After watching betty boob and popeye last class I could not help but think to myself "Wow, if they don't stop moving for no reason I'm going to shoot myself." At the risk of sounding non politically correct I would just like to say it looked like every character was Michael J Fox. Since then I've been trying to figure out why they kept moving, and I have a few hypothesis on the issue.
1. Going to he beat: That is betty boops excuse and I suppose it fits. At some points it was really distracting and I couldn't really focus because betty couldn't seem to realize that she wasn't constantly in an earthquake. It was especially noticeable in the weird frankenstein esque creature episode.
Popeye was a little better, as they didn't have any beat to go to, but Pop eye could never seem to sit still.
2: Hard to animate stillness: I don't really know, Maybe it's really hard to animate someone sitting still. I've never tried. Superman had some still standing people though.
That's about all I have this week, I just couldn't find a real reasons besides "The beat" why characters seemed to constantly move.
I think it might just be a tool to emphasize that these were moving drawings and wanted every frame to show it. The professor mentioned in class how amazed the audience was over how the animators were able to make the characters move to the beat of the music, so they used it to show how lively animation can be. Keeping the characters moving, was like constantly shoving the idea of "moving drawings" down the audience's throat. The same idea can be seen in early 3-D movies, which were made primarily as a gimmick. There was constant attempts to throw something at the audience or have something jump out at them just to shock and amaze them and give them a "Oh no! My eye is going to be poked out!" feeling.
ReplyDeleteI noticed the same thing as well. The beat was what Betty Boop seemed to be focused on as she is very well known for her "va va va voom" quality. That sexy burlesque dancer quality is what got her noticed in the first place, but Popeye's reason I didnt catch. He had no reason to be constantly moving and yet he was. I suppose in the end it is all mostly due to the "slapstick" comedy effect of it all.
ReplyDeleteI always thought Popeye's motions were perfectly appropriate for Popeye. First, he's a sailor, who spend most of their time on pitching decks at sea, and well, they walk funny once back on land for a while. Second, he generally mutters to himself throughout the show, but when he's out for a stroll he's humming a little song and doing a little strut, which, of course, he must dance to a bit as well. He's got swagger, has Popeye. Thirdly, well, the sailor argument again. He's on land, obviously he's been to a bar. It's that Keith Richards/Jack Sparrow sway thing. It's just one of the things that made Popeye distinct.
ReplyDelete