Re: Ted Turner Dartboards are here!

From: Ed Rudnicki <erudnick_at_pica.army.mil>
Date: Tue, 12 Mar 96 13:31:00 EST

>Ut-oh, nitpick time. The frame rate (number of frames for each second of
>footage) is generally 24 frames/sec for film animation, and 30 frames/second
>for Television. One would thing that there's 30 different drawings on cels
>for every second of footage, but they generally double up on every fifth
>frame for TV cartoons as a byproduct of having to convert from the Film
>medium (at 24fps) to the Videotape rate of 30. Modern VCR's usually
>have a "still frame" or "jog shuttle" that lets you pause and count each frame to
>a maximum of 30 before the counter racks up another second, but only try it
>if you're _really_ bored. But A.J.'s right, sometimes the frame-rate dips
>horribly low as a means of saving money (less drawings being required
>means more can be done by fewer artists), and sometimes the cheaper
>efforts have 'action' sequences as low as 12fps. I think I'm saying that though

Most feature film animation is done on ones and on twos. That is,
it's only a full 24 fps for scenes with lots of action, while it's 12
fps, with each cel used twice, for slower scenes. A lot of TV
animation is done on twos as a maximum, with frame rates dropping as
low as 4 fps.

When 24 fps animation is transferred to 30 fps video, some of the
twos become threes. The only way to get true frame-by-frame of the
original film via video is from a CAV LD.


>Kats could drop to twenty distinct drawings within a thirty-frame sequence,
>I highly doubt "Speed" could drive the Mach 5 at anything below 12 (or some
>junk).

A lot of Speed Racer is "partial animation", where cels of the
character's moving mouth are placed on an underlay of the character.
I checked out the show on MTV, and was horrified at how bad it looks
to me now. OTOH, I love my Marine Boy bootlegs, and that's no
better, but I like the characters and premise more. Ah, youth... :)




Ed

Received on Tue Mar 12 1996 - 13:51:36 PST