1919: How the Rotoscope changed animation forever.

[@RayPointerChannel]

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS came out two years before GULLIVER'S TRAVELS and used Rotoscoping, although the Disney Studio denied using it for decades. Fleischer contemplated suing Disney for infringement, but dropped the case for a number of reasons, largely because the original Patent had expired. But the main reason was that Fleischer's Patent was good only for that particular device that made the tracing from film references possible. There were other methods of doing the same thing, including the use of the Moviola with the 8" x 10" ground glass viewing screen. These, and other details are included in my book, THE ART AND INVENTIONS OF MAX FLEISCHER: AMERICAN ANIMATION PIONEER , published by McFarland & Co. Publishers.

[@onehundredyearsofcinema]

+Ray Pointer hey, that's really cool. Thanks for the info.

[@mazoku6793]

One Hundred Years of Cinema This video was really interesting and informative!! You deserve more subs. :D

[@stellarguymk]

I think my favorite rotoscoped film is Waking Life. You showed the self-immolation scene, that was definitely a shocking scene full of meaning, imo. Dude I'm loving your channel! Keep up the good work, you'll keep growing!

[@spejampar]

I would have to agree. Between the art and the subject matter, that film is amazing.

[@frankiesays16]

great video! im writing an essay about the fleischers and this was very informative. subscribed!

[@timbertimbretamber]

the a-ha song is called "Take on Me"

[@onehundredyearsofcinema]

+timbertimbretamber I spotted that literally the first time I watched the video after I made it public. Thanks for letting me know though, all feedback helps :)

[@sticksview]

Great video man, cant wait to see more of the series :D

[@onehundredyearsofcinema]

Thanks man! That great to hear.

[@RayPointerChannel]

It's been mistakenly thought that HUMOROUS PHASES OF FUNNY FACES used chalk lines to produce the impression of animation. But clear prints reveal that this was done with a sort of white grease pencil on a translucent medium like wax paper. This is revealed in some places where the medium being drawn on bounces when the hand comes in contact. No amount of accuracy or cleanliness could be achieved at this level by drawing on a chalk board, erasing and drawing again. While the illusion was supposed to be that of chalk drawings, they do not appear to be chalk after close examination. Other parts of the film used manipulated cutouts. The significance of this pioneering work is that it demonstrated the basic stop motion photography process, which was taken to the next highest level when Emil Cohl in France, and Winsor McCay in the USA photographed drawings made in successive phases of action to create movement. Based on this, Cohl and McCay were the first actual animators.

[@scoopishere7881]

Max Fleischer did not create Popeye. He was from a comic series that the studio adapted into cartoons.

[@0b13F4st3]

I think he probably meant to say that Max Fleischer 'adapted' Popeye into animation, but you are absolutely right on that account.

[@RayPointerChannel]

@@0b13F4st3 Revisions on the narration, eh?

[@Roncace]

Let us also not forget Eadweard Muybridge and his precursor to rotoscoping

[@RayPointerChannel]

Max Fleishcer's inspiration for entering animation was not really his seeing GERTIE THE DINOSAUR, although he was aware of it. By the time GERTIE was being seen, 1914, the first commercially produced cartoons were being shown in movie theaters, produced by the Barre' and Bray Studios. Max was then Art Editor for Popular Science Magazine, and his boss, Waldemar Klempfert suggest to Max that he consider a means of improving the execution of animated cartoons after having seen one of the crude commercially produced cartoons the evening before. Max was aware that McCay took two years to produce his cartoons, working in his spare time. While in theory, Max thought that tracing live action might "speed up" the process, it proved time consuming, taking about eight months to produce one minute. When OUT OF THE INKWELL went into formal production, Rotosoping was saved for key scenes, with the remainder animated from imagination by Max and Roland Crandall. Most of the clips used in the video above such as Bettty Boop walking in front of the fire were not Rotoscoped. But those scenes in the split screen demonstrate how the Roto images were a guide with the characters drawn to match the timing of the movement.

[@richardranke7878]

Max Fleischer accomplished much in his career.

[@dead9247]

Richard Ranke the first rotoscope cartoon, the first sound cartoon, the first cartoon with photoshop (not kidding), the first cartoon with a bouncing ball. But the ultimate is bringing cartoons into real life.

[@hectormanuel8360]

Yet not enough to make more features

[@mazoku6793]

My favorite rotoscope scene is The Old Man On The Mountain

[@RayPointerChannel]

Berny Wolf did that. I used to sit across the hall from him at Film Roman when he was the Producer of BOBBY'S WORLD.

[@NickOwens]

I love A Scanner Darkly, and rotoscoped animation has interested me since I watched it, I'm currently working on my own rotoscoped animation, so it's amazing to see how far back it goes.

[@spejampar]

What are you making? Is it done? I'm actually making a rotoscoped documentary right now (I'm in the very early stages).

[@NickOwens]

I haven't worked on an animation in months, I really should get back into it.

[@spejampar]

Yes! I have another project that I really need to get back to but this current one takes priority right now. Why won't someone pay me lots and lots of money to do this full time?!?!?! ;)

[@george_7102]

This year, 2017 is the 100 of rotoscoping

[@WithinPremises]

such a well made video, thanks for this!!

[@monkofdarktimes]

the dam fly with Ko Ko

[@Xeronimo74]

what's the movie shown at 2:38?

[@onehundredyearsofcinema]

It's made from Talkartoons: Minnie the moocher (1932), the whole thing is on KZbin

[@Xeronimo74]

thanks!

[@keypath4389]

Wait, gulliver cant be the first feature to use rotoscope if snow white use it too, because snow white came first iirc....

[@oobrocks]

It took me yrs to understand what rotoscoping is

[@RayPointerChannel]

It's simple. You film a model acting or dancing, develop the film, project the film and trace from it frame-by-frame. That is what Fleischer did initially.

[@angelicadiazreyes7780]

You forgot Emile Raynaud!!!!! I think he’s very important on animation’s history

[@RayPointerChannel]

Reynaud conceived the concept that motion picture film worked by, that being a sprocket-driven method to maintain registration of the medium of record. This came before the invention of the motion picture camera. In this, Reynaud can be recognized as having invented the first actual motion pictures, using artwork instead of photography.

[@chokispokis]

But Pauvre Pierrot from 1892 isn't the first film animation??? And it looks way better than Coco or the animations from 1906

[@robertzverina7181]

I would like to see Carole Desbiens’ live action footage that was roto’d in Heavy Metal (1981). Anyone have it?

[@mariolipuma5189]

Can anyone help me with the background music? I don't where I've heard it and I'm freaking out

[@Bigbadwhitecracker]

Anything Fleischer is great!

[@RayPointerChannel]

Well, towards the end, the product lost much of the original magic due to Paramount President, Barney Balaban trying to make Fleischer another Disney. THAT is the source of the so-called "Disneyfication" of the late Fleischer output.

[@wheeeeeeeeeee]

I'm the highway man

[@Holyax]

rotoscope was used to save time animating smooth movement, but it is in no way something that improves the art of animation, where the realism can and should be broken.

[@RayPointerChannel]

Actually, Rotoscoping is time consuming. Once the tracings are completed, they have to be re-worked to suit the characters since they are stylized with features that tend to be thinner in some places and larger in others than on the models in the reference footage. So the Roto tracings are used as a guide for timing and positioning. This is of particular help with dance sequences because of the intricate timing and ancillary movement of the costumes--details that might not be realized by the imagination.