Readers of The American Cinematographer have frequently asked how modern animated cartoons are made. [American Cinematographer feels] particularly fortunate, therefore, in obtaining this series of articles in which Mr. Fallberg will detail the progress of a Walt Disney cartoon from the inception of the story-idea to the completion of the final technicolor print.
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THE director of an animated cartoon, in general, has the same responsibility as the director of a live-action picture. He determines the tempo and pacing of the picture, the staging, screen performances of characters, and coordinates all of the production activities — animation, music, layouts, dialog and sound-effects recording, cutting and color, keeping all of these varied factors under the control of his experience and judgment and directing their functions toward one homogeneous result: the finished picture.
He can make or break a picture. A story man can go only so far in presenting an idea; the director must take this idea and bring it to life as an active, moving piece of entertainment. If it moves badly — if the gags fail to get over, if the animation is uninspired, if the staging and cutting are confusing, if the story pacing is uneven, if the music a. id color are dull, no one is blamed but the director.
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