To vivify this on the screen, little “model” hats are used during the photography.
An amusing occurrence sometimes brought into a story is that of having a man’s hat fly from his head into the air and come down upon his head again. Of course, the practical way of putting this on a length of film would be that of having a little cut-out dummy. The artist, however, takes the trouble of making several dummies of the hat drawn in different views. A single dummy would show but a mere mechanical turning, but by using several in different views, he gets a very good similitude of actuality in the wind twirling the hat around in a lively way. A little point to help the humor of the situation is that of having the hat hesitate, as it were, and give an extra spin immediately before it lands upon the head.
It isn’t always necessary for an artist to make a cycle or a series of drawings for a movement. For instance, he is showing a rather large face on the screen and it is intended that the eyes move. This could be effected by drawings, but there is a much simpler way. The places for the eyes on the main drawing are left blank and holes cut out the size of these blank spaces. On a narrow piece of paper at the proper distance, two eyes are drawn. This paper, with the eyes, is slipped underneath the one with the drawing that has the eye spaces cut out. Now the manipulation of this paper, holding the eyes while in position under the face, is easy. The various positions in which the eyes are placed, it is understood, will be photographed by the stop-motion method.
“CUT-OUT” EYES.
The true artist, in keeping with his talent for creative work, will be disposed to devise helpful contrivances or expedients to lighten irksome and monotonous details arising in this art. And in addition to the possession of this talent, and that of good draftsmanship, he must be quick in deciding on the best means of economizing labor, so that he can spend more time where thorough drawing is needed. He must, in short, in any particular case, put in as much work as it requires and no more. By experience he will learn to know where to slight—“slight” isn’t exactly the word, but it will do—the drawing.
With respect to this latter point, suppose there is some arm movement, with the arm swinging as it does in a hurried walk. Hands, it is certain, are difficult details to draw, and if they are carefully rendered in all of the positions it would take a long time to draw the entire series. But the experienced animator has learned that at times he can, for some of the positions, every other one perhaps, make quickly lined marks indicative of hands. These quickly made lines, however, must be drawn in a way that will help the action. Exactly how to make them and to what extent to “slight” them is learned only by long experience.
For some quick actions, “in-between” drawings can be slighted as shown in numbers 2 and 4.