Following its release in 1988, the production team responsible for
Who Framed Roger Rabbit were instantly applauded by the millions of stunned moviegoers who subsequently saw the film, and rightly so, as even now (an unbelievable 22 years later) the most hardened critic would have difficulty finding fault with the near-seamless interactions between live-action and animated characters. The following memo - sent by the movie's director of animation,
Richard Williams, to all those working within the animation department - is a fantastic illustration, literally, of just how aware Williams was of the potential for disaster. Luckily for everyone the memo's message was heard, the eye lines were connected, and a Poppins was averted.
Transcript follows. Image courtesy of original Roger Rabbit animator
Peter Western. Huge thanks to
Joe for bringing it to my attention.
Transcript
AUGUST '87
MEMO TO ALL ANIMATORS, ALL ASSISTANTS, ALL INBETWEENERS
EYE LINES
A MAJOR PROBLEM HAS JUST LEPT OUT TO FACE US…
THE EYE LINES BETWEEN CARTOON CHARACTERS AND LIVE ACTION ONES ARE PROVING INCREDIBLY CRITICAL.
(NO WONDER MARY POPPINS WAS AWFUL IN THIS REGARD)
THE WHOLE TRICK IS BLOWN IF THE CARTOON PERSON DISCONNECTS HIMSELF FROM THE LIVE ACTORS EYELINE.
- IT SEEMS THAT ONLY 2 OR 3 FRAMES WRONG IS ALL THAT IS NEEDED TO BLOW THE ILLUSION.
THIS OBVIOUSLY HAS NEVER BEEN FACED OR SOLVED PROPERLY BEFORE AND SOMEHOW WE HAVE TO.
TAKE EXTRA CARE…
DICK
20 comments:
And yet generations of children love Disney's Mary Poppins! The magic and the tale managed to transcend the difficulties.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is an interesting and important film for technical reasons, but who fell in love with the story?
I'd love to know what an "Inbetweener" is. Sounds like a fun job.
Nice one!
My favorite parts are the drawing, and the DOUBLE UNDERLINE on "INCREDIBLY CRITICAL," and the ending "...this obviously has never been faced or solved properly before and somehow we have to."
Thanks for posting it -- love the Letters of Note blog!
Mary Poppins was awesome.
ONLY A DICK WRITES IN ALL CAPS
To manifolddestiny:
Unfortunately, inbetweening is rather dull, mechanical work... and because of this, it's being replaced by computers.
You get two poses from the lead animator, and draw the "inbetween" pose to create a more fluid animation sequence. You have to match the style and pose exactly, no room for creativity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inbetweening
to Kim:
I did fall in love with Roger Rabbit's story, it works on several levels, it's a fun film noir pastiche and a love letter to old style cartoons. It's something that as people get older, the more they love the movie.
heheheh. I KNEW I should have put the disclaimer, "but of course, what do I know?" to my post!
I'm sure you're right, robindaybird. Maybe I need to see the movie again!
@Sauce - it's fairly common to write (ie: handwrite) in all caps in fields if you work in a field where caps are used a lot; eg cartoonists, architects...
It's not the same as typing in all caps, and doesn't have the same connotations of "shouting" as it's froma different paradigm.
bah at my lack of proofreading! That will teach me for quickly posting at work >.>
"and a Poppins was averted"
I think I'm gonna start saying that
i'm another lover of the story to "...Roger Rabbit". The film noir tropes, the "Chinatown" pastiche, the Eddie-Dolores relationship, other relationships which would possibly constitute spoilers to mention, great humour, and not least the unique fact of having Disney and Warner Bros. characters appearing together in the same feature. i first watched it aged 10 when, obviously, i didn't pick up on a lot of the more adult jokes and themes, but it was still a fantastic detective/intrigue story. And then as you get older it just reveals more levels.
Never found Mary Poppins engaging even as a kid, tho.
Also, handwritten all caps looks hella cool.
It's fascinating to me how the smallest details are often the ones that can make a creation fly or fail. And it's usually the details that we're not even conscious of noticing, like eye line. Or the way that people continually shift their weight in small degrees when they stand. Or how they continually make small changes in their eyes and their face when they talk. Those last 2 being the reason why most video game animation or movie CGI looks so uncomfortably fake. I think these little nuances are also what often lead to the uncanny valley issues.
oh, and for the record, Williams didn't say Mary Poppins was an awful movie, he said it was awful in that *specific area* (animation interacting with live action). jus' sayin'. ;)
I recently had the opportunity to see Roger Rabbit again, for the first time since I was a kid, and it truly is dang amazing. When you consider it was all done pre-CGI, the interactions are even more mindblowing. It still holds up, on both a technological and an entertainment level. :)
THEY YELL A LOT IN THE MILITARY, AND THEY WRITE EVERYTHING IN CAPSLOCK TOO. MILITARY KEYBOARDS DON'T EVEN HAVE CAPSLOCK KEYS; IT'S ON BY DEFAULT. NOW GET THAT EYELINE RIGHT OR I WILL DRAW AN EYELINE BETWEEN YOUR FACE AND A CACTUS, SOLDIER. (IT'S NOT RUDE, IT'S CUSTOMARY.)
It's hand printed in caps- something almost all cartoonists do. And the letter doesn't say anything about the quality of Mary Poppins as a whole, it's referring to the lousy animation tracking, which is incredibly obvious when you watch it.
Williams ia a legendary director, and Roger Rabbit is a film for the ages. Mary Poppins is also a film for the ages. Quit being so divisive and derogatory. Williams is one hundred percent right here.
Cartoonists write everything in capitals as their cursive script is harder to read than a doctors prescription pad. My Dads one i should know.
Sauce was making a joke, you clods! The guy's name was "Dick" and he wrote in all caps.
Geeze.
Few animators would argue how much of a "Dick" Richard Williams is to work for. He is demanding and passionate about producing the best possible product. However, fewer still would argue that they didn't vastly improve their craft and find the results tremendously rewarding.
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