Popeye the Sailor: Volume 1 (1933-1938) 7/31 (1 Viewer)

[Patrick McCart]

WB's 1080p transfers of the color Looney Tunes are Ultra-Resolution, so the Technicolor two-reelers are probably the same.

 

[John Morgan]

I hope it looks better than the clip on the Droopy cartoon set. It didn't look much better than my old 16mm print, but maybe it was a pre-restoration clip.

 

[Charles_Y]

Could anyone tell me, though there may be too many to mention, I remember when younger when seeing some of the earlier B/W shorts that Fleischer used constructed miniature sets dressed out in detail, filmed and then used as backdrops for the animated figures in the foreground. This might have been his answer to Disney's "multiplane"camera technique though I think these came first. One great example was in Ali Baba(?) Not sure. I was hoping to know if the first volume included these or did they come later in time.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The technique you are talking about (called "Rotograph") is used prominently in the first color special 2-reeler "Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor", which is definitely included in the set. Any prior uses will also be included since the set is chronological.

I believe the technique debuted on the "Out of the Inkwell" Koko the Clown series in the 20s, but I am not 100% positive.

Regards,

 

[Lord Dalek]

Fleisher's 3-D background technique predate the multiplane camera by at least 5 years.

 

[Mike*HTF]

There's an excellent 1939 Popular Mechanics short on the making of the Popeye short "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" that shows the Rotograph in action. You can see it on the Thunderbean DVD. What a fascinating process.

 

[WillardK]

The Somewhere In Dreamland set of color Fleischer's includes use of that 3D technique in a number of shorts. They are even more "eye-popping" than the Popeye examples imo. I could be wrong, but I think Rotographing was a method of rotoscoping used to translate live action to animation. The 3D technique was patented and went by another name which appears at the start of each short.

 

[WillardK]

...just checked, "Stereo-optical Process" is what the 3D technique was dubbed.

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The "stereo-optical process" was rotographing as it was achieved through the compositing of "live action" photographed background and foreground model elements with animation.

Regards,

 

[WillardK]

ok... so Rotographing was using Rotoscoping in a Stereo-optic Process? I found the term quoted on the back of the dvd case, haven't checked what the patent is in the shorts.

 

[Elphaba]

Awesome news. This will be a must buy for me.

 

[Lord Dalek]

I'm not sure if thats accurate since the Superman shorts are credited for using the stereooptical process and do not utilize those 3-D models.

 

[WillardK]

Well, I'm obviously uncertain about the terms (I should probably rewatch the documentary on the Dreamland disc). But at the risk of being overly pedantic, here's my understanding of the three processes used in varying combinations:

Stereo-optic - multi-planed sets to create depth

Rotoscoping - live action transcribed to 2D animation

Rotographing - essentially "stop-motion" use of 3D models

The notice at the start of the Color Classics is no help at all as it states "patent pending on special processes used in this production."

 

[Ken_McAlinden]

The specific patent for the effect we are talking about is Patent number 2054414 "Art of Making Motion Picture Cartoons" - Filed on November 2, 1933 by Max Fleischer - Issued on September 15, 1936. Check it out on google patent search. It even includes drawings of the apparatus.

Regards,

 

[WillardK]

Thanks for that link! I didn't realize you could google patents specifically.

A number of sites do refer to the device as a Rotograph, but just looking at the word itself (which I didn't see mentioned in the patent) leaves me skeptical. An explanation someone posted under a youtube Popeye clip sounds to me very plausable:

"The devise was referred to as The Stereoptical Process.
The Rotograph was an Arial Image process where live action was photographed single frame with animation cels to produce an animation/live action composite.
Fleischer was doing this in his silent OUT OF THE INKWELL films from 1921 on. The first evidence is in
the first film Fleischer produced when he went independent, MODELING (1921)."

...meaning that the Stereo-optical Process (the patented device) can be said to use the technique of Rotographing (compositing 3D models/live-action/stop-motion with 2D animation).

Conversely, Rotographing can be accomplished without using the Stereo-optical Process.

Also, unless you want to consider the 2D background planes as essentially 3D models, the Stereo-optical Process can be used without Rotographing.

 

[PaulP]

First review? http://www.popsyndicate.com/site/sto...1938_volume_1/

 

[Peter Neski]

As for the first review,great but how could you not say anything about the
color shorts

 

[PaulP]

Screenshots: http://classiccartoons.blogspot.com/...-event-of.html and http://www.cartoonresearch.com/popeyedvd.html

 

[Mike*HTF]

Absolutely jaw-dropping clarity!
This set can't get here fast enough as far as I'm concerned!

 

[Lord Dalek]

My god... that looks absolutely STUNNING! If only Warner's could get the rights to the rest of the Fleischer catalog =(.