The
multiplane camera is a special motion picture
camerathumb |right|Cameras from Large to Small, Film to Digital A camera is a device that records images, either as a still photograph or as moving images known as videos or movies...
used in the
traditional animationTraditional animation, also referred to as classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation, is the oldest and historically the most popular form of animation...
process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a
three-dimensionalIn film, the term 3-D is used to describe any visual presentation system that attempts to maintain or recreate moving images of the third dimension, the illusion of depth as seen by the viewer....
effect, although not actually
stereoscopicStereoscopy, stereoscopic imaging or 3-D imaging is any technique capable of recording three-dimensional visual information or creating the illusion of depth in an image. The illusion of depth in a photograph, movie, or other two-dimensional image is created by presenting a slightly different...
.
Various parts of the artwork layers are left transparent, to allow other layers to be seen behind them. The movements are calculated (in later years, often by
computerA computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century . These were the size of a large room, consuming as...
) and photographed frame-by-frame, with the result being an illusion of depth by having several layers of artwork moving at different speeds - the further away from the camera, the slower the speed.
The
multiplane camera is a special motion picture
camerathumb |right|Cameras from Large to Small, Film to Digital A camera is a device that records images, either as a still photograph or as moving images known as videos or movies...
used in the
traditional animationTraditional animation, also referred to as classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation, is the oldest and historically the most popular form of animation...
process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a
three-dimensionalIn film, the term 3-D is used to describe any visual presentation system that attempts to maintain or recreate moving images of the third dimension, the illusion of depth as seen by the viewer....
effect, although not actually
stereoscopicStereoscopy, stereoscopic imaging or 3-D imaging is any technique capable of recording three-dimensional visual information or creating the illusion of depth in an image. The illusion of depth in a photograph, movie, or other two-dimensional image is created by presenting a slightly different...
.
Various parts of the artwork layers are left transparent, to allow other layers to be seen behind them. The movements are calculated (in later years, often by
computerA computer is a machine that manipulates data according to a set of instructions.Although mechanical examples of computers have existed through much of recorded human history, the first electronic computers were developed in the mid-20th century . These were the size of a large room, consuming as...
) and photographed frame-by-frame, with the result being an illusion of depth by having several layers of artwork moving at different speeds - the further away from the camera, the slower the speed. The multiplane effect is sometimes referred to as a
parallaxParallax is an apparent displacement or difference of orientation of an object viewed along two different lines of sight, and is measured by the angle or semi-angle of inclination between those two lines...
process.
An interesting variation is to have the background and foreground move in
opposite directions. This creates an effect of rotation. An early example is the scene in Walt Disney's
Snow White and the Seven DwarfsSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a American animated feature based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Snow White. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full color, the first...
where the evil Queen drinks her potion, and the surroundings appear to spin around her.
History
A predecessor to the multiplane camera was used by
Lotte ReinigerCharlotte Reiniger was a German silhouette animator and film director.- Early life :Lotte Reiniger was born in Berlin-Charlottenburg, German Empire, on June 2, 1899...
for her animated feature
The Adventures of Prince AchmedThe Adventures of Prince Achmed is a 1926 feature-length animated film by the German animator Lotte Reiniger. It is the oldest surviving animated feature film , and it featured a silhouette animation technique Reiniger had invented which involved manipulated cutouts made from cardboard...
(1926).
Berthold BartoschBerthold Bartosch was a film-maker, born in Bohemia .He moved to Berlin in 1920 and collaborated with Lotte Reiniger on her paper silhouette animations:*The Ornament of the Loving Heart...
, who worked with her, used a similar setup in his 1930 film "The Idea". The first multiplane camera, using four layers of flat artwork before a horizontal camera, was invented by former Walt Disney Studios
animatorAn animator is an artist who creates multiple images called frames and Key frames that form an illusion of movement called animation when rapidly displayed. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, video games, and the internet. Usually, an animation piece requires the...
