Prod. 2061 - Melody Time (I) - Titles & Inserts
With Tuesday's image being number 01, here we go:
Directed by Wilfred Jackson, assistant director Mike Holoboff, layout by Tom Codrick. This FINAL draft is from 5/6/48.
These first five pages, the actual Prod. 2061, are quite interesting - and can be quite confusing! They are comprised of the opening titles, the interstitials and the end title. We find sweepingly animated brushes by George Rowley, Josh Meador, Jack Boyd and Ed Aardal,
a bee by Harvey Toombs, and masks by Ward Kimball!
From this breakdown it is clear that the scenes in the draft are not listed in the order of their appearance in the film:
Page 1, scene 1 & 1.1 - Little Toot intro
Page 1, scene 2 & 2.2 - Johnny Appleseed intro
Page 2, scene 3 & 3.1 - Bumble Boogie intro
Page 2, scene 4 - Once upon a Wintertime intro
Page 2, scene 5 - Trees intro
Page 3, scene 6 - Blame it on the Samba intro
Page 3, scene 7 & 7.1 - Pecos Bill intro
Page 3, scene 10 & the entire page 4 - Opening credits & intro
Page 5, scene 40 - End title
M.R. is, as we have seen before, "Music Room," indicating that there is no animation. The Music Room was originally (on Hyperion Avenue) the room with the piano. It was where the director timed out the storyboards - at times it included the composer and/or the layout man. All this goes to show the meaning of the indication in the "Artist" column, as well as the meaning of the draft itself.
I have said it often (search for "disclaimer") - and I'll say it again:
"Animation drafts were never meant to be historical documents. They were meant as go-to documents, showing the responsible artist for a certain scene, who might be able to help in case there would be any need for this further on in the production line. Therefore we often see e.g. that animators who left have been replaced by others, often their assistants, in later versions of a draft. Also for this reason it is most often the actual animator, not the supervising animator, who is mentioned. The drafts may also be directly inaccurate - showing early assignments where the animator actually changed when the scene was finally handed out. Keeping all this in mind, though, the drafts can give us some sort of hands-on insight into the inner workings of the production of some of the most "magical" (in itself an over-used word) motion pictures of all time." The annotations on this copy were made in 1964 when the Background Morgue (where this copy is from) was keeping track of its inventory.
Note to Thad Komorowsky: great video! I hope that you still have your project files, though, for in a few days you will find that a few of your credits are incorrect. Of course you can already now add George Rowley to the title sequence. (May I suggest that you put the names away from the Dailymotion burn-in?)
Several times in the last few years I have suggested a similar treatment for a subtitle track on future Disney-DVDs, but every time the answer was that there was no budget for something for so limited an audience. Do I agree with that? Maybe if everybody wrote to Walt Disney Home Video? What do you think?
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These first five pages, the actual Prod. 2061, are quite interesting - and can be quite confusing! They are comprised of the opening titles, the interstitials and the end title. We find sweepingly animated brushes by George Rowley, Josh Meador, Jack Boyd and Ed Aardal,
a bee by Harvey Toombs, and masks by Ward Kimball!
From this breakdown it is clear that the scenes in the draft are not listed in the order of their appearance in the film:
Page 1, scene 1 & 1.1 - Little Toot intro
Page 1, scene 2 & 2.2 - Johnny Appleseed intro
Page 2, scene 3 & 3.1 - Bumble Boogie intro
Page 2, scene 4 - Once upon a Wintertime intro
Page 2, scene 5 - Trees intro
Page 3, scene 6 - Blame it on the Samba intro
Page 3, scene 7 & 7.1 - Pecos Bill intro
Page 3, scene 10 & the entire page 4 - Opening credits & intro
Page 5, scene 40 - End title
M.R. is, as we have seen before, "Music Room," indicating that there is no animation. The Music Room was originally (on Hyperion Avenue) the room with the piano. It was where the director timed out the storyboards - at times it included the composer and/or the layout man. All this goes to show the meaning of the indication in the "Artist" column, as well as the meaning of the draft itself.
I have said it often (search for "disclaimer") - and I'll say it again:
"Animation drafts were never meant to be historical documents. They were meant as go-to documents, showing the responsible artist for a certain scene, who might be able to help in case there would be any need for this further on in the production line. Therefore we often see e.g. that animators who left have been replaced by others, often their assistants, in later versions of a draft. Also for this reason it is most often the actual animator, not the supervising animator, who is mentioned. The drafts may also be directly inaccurate - showing early assignments where the animator actually changed when the scene was finally handed out. Keeping all this in mind, though, the drafts can give us some sort of hands-on insight into the inner workings of the production of some of the most "magical" (in itself an over-used word) motion pictures of all time." The annotations on this copy were made in 1964 when the Background Morgue (where this copy is from) was keeping track of its inventory.
Note to Thad Komorowsky: great video! I hope that you still have your project files, though, for in a few days you will find that a few of your credits are incorrect. Of course you can already now add George Rowley to the title sequence. (May I suggest that you put the names away from the Dailymotion burn-in?)
Several times in the last few years I have suggested a similar treatment for a subtitle track on future Disney-DVDs, but every time the answer was that there was no budget for something for so limited an audience. Do I agree with that? Maybe if everybody wrote to Walt Disney Home Video? What do you think?
Labels: Draft, MelodyTime
posted by Hans Perk at 3:00 PM
8 Comments:
I wonder if this was the original order the segments were going to appear in? It doesn't correspond to the production numbers.
An interesting thought. I would think, though, that the scenes were given numbers in the order that they showed up on the schedule of the production office. So, if Little Toot was planned first, its intro would be Sc. 1 - etc. etc.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks for letting me know about the incorrect credits. I'll amend it once you give the word - !
Oh Thank you! Thank you ever so much! This is wonderful!
Jaxon and Codrick? This is great!
I'm meaning that the order that the intro's are listed in this "sequence" is neither the same order as their production numbers (even if they both start with "Little Toot") nor the order they appear in the film.
Hi John, yes, that was what I gathered you meant. I still think that my first thought is the most plausible, also based on having been in this business for over 30 years:
The production numbers were assigned to the films when they were deemed OK for production, so they would no longer be referred to by their story number. But this may happen YEARS before one actual scene is produced - and numbered. Then, when it goes into actual production and it is decided it needs an intro, a number is assigned to that intro on a first come first serve basis. They probably would not number it based on screening order, as they would add sequences anyway afterward.
Hi, I'm looking at the film on Youtube, scene by scene and, not knowing this very well, I've noticed in the credits some neames I've never heard before: Bob Moore, Jesse Marsh, Rudy Larriva, etc.
And Ward Kimball does some nice shots of the masks, and they look like Mary Blair's designs.
Interesting that "Production Supervisor" Ben Sharpsteen didn't direct these interstitials. I guess he had fully stepped back by now. Also, Tom Codrick didn't get screen credit.
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