Animation has a long history of sharing the screen with live action
as you can see here with "The Enchanted Drawing" --
the first piece of animation ever put to film.
The magic of animation from it's foundation
was about bringing these two-dimensional characters to life --
not just on the page, but in the real world.
And nowhere has that been better
than in Robert Zemeckis and Richard Williams' 1988 film
"Who Framed Roger Rabbit?"
So today, I want to look at the three fundamental elements
in integrating animated characters over the live action environment
and what made Roger Rabbit stand out from the rest of them.
The first and probably the simplest from a technical perspective is "eye line."
Eye line is important for a number of reasons --
it establishes an emotional connection with the animated character and the actor,
it sets a blocking reference for the animators,
and it also convinces the audience that both characters
are occupying the same dimensional space.
And, when the effect works it's a seamless interaction,
but when it doesn't, the actors seem to be blankly staring
into dead space.
Which is the case with a lot of the animated scenes in Mary Poppins.
You can see her eye line never quite connects with the other characters'.
And, no matter how beautifully animated those penguins are,
it still breaks the illusion.
Now, let's look at this scene from Roger Rabbit
where Eddie and Roger arrive outside of Maroon Studios.
Roger's character model stands roughly three feet tall.
And you can see here, Bob Hoskins actually misses his eye line.
Same mistake as Mary Poppins.
But, the animators used a creative workaround to correct it.
Having Roger stand up on his toes against the wall,
making him a bit taller to reconnect the eyes.
And there are a lot of clever moments like that throughout the film.
Here, Roger's hand comes up higher as he jumps on the bed
because that's where Hoskins was looking in the shot.
And a lot of these gestures were done out of necessity,
since re-shoots were absolutely not an option.
The live action portion of the film had to be shot in its entirety
before a single frame of animation could be done
because the animation was drawn directly on the photostats.
So, that meant any contact made by a toon had to be 100 percent premeditated.
Which brings us to element #2 -- physical interaction.
[ unnerving music ]
- [ unintelligible ] - [ grunts ]
- With any level of interaction, no matter how small or how large,
chairs bumping, windows crashing,
plates shattering,
- ♪ No pain! ♪ [ shatters ]
- The special effects division had to develop a custom mechanism
to mimic that movement.
And a lot of times those mechanisms were specific to one single effect.
Baby Herman's cigar, for instance, was manipulated by a copycat system
with servo-controlled motors
in order to create all 6 degrees of movement.
Something that couldn't have been done with string and marionettes.
And it would've been much simpler to just use an animated cigar,
or have the weasels carry animated guns,
and most people wouldn't notice.
But there are rules the govern the universe of Roger Rabbit.
If Roger's drowning in real water, then he spits up real water.
And every little detail like that serves as a reminder to the audience
that, yes, these characters are inhabiting this world.
Just look at this shot of Roger on his soap box.
It looks as if every slight shift in weight has an equal reaction,
when in reality, it's the action influencing the movement.
It's part of the reason Roger's such a klutz throughout the film.
It gave the production team more excuses for him to interact with the environment.
It's about blending the mediums, not just sandwiching them together.
And far too often with live-action/animation hybrids
characters exist almost exclusively in separate planes.
If we look at this scene with Eddie and Jessica,
she's on his lap, in his coat, she grabs his hat,
she has real presence and weight, and that's what sells the illusion.
But if we compare that to a similar scene in Ralph Bakshi's 1992 film 𝘊𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘞𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥,
you'll see there's nothing really connecting these two characters.
I could cut out Holli with a pair of scissors, and nothing would change.
You can also see how subtle camera movements
make it seem like Hollie's locked to the front of the lens.
Almost floating against the background.
And the separation between the character and the environment
becomes very obvious.
Which is why, historically, there was an unwritten rule
amongst animators who mix mediums to keep the camera stationary.
And there was really only one reason for this rule.
- Because they're lazy.
[ chuckles ]
I mean, we're supposed to be able to turn things in every direction.
That's our job.
So, you can shoot your movie, and we'll just fit the character in.
He said, "Well, isn't that a lot of work?" Yeah.
Twice as much work.
- Camera movement is an essential part in making these moments feel cinematic.
And the animated element in Roger Rabbit never compromised that movement.
it's shot like a real film because it is a real film.
And you have to remember --
this synchronization of the characters against the camera
was done before the age of digital compositing,
so there was no tracking software to account for the movement
to keep the characters in corresponding motion.
This was all accomplished by eye and by hand.
Not only drawing each frame, but drawing each frame in perspective.
And that becomes a lot more impressive when you consider
the layer build of each character.
Which brings us to the third and final element -- shadow.
Or, more specifically, light and shadow accuracy.
And this is what set Roger Rabbit apart from its predecessors.
Each toon is their own individual layer,
but there also at least 5 additional cells of shadow and highlight
layers for each character in each frame
built up like a watercolor painting.
Starting with a mask as a backlight, then a shadow matte
painted with hard edges and then softened in the optical printer,
a second shadow mask as a cast shadow,
an interpositive,
and an articulate mask for any physical interaction with the character.
And when composited together,
it gives a realistic three-dimensionality to the characters.
Now, keep all those layers in mind when watching this scene.
- You said you'd never take another toon case!
What'd you have? A change of heart?
- Nothing's changed.
Somebody's made a patsy out of me and I'm gonna find out --
- This is called bumping the lamp.
A phrase coined by Disney during the production of Roger Rabbit
to describe going above and beyond what was expected of the animators.
It would've been perfectly feasible if Roger stayed flatly illuminated
throughout this scene like a cartoon normally would,
but instead the animators put in the time to shade every cell uniquely
so that the practical light would bounce off from the same way it would a physical object.
And they had to account for that dynamically shifting lighting
with every contour in Roger's limbs, his clothes, his face,
the cast shadow he creates on the environment as well as the texture of the light,
the slightest difference in color temperatures, the lamp sways,
even Roger's ears have a slight translucency
since they're much thinner than the rest of his body.
They thought of that.
Audiences had no expectation for this level of realism in 1988,
but all these seemingly-superfluous details help sell the effect at a subconscious level.
And the best part of the film is that -- without having noticed any of this --
having no technical knowledge of the animation process or the filmmaking
has no effect of your enjoyment of Roger Rabbit.
It's an incredible film by its own merit.
The storytelling and the heart and the humor.
That's where the true movie magic is.
But it's those technical subtleties and the dedication to the craft
that really inspires new artists.
And that's something to be admired.
So, in your work,
always take the chance to bump the lamp.
Because somebody out there will notice.
♪♪