Time for action — searching on Plane Crazy +1928
Make a search on the Web for the terms Plane Crazy + 1928. YouTube, archive.org, or some other site should have the video. This is a good example of silent animation at the dawn of sound. As you watch it, keep Felix Turns the Tide in mind and see how the two are so different.
Watch it now and enjoy it.
What just happened?
Animation has improved quite a bit in those six years. Now, the basic principles of animation were codified and used with good results. Instead of a static, stage-like establishing shot, we enter the scene following a cow, from blackness into a farmyard filled with activity. Let's look at some aspects of this improvement.
Pop quiz— analyzing early animators
Now let's consider how animators improved their skills in eight years and how it changed animation:
Performance: In one scene, Mickey is primping with a mirror comparing himself to a picture of Charles Lindberg, the first person to fly solo across the Atlantic. Mickey is not that much more complex than Felix visually. But contrast how dynamic the performances are in "Plane Crazy" with "Felix Turns the Tide". Felix has little character, and Mickey is egocentric, impulsive, and just plain crazy. What differences do you see in how the characters move and look, that allowed Iwerks to do more subtle characterization?
Use of Backgrounds: The backgrounds are softer and more lush in "Plane Crazy" than in "Felix Turns the Tide". They are soft edged pastels while the characters are hard-edged, flat colors, and much simpler visually. Does this accomplish the purpose of highlighting the characters by contrast? How would you decide how much work to put into a given background?
Immersion: In the scene where Mickey and Minnie fly down the middle of the highway narrowly missing cars and telephone poles, Ub Iwerks is very successful in giving it a three dimensional feel and sweeping you into the action by letting you see the action through Mickey's eyes instead of showing the plane flying along the road. In what ways is "Plane Crazy" visually richer than "Felix Turns the Tide" and how does it help tell the story?
Squash and stretch: In "Plane Crazy", did you notice how much distortion there was? The first plane swerved and bent back upon itself. The second plane is semi-soft as it flies up and down. Minnie grabs Mickey's head and distorts it terribly. What techniques did Ub Iwerks use to make "Plane Crazy" more dramatic?
Misdirection: In "Plane Crazy", Iwerks sets you up and then pulls the carpet from under your feet by doing something you don't expect. Mickey and Minnie are taxiing the plane, when it bumps on a rock and knocks Mickey out of the pilot's seat. The animation takes a whole different direction than you were expecting. Are there other places he managed to redirect your expectations so you were fooled, or it helped him to add or remove something without you noticing?
Arriving in 1938, the animation industry is at a peak
The animation industry is mature. Felix ceased production in 1936. Disney released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in December of 1937 and was beginning production on Fantasia. With the popularity of Popeye, Fleischer Studios had become the number two animation company and was working on Gulliver's Travels. In 1938, Fleischer Studios did the Popeye cartoon Goonland. Goonland is a good example of the state of animation then.
