AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |
Back to Blog
1980 animation desk1/5/2024 ![]() The various studios would devise variations in the design of their equipment to meet the specifics of their production needs, but the Fleischer Studio took this designing process to a new level. This process was used throughout most of the 20th century. This allowed for the artists to see through the drawings in order to plot and confirm the sequential action/movement of the animation. Sedelmaier: Before animators and production artists worked exclusively in a digital domain and created their artwork on tablets like Cintiqs, production artists worked on animation discs and desks that were set over a light-source. Replaced By: Today, the registration of the drawings and assets is all a part of digital technology – it’s automatic. Needless to say, The “Bray Punch” is now “New York Studios Punch.” The chronology was probably: Inkwell Studios/Fleischer Studios (1910s-1920s), Audiocinema Studio (1930-1931), and then Bray Studio (1931-83). I’m assuming that this photo is evidence of this punch having hopped between three New York studios. Because this device was a specially converted machine, I honestly can’t fathom there being two of these machines. A closer look shows a man in the center standing at the same punch described above. It shows several workers busy at various tasks. Mixed in amongst several photographs was a shot from their workshop at their 1600 Broadway studio. The “Bray punch” at use in the Fleischer brothers studio at 1600 Broadway in Manhattan.īut wait – there’s more! I thought that I had traced this machine’s heritage fully until I received a cache of material in November 2017 from the family of Max/Dave/Joe/Lou Fleischer who now reside in Florida. ![]() He also explained that the faint lettering on the front of the punch saying “Audio”, was a remnant from its days as a punch used at the Audiocinema Studio (1929-1931), a precursor to Paul Terry’s Terrytoons studio in New Rochelle, NY. I verified its use within the Bray Studios during the 1970-80s with the help of former Bray employee, Monroe Oakley. She had a garage sale in Connecticut in the early 2000s and she gave it to me for free if I could figure out how to transport it from her premises. Bray’s granddaughter-in-law who worked at the Bray Studios until it closed in 1983 after almost 70 years in the film production business. I acquired this device from Penny Bray, legendary cartoonist/animator/producer John R. The waste paper/acetate would be automatically dispensed into a sliding wooden drawer located under the male/female blades. It was activated with a foot-pedal and would punch perhaps as many as five to seven sheets simultaneously. This particular machine dates from 1914 and had originally been a book-binding punch that had been modified to function for the animation production process. A key part of any classic animation production: the hole punch machine. Sedelmaier: This cast-iron contraption was used to punch the registration holes in sheets of paper and acetate at a time when drawings were done on a lightbox and traced with ink and/or paint onto acetate “cels.” The registration holes corresponded to pegs (sometimes two round ones, sometimes two squared ones with a single round peg in the center) that all the artists and camera people used in production of the cartoons. For more information visit Grohmann Museum website. Admission is between $3-5, and free for the school’s student, alumni, faculty, and staff. It scratches the surface of what can be seen on display at the actual exhibit, but it makes quite clear that technical innovation has always essential to the production of motion picture animation. “Whether it’s the person or studio that used it, or the productions it was used for, they all have a unique lineage.”īelow, we asked Sedelmaier to share with Cartoon Brew readers five of the pieces in the exhibition, and their importance to the classical animation process. “Every piece you see has a story behind it,” he says. Sedelmaier has been collecting these materials ever since he entered the industry in 1980, and he presents not just the equipment but also the stories behind the machines – who used them, how he found them, and what purpose they served in the production. ![]() The exhibit presents equipment, materials, and various applications of artwork used in the production process throughout the 20th century.
0 Comments
Read More
Leave a Reply. |