Expanding the Cinematic Language through the invention of the Motion Controlled Camera
1977 marks a change for the cinema as “Star Wars: A New Hope” (George Lucas, 1977) takes the advantage of using a motion controlled camera invented by Industrial Light and Magic (ILM), called the Dykstraflex, which allowed programmable camera movements which were flexible, precise and for the first time repeatable. The Dystraflex allowed for different movements like roll, pan, tilt, swing, boom, traverse, track, and its had a programmable motor drive, and opened up the possibilities of more freedom in general camera movement, but most importantly it allowed them to animate huge miniatures (by moving the camera instead of moving the miniature) and because it was precise and repeatable it allowed several elements like miniatures and matte paintings to be filmed separately through a preprogrammed camera movement, allowing them the possibility to build up complex virtual scenes through compositing. This was a big step in bringing the virtual camera to the cinema, as its use of elaborate compositing opened up the doors for including animation in live action movies, thus expanding upon the cinematic language.
Virtual Camera in Classic Animation
“The Old Mill” (Wilfred Jackson, 1937) is a milestone in camera simulation in 2D animation as it is the first to take the use of a multi-plane setup that allows refined camera movements. This setup consists of up to seven glass layers of artwork and a moveable camera, this setup made it possible for a more versatile use than the Fleischer’s setup, as it was able to simulate that the camera was moving into and through the painted background. As in the Popeye short, “The Old Mill” is also using backgrounds that are painted with warped perspective to simulate turning or tilting. But it does it less subtle and more as an active part of the narrative, as with the crane shots from “Love Me Tonight”.
Right from the opening scene they show us the both potentials and limitations of the multi-plane cameras. While the virtual camera dollies in to the picture through the landscape and over the water, a shot that would be hard to duplicate in traditional cinema at that time, it still has to jump cut forward in motion four times to come to the end of the camera motion in to the picture, this could be seen as an artistic choice, but it had to be made because of the physical limitations of the multi-plane camera setup (as the physical camera cannot move through the glass plates that makes up the layers). Probably in an effort to enhance the feeling of depth and 3D space, elements in the scene comes out of focus as it gets close to the camera. This helps the audience to except the reality they see on screen, as it reminds them of how reality is depicted through a conventional camera.
Most notable is the third scene in the movie, where the virtual camera moves around inside the old mill. At first it’s tilted down moving upwards, and then it tilts up and dollies forward through the beams, before moving and tilting upwards. Some of the animals in this scene are responding and somewhat aware of the virtual camera and reacts to its presence. An interesting discovery is that although the movements of virtual camera in theory could be more floating, they are not, but they rather mimicked the style of the rigid movements the camera in traditional cinema at the time (tilting, turning, dollying and paning as separate movements). A possibly to reasons for this is that most of these movements were illusions in 2D space, and by not separate the camera movements to something the audience is already familiar with from cinema, the camera movements could be interpreted as confusing or in worst case not interpreted at all.
Right from the opening scene they show us the both potentials and limitations of the multi-plane cameras. While the virtual camera dollies in to the picture through the landscape and over the water, a shot that would be hard to duplicate in traditional cinema at that time, it still has to jump cut forward in motion four times to come to the end of the camera motion in to the picture, this could be seen as an artistic choice, but it had to be made because of the physical limitations of the multi-plane camera setup (as the physical camera cannot move through the glass plates that makes up the layers). Probably in an effort to enhance the feeling of depth and 3D space, elements in the scene comes out of focus as it gets close to the camera. This helps the audience to except the reality they see on screen, as it reminds them of how reality is depicted through a conventional camera.
