Interesting – Disney Shortcuts
on July 30, 2009 at 03:00
So, some of you may know that I’m not the biggest fan of copied-and-pasted panels in comics. I realize it’s much quicker for a cartoonist who pumps out, say, a strip per day, but I think it sort of pulls the reader out of the strip when you realize that you’re looking at three identical panels with different dialogue…Except for in the rare instances where that’s the point of the comic, such as Dinosaur Comics. No offense, if you do a comic with copied-and-pasted panels- it’s just not my personal cup of tea, and I realize everybody likes things done a different way. Anyway, if you think a similar shortcut in Disney animation might ruin some of the “magic” for you, then don’t watch this! But I don’t think it should- I think it was necessary back when animation was probably five times as time-consuming as it is now, to “re-use” animation in different movies so they were able to keep a schedule and keep pumping out classic cartoons.
Note: The title the uploader gave this video was “Disney Templates Fail,” but I don’t believe it deserves a “fail” title. This is just a way they used to make cartoons. I think it’s just interesting, more than anything else.
Just interesting to me, as it may be to you. A little “how they do it” (or did it) lesson.
In the interests of disclosure, on the topic of copied and pasted panels, I’ve done it once where I felt it helped the joke. In this comic. Here, the joke was that the information desk attendant’s revelation that he wasn’t wearing any pants caused Edmund to go sit right back down, as if he never attempted to make small talk in the first place. I thought a good way to convey this would be to have the “back to square one” feel by using the same panel in the last as in the first. Eh, hope I’m not rambling.
