1950's Disney Animation Technology

I saw this while closing some browser tabs and thought was an interesting technique.

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I have a partially finished p5.js project where I’m trying something similar – changing the size and speed of rising bubbles to try to give the illusion of depth.

Also, it’s crazy how much labor they put into these things – hand painted cells and plates, hand turning the little cranks to move the plate just a little bit. I once read that Miyazaki would include details on the edge of a cell even though he knew they wouldn’t show up in the finished film because, to him, they were still part of the story. Such dedication to craft.

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One of the best animated films is Akira. Each cel is hand drawn.
From a technical standpoint the anime has few rivals.
It reminds me of the first Blade Runner. I’m not sure how Scott achieved those effects without a computer.

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This other video doesn’t have as much technology in it, but I thought it was interesting to see how many artists they had working on a simple cartoon. It must have taken a really long time.

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My brother worked on The Clone Wars for Lucasfilm Animation, before the Disney acquisition. He and his coworkers have lots of respect for the animators of Snow White. It was difficult, tedious work done by hand, no computers.

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