This is a true "behind the scenes" document, detailing the animators' animation output during the last week of 1966. Walt had died just two weeks prior to year's end. So the mood in the animation department was somber, to say the least. Most of the animators took the time off between Christmas and New Year's.
It is interesting to see what the average output was up to that point in production by each animator.
Ollie did just over 15 feet a week. That is about 10 seconds.
Hal king was pretty prolific, too, with 10-03 Feet.
Milt Kahl just short of 9 feet, average. (Of course, according to him, he could have been much faster, if he didn't have to do so many drawings for other animators.)
Funny, it looks like they were 10 frames ahead of schedule for total output.
Fascinating. I'm wondering if they had to produce a certain amount each week (like at Warner's I believe) or be fired ?
ReplyDeleteOh, these artists were too valuable to the production to get fired. Such a tiny animation crew.
DeleteTruly fascinating! So does this amount of animation produced by each artist include the in-betweens and clean-ups as well? Or is it just the key drawings done by the main animator?
ReplyDeleteIt includes approved rough animation, including rough in-betweens. Clean up or touch up has its own Productivity reports.
DeleteThank you very much for that Mr. Deja. It's always a thrill to learn more about the inner workings of the cartoons that we all grew up watching and loving. Thank you for sharing all these insights with us fans.
DeleteVery cool to see. Interesting how much Hal King did. Some unsung animators apart from the nine out there for sure. Your sheet goes really well together with Hans Perks' drafts which can be found here:
ReplyDeletehttp://afilmla.blogspot.com/search/label/JungleBook
Great stuff for people like myself who like to dive a bit more into the history and production nitty gritty! Thanks for posting! Recently watched the "Trust in me" sequence again and the Sherekahn encounters Kaa bit afterwards. Frank and Milty pie magic!
I'm sorry this is slightly off-topic, but I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could answer this question: Just as Fred Moore was the specialist Mickey Mouse animator, was there similarly a specialist animator of Donald Duck? One who animated the character most and/or had a big hand in developing the look of the character?
ReplyDeleteSo is 10 seconds 120 drawings shot on twos?
ReplyDeleteForgive my math, 720
Delete16 frames in 1 foot, 24 frames in 1 second, 16x15 =240 on twos 120. your math was right.
DeleteHi Andreas - an off topic comment related to Black Cauldron. When I was young (having read and loved all of the Prydain Chronicles) I was thrilled to hear that Disney was adapting it for an animated film. I found out via a Disney wall calendar I had in which one of the months featured a rough color drawing/painting/pastel of a climactic scene from The High King in which Taran hangs from a cliff ledge with a gwythaint screeching towards him with talons out. Do you have any memory or information about this piece of art? I sadly no longer have the calendar but would love to see this picture again. Many thanks!!!
ReplyDeleteYear of the calendar was probably within a year or two prior to the movie’s release. Early 80s. Cheers!
DeleteI sounds like a concept piece by artist Mel Shaw. He created many of those for the film, literally hundreds.
DeleteI remember that well. The pastel painting appears in Frank and Ollie's Treasures of Disney Animation Art book from 1982. It was sort of a companion piece to The Illusion of Life; similar cover. I photographed the page but cannot attach it here.
ReplyDeleteWow, how fast !!!
ReplyDeleteInformations about Milt Kahl teamworkqualities and the mood in the apartment are very important for me.
I don't know how fast an animator have to be now. But I think everybody knows that the animators have to work much more faster.
Without the use of computers they are too slow for the big film business.
But I think since then the risk is high that characters look much more the same than in the age before.