Mariah Van Hosen, age 13, of' Bennington, Vt., for her question:
HOW IS A CARTOON ANIMATED?
Animation is the process of making motion picture cartoons from a series of still drawings. In a full length feature film, more than a million drawings are needed.
To animate a cartoon, you must first have a story. A writer artist prepares an illustrated script called a story board. This looks a lot like a giant comic strip and includes rough sketches that show much of the story's action.
Once the story board has been approved, the music and dialogue are recorded. The composer must be especially careful to follow the story board so that the music will perfectly match the sequence of the action.
Next, layout artists work with the director to determine what settings will be drawn, how each character will look and act and how the story can best be broken down into scenes.
Now the background artists and animators take over. Animators work from a timing chart that indicates the number of frames, or separate drawings, needed to express each word of the recorded dialogue.
If a character says "Mother" in one sequence, the timing chart may show that eight frames are required for the single word. The animator must then make eight drawings in which the character's mouth moves appropriately to form the word "Mother." He must also include all the character's body movements.
After the animators complete their drawings, other artists trace them onto sheets of transparent celluloid called cels. Color is then applied to the reverse side of the cels.
Cels are finally photographed frame by frame over the proper backgrounds.
An exposure sheet tells the camera operator what cels and background he needs for each frame.
Finally, after the photography is completed, the sound track is added. Prints of the film are then made ready for the theaters or television studios.
Perhaps the most famous animated cartoon character in the world is Mickey Mouse. This friendly little talking mouse was the invention of one of the most famous motion picture producers in history, Walt Disney.
Mickey was born in 1928, which means that in just two months the little guy is going to be celebrating his 61st birthday.
Disney himself provided Mickey Mouse’s original voice.
Today, fantastic animation effects are computer generated and allow an artist great flexibility in what he or she can create with high quality artistic images and life like animation