. I think this is what makes him the best cartoon director in history, not just that his ideas and gags are funny or wild - it's his approach to filmmaking that enforces all the crazy ideas and lines them up in a perfect hierarchy of rhythmic accents and dynamic contrasting scene cuts.


CLAMPETT CINEMATIC SPIDER CHASE


Spider Lady as Veronica Lake