/
directorA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
Ub IwerksUb Iwerks, A.S.C. was a two-time Academy Award winning American animator, cartoonist and special effects technician, who was famous for his work for Walt Disney...
in 1933, using parts from an old
ChevroletChevrolet is a brand of automobile produced by General Motors Company . Founded by Louis Chevrolet and ousted GM founder William C. Durant in 1911, Chevrolet was acquired by General Motors in 1917...
automobileAn automobile, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
. His multiplane camera was used in a number of the Iwerks Studio's
Willie WhopperWillie Whopper is an animated cartoon character created by American cartoonist Ub Iwerks. The Whopper series was the second from the Iwerks studio to be produced by Pat Powers and distributed through Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It lasted only two years; from 1933 to 1934.-History:Willie is a young lad who...
and
Comicolor cartoonThe word cartoon has various meanings, based on several very different forms of visual art and illustration. The term has evolved over time....
s of the mid-1930s.
The technicians at
Fleischer StudiosFleischer Studios, Inc. was an American corporation which originated as an animation studio located at 1600 Broadway, New York City, New York. It was founded in 1921 as Inkwell Studios by brothers Max Fleischer and Dave Fleischer who ran the company from its inception until Paramount Pictures, the...
created a distantly related device, called the
Stereoptical Camera or
Setback, in 1934. Their apparatus used three-dimensional miniature sets built to the scale of the animation artwork. The animation cels were placed so that various objects could pass in front of and behind them, and the entire scene was shot using a horizontal camera. The Tabletop process was used to create distinctive results in Fleischer's
Betty BoopBetty Boop is an animated cartoon character created by animator Grim Natwick, appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. With her overt sexual appeal, Betty was a hit with filmgoers, and despite having been toned down...
,
Popeye the Sailor, and
Color ClassicsColor Classics were a series of animated short subjects produced by Fleischer Studios for Paramount Pictures from 1934 to 1941 as a competitor to Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies. As the name implies, all of the shorts were made in color, with the first entry in the series, Poor Cinderella, being the...
cartoons.
The most famous multiplane camera was invented by William Garity for the Walt Disney Studios to be used in the production of
Snow White and the Seven DwarfsSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a American animated feature based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Snow White. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full color, the first...
. The camera was completed in early 1937 and tested in a
Silly Symphony called
The Old MillThe Old Mill is a 1937 Silly Symphonies cartoon produced by Walt Disney, directed by Wilfred Jackson, scored by Leigh Harline, and released to theatres by RKO Radio Pictures on November 5, 1937...
, which won the 1937
Academy Award for Animated Short FilmThe Academy Award for Animated Short Film is an award which has been given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as part of the Academy Awards every year since the 5th Academy Awards, covering the year 1931-32, to the present....
. Disney's multiplane camera, which used up to seven layers of artwork (painted in
oilsOil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil — especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their...
on
glassIn general Glass refers to a solid, brittle, transparent material, commonly used for windows, bottles, or eyewear. Examples of glassy materials include, but are not limited to, soda-lime glass, borosilicate glass, acrylic glass, sugar glass, Muscovy-glass, or aluminium oxynitride. The term glass...
) shot under a vertical and moveable camera, allowed for more sophisticated uses than the Iwerks or Fleischer versions, and was used prominently in Disney films such as
PinocchioPinocchio is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based on the story Pinocchio: Tale of a Puppet by Carlo Collodi. The second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, it was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was released to theaters by RKO Radio...
,
FantasiaFantasia is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and the third film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. Fantasia features animation set to classical music and no dialogue—only spoken introductions by the host, American composer and music critic Deems Taylor, before segments...
,
BambiBambi is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based on the book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by Austrian author Felix Salten...
, and
Peter PanPeter Pan is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney and based on the play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up by J. M. Barrie. It is the fourteenth film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series and was originally released on February 5, 1953 by RKO Pictures...
. Its final use was in 1989's
The Little MermaidThe Little Mermaid is a American animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and based on the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of the same name. Distributed by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was originally released to theaters on November 17, 1989 and is the twenty-eighth film in...
, as the process was made obsolete by the implementation of a multiplane feature in the computerized CAPS process used for subsequent Disney films.
Yuri Norstein is still using a multiplane camera similar to the one used by the Walt Disney Studios.
Other forms of animation such as video games also use multiplane, or
parallax scrollingParallax scrolling is a special scrolling technique in computer graphics, seen first in the 1982 arcade game Moon Patrol. In this pseudo-3D technique, background images move by the "camera" slower than foreground images, creating an illusion of depth in a 2D video game and adding to the immersion...
, a related effect.
External links