Most notable is the third scene in the movie, where the virtual camera moves around inside the old mill. At first it’s tilted down moving upwards, and then it tilts up and dollies forward through the beams, before moving and tilting upwards. Some of the animals in this scene are responding and somewhat aware of the virtual camera and reacts to its presence. An interesting discovery is that although the movements of virtual camera in theory could be more floating, they are not, but they rather mimicked the style of the rigid movements the camera in traditional cinema at the time (tilting, turning, dollying and paning as separate movements). A possibly to reasons for this is that most of these movements were illusions in 2D space, and by not separate the camera movements to something the audience is already familiar with from cinema, the camera movements could be interpreted as confusing or in worst case not interpreted at all.
Virtual Cinematography in 2D animation
“Popeye the Sailor meets Sinbad the Sailor” was one of the animated shorts that used the Fleischer’s patented “Rotograph” camera setup. It used a horizontal multiplane camera setup, where the background (as well as middleground and forground) for the cartoon is actually modeled 3D miniatures in the same scale as the drawn cartoons. This gives a real stereoscopic depth of field when panning, also known as “parallax”.
It is clear that the cinematic narrative as found “Love Me Tonight” is evident in “Popeye the Sailor meets Sindbad the Sailor”, but the animated short adds further dynamic to the camera movements as it is not restricted to constructions such as a crane or a dolly to move the viewpoint in space.
In 2D animation, camera tilts and turns are done by using warped perspective in the background paintings, so when they are moved under the physical camera, you get a simulated tilt or turn. Such as in the opening scene of this animated short, where we are first introduced to island of Sindbad.
In the second shot of the first scene, we are presented with a camera tilt up from the “welcome sign” on the island, but the virtual camera is also moving in to the picture as it is tilting. Both physically by moving the real camera closer to the cels, and virtually by panning over the warped perspective on the painted background. The camera is following the winding road up to the castle for the first ten seconds of the scene, before slowing down its movement in depth and only continues tilting up to show the castle on the mountain top.
We are then presented with a long shot of the castle, a similar shot as to the long shot of Nosferatu’s castle in “Nosferatu” (F.W. Murnau, 1922). Then a medium shot from the same angle followed up by a close shot where the perspective is slightly different, as the angle of the viewpoint has slightly changed. A minor detail that enhance the illusion of a three dimensional world. In the following scene the camera follows Sindbad (the antagonist) as he walks across his island. Since the backgrounds are miniature models, the camera movement gives us a stereo-optical effect with a deep sense of depth and parallax, further enhancing the illusion of a three dimensional “reality”.
In the scene where Sindbad discovers Olive Oyl through his scope, we see the iris focusing in on Olive. It has a clear resemblance to the iris focus technique used in one of the romantic scenes in “Birth of a Nation” (D.W. Griffith, 1915).
The third time we see the evil bird fly in the sky, 6 minutes and 30 seconds into the movie, we see an interesting use of simulated camera. It is a mid shot of Sindbad’s evil bird who is flying in a circle up in the air screeching at Popeye’s ship (that is out of sight in this shot), while the camera is stationary it tilts and turns following the flight pattern of the bird. But the camera does not do so perfectly, it lags behind as if it is a filming of a real bird filmed by a cameraman who is a bit uncertain about the pace and direction the bird is flying, emulating the style of a shot from a nature documentary. By simulating the weaknesses of a real camera man in the movements of the virtual camera, it adds a layer of reality to the shot making it more believable as it fit with conventions the audience already know from the “reality” of nature documentaries in cinema.
These examples shows that the directors of traditional animation where mimicking the cinematography of different genres from cinema. By using a cross pollination of different from different genres in a production, they can play on conventions and grammar that the audience already know, and recall their associations to them in different shots as they see fitting by the narrative of the animation. By playing on conventions that are already being accepted as cinematic reality, they increase the believability of the constructed world.
Since the basic nature of the 2D animation in lacks real depth, I discovered that the animators compensate by using different techniques to give the constructed world a sense of three-dimensionality. Examples of these techniques are changing the angle of the viewpoint between shots, creating a parallaxing effect when panning, let action take place along the Z-axis of the viewpoint and building up a scene by positioning the action in the middleground while constructing the scene around it (in the foreground and background).
