Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Pinocchio by Frank Thomas

Frank animated Pinocchio brilliantly in the song sequence "I've got no strings on me".
There is a character defining section of the film. Pinocchio tries very hard to be an actor, and even when little accidents happen during his first performance, he carries on the best he can.
I had the chance to listen to a short Frank Thomas lecture on how to animate Pinocchio, which was recorded during production…when Frank was still a kid!!
The interesting thing he pointed out was that you shouldn't use the usual squash and stretch on him because he is made out of solid wood. So when his head hits the floor, it bounces, but without any deformation of the head mass.
Here are a few drawings from that sequence. Eric Larson did the beautiful animation of the puppets.
They move and perform, but without life.






14 comments:

  1. incredible it so nice to discover this.

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  2. that was an amazing contrast on characters.

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  3. I love the red drawings...Frank Thomas is Immortal!!!!

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  4. Fantastic!! Pinocchio is my favorite movie so I was thrilled to see these drawings. I've always loved the difference between Pinocchio and the puppets, particularly in the faces, where Pinocchio's emotional expressions are such a change from the marionettes' blank faces. Never noticed the lack of squash & stretch in Pinocchio before, but that makes perfect sense. Thanks for sharing!

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  5. I love this film and it is one of most beautiful in the Disney canon(who handled those water splashes at the end?!). If people are asking at the moment 'what is Disney', I think here is the answer.
    I've never really questioned the logic of a world in which animals, humans, dolls, crickets, speaking/non-speaking cats can interact and likely never will...
    Because those are some amazingly good characters which just exude life - sincerity through and through.

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  6. I agree. To me, Pinocchio is the greatest animated feature ever created. It takes everything that made Disney Disney as we know it, and accentuates it.

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  7. Andreas, do you know where we can hear this audio of young Frank that you speak of??

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    1. The original recording is with the Frank Thomas family.

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  8. AMAZING 0.0

    Michael Barrier's biggest complaint about Pinocchio is that the character is naive (which he, you know, has to be so he can learn things); and too much like a boy. Milt Kahl drew him broadly, like his early work; and one day I realized that Pinocchio, because he's made out of wood, moves VOLITIOUSLY like a child, with muscle moving where it would be on a boy, and as REACTION like a puppet. He bounces with wood...
    I think the sound effects are the only area I would improve...it'd sound awesome with a few wooden clops when he impacts things. (That, and resurrect the old Sfumato look. The remaster amps up all the colors, without the smoky gradients and high contrast of colors that would appear on a theatre screen.)

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  9. I've always loved how solid and wood-like Pinocchio is (especially how he clomps around when he tries to dance :D), but I absolutely adore how realistic and life-like he is as a little boy – so sweet, naive, innocent, and completely ignorant about the world around him.

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  10. I think Pinocchio is quite simply the greatest animated film ever. It is Disney's masterpiece. I've watched it countless times over the years, and I'm still yet to find any flaw with the film. It's as close to perfect as you can get. :)

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  11. Ooo... now that you've pointed it out, I so need to study those scenes of Pinocchio bouncing around without squash and stretch. Note to self. Note to self. Note to self!

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  12. Great insight...especially after having watched/study the film quite a bit recently.

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  13. My favorite scene from the film too! " aaaaaiiii GOT NO STRINGS..." Beautiful tumble and fall! and his solo and when he claps with the audience at his efforts is too innocent!and the little portion where he imitates the crazzzy russian puppets.. right down to the entanglement!This makes you cry for the joy of it! Thanks so much for reminding us of this treasure for all time!

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