It is clear that the cinematic narrative as found “Love Me Tonight” is evident in “Popeye the Sailor meets Sindbad the Sailor”, but the animated short adds further dynamic to the camera movements as it is not restricted to constructions such as a crane or a dolly to move the viewpoint in space.
In 2D animation, camera tilts and turns are done by using warped perspective in the background paintings, so when they are moved under the physical camera, you get a simulated tilt or turn. Such as in the opening scene of this animated short, where we are first introduced to island of Sindbad.
In the second shot of the first scene, we are presented with a camera tilt up from the “welcome sign” on the island, but the virtual camera is also moving in to the picture as it is tilting. Both physically by moving the real camera closer to the cels, and virtually by panning over the warped perspective on the painted background. The camera is following the winding road up to the castle for the first ten seconds of the scene, before slowing down its movement in depth and only continues tilting up to show the castle on the mountain top.
We are then presented with a long shot of the castle, a similar shot as to the long shot of Nosferatu’s castle in “Nosferatu” (F.W. Murnau, 1922). Then a medium shot from the same angle followed up by a close shot where the perspective is slightly different, as the angle of the viewpoint has slightly changed. A minor detail that enhance the illusion of a three dimensional world. In the following scene the camera follows Sindbad (the antagonist) as he walks across his island. Since the backgrounds are miniature models, the camera movement gives us a stereo-optical effect with a deep sense of depth and parallax, further enhancing the illusion of a three dimensional “reality”.
In the scene where Sindbad discovers Olive Oyl through his scope, we see the iris focusing in on Olive. It has a clear resemblance to the iris focus technique used in one of the romantic scenes in “Birth of a Nation” (D.W. Griffith, 1915).
The third time we see the evil bird fly in the sky, 6 minutes and 30 seconds into the movie, we see an interesting use of simulated camera. It is a mid shot of Sindbad’s evil bird who is flying in a circle up in the air screeching at Popeye’s ship (that is out of sight in this shot), while the camera is stationary it tilts and turns following the flight pattern of the bird. But the camera does not do so perfectly, it lags behind as if it is a filming of a real bird filmed by a cameraman who is a bit uncertain about the pace and direction the bird is flying, emulating the style of a shot from a nature documentary. By simulating the weaknesses of a real camera man in the movements of the virtual camera, it adds a layer of reality to the shot making it more believable as it fit with conventions the audience already know from the “reality” of nature documentaries in cinema.
These examples shows that the directors of traditional animation where mimicking the cinematography of different genres from cinema. By using a cross pollination of different from different genres in a production, they can play on conventions and grammar that the audience already know, and recall their associations to them in different shots as they see fitting by the narrative of the animation. By playing on conventions that are already being accepted as cinematic reality, they increase the believability of the constructed world.
Since the basic nature of the 2D animation in lacks real depth, I discovered that the animators compensate by using different techniques to give the constructed world a sense of three-dimensionality. Examples of these techniques are changing the angle of the viewpoint between shots, creating a parallaxing effect when panning, let action take place along the Z-axis of the viewpoint and building up a scene by positioning the action in the middleground while constructing the scene around it (in the foreground and background).
Liberated Camera View in Classic Cinema
Being made the same year as the invention of the zoom lens, “Love Me Tonight” contains the first zoom shot in a feature film. In the opening scene, when establishing the early in the morning in Paris, the camera zooms in on a couple of chimneys. At the end of the zoom, the chimneys let out smoke, before the movie proceeds to the next shot of the scene.
“Love Me Tonight” is using the crane to liberate the camera into movements in space. In the scene where we are introduced to the protagonist, the camera floats mid-air through his window into his bedroom. It is as possesses a life on its own, it is an active part of the narrative. This effect is used through the movie as the camera rather tilts and turns from a situation to the next. Most notable is this effect in the scene at the chateau, where the camera floats through the bedroom and then tilts down the sleeping protagonist, as through the eyes of a person moving through the room.
What these examples shows is that in classic cinema the films took advantage of new technical solutions as they got available to them, and used them to explore the camera narrative as well as to liberate the camera in terms of spatial movements. This shows that the idea of a free roaming camera existed in the 1930s’ cinema.
“Love Me Tonight” also employs effects such as slow- and fast-motion shots. Fast-motion is used to increase the feeling of intensity of when the princess is riding her horse to catch the train. Slow-motion is used in the scene when all the horse riders are on their way to ride offscreen, to enhance the dramatic shot of all the galloping horses and to give the viewer time to read what is happening onscreen.
This shows that it was a clear distinction between a special effect shot and regular shot also in classic cinema.
“Love Me Tonight” is using the crane to liberate the camera into movements in space. In the scene where we are introduced to the protagonist, the camera floats mid-air through his window into his bedroom. It is as possesses a life on its own, it is an active part of the narrative. This effect is used through the movie as the camera rather tilts and turns from a situation to the next. Most notable is this effect in the scene at the chateau, where the camera floats through the bedroom and then tilts down the sleeping protagonist, as through the eyes of a person moving through the room.
What these examples shows is that in classic cinema the films took advantage of new technical solutions as they got available to them, and used them to explore the camera narrative as well as to liberate the camera in terms of spatial movements. This shows that the idea of a free roaming camera existed in the 1930s’ cinema.
“Love Me Tonight” also employs effects such as slow- and fast-motion shots. Fast-motion is used to increase the feeling of intensity of when the princess is riding her horse to catch the train. Slow-motion is used in the scene when all the horse riders are on their way to ride offscreen, to enhance the dramatic shot of all the galloping horses and to give the viewer time to read what is happening onscreen.
This shows that it was a clear distinction between a special effect shot and regular shot also in classic cinema.
Historical Antecedents of the Animated Camera
“Gertie the Dinosaur” follows the style of the early cinema (also known as primitive cinema), which had a static camera where all the actions is played out in a very frontal style (“Frankenstein”, J. Searle Dawley, 1909), not unlike traditional theatre. An interesting point is that since McCay didn’t use cels in this short, and therefore had to redraw everything on screen on each frame, he had no restraints keeping him from creating a simulated camera movement, but he kept to the presentational style of primitive cinema. It is also interesting that the world he constructed is three dimensional many of the actions taking place along the Z-axis (in the depth of field). As with silent movies of that time, McCay uses black slides with white text as intertitles, to do the dialogue.
While “Gertie the Dinosaur” follows the style of early cinema, “The Sinking of Lusitania” is stylized as a documentary, and it is using intertitles in between the animated sequences as a narration to what is happening. It is an early example of virtual cinematography. McCay uses animation as a medium to recreate a historic event where a German submarine attacks an American ship. The animated short places a virtual camera in positions where it would be impossible for real camera to be. Most notably is the scene where the virtual camera is looking out from a window of the ship while it “records” the torpedo coming towards it, but also in more subtitle ways like when the submarine is passing underneath it.
Both these examples shows that animation from its early days has been used as a medium to construct “reality”, that is was used to depict elements, actions and effects that cinema could not. Noteworthy is that they are both following the narrative style of their live-action counterparts.
While “Gertie the Dinosaur” follows the style of early cinema, “The Sinking of Lusitania” is stylized as a documentary, and it is using intertitles in between the animated sequences as a narration to what is happening. It is an early example of virtual cinematography. McCay uses animation as a medium to recreate a historic event where a German submarine attacks an American ship. The animated short places a virtual camera in positions where it would be impossible for real camera to be. Most notably is the scene where the virtual camera is looking out from a window of the ship while it “records” the torpedo coming towards it, but also in more subtitle ways like when the submarine is passing underneath it.
Both these examples shows that animation from its early days has been used as a medium to construct “reality”, that is was used to depict elements, actions and effects that cinema could not. Noteworthy is that they are both following the narrative style of their live-action counterparts.
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