Editing Multiplane camera

{{Short description|Camera used in traditional animation}}
[[File:Multiplane camera.jpg|thumb|Multiplane camera]]
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}

The '''multiplane camera''' is a [[motion picture|motion-picture]] [[camera]] that was used in the [[traditional animation]] process that moves a number of pieces of artwork past the camera at various speeds and at various distances from one another. This creates a sense of [[parallax]] or [[depth perception|depth]].

Various parts of the artwork layers are left [[Transparency (optics)|transparent]] to allow other layers to be seen behind them. The movements are calculated and photographed frame by frame, with the result being an illusion of depth by having several layers of artwork moving at different speeds: the further away from the camera, the slower the speed. The multiplane effect is sometimes referred to as a [[parallax]] process.

One variation is to have the background and foreground move in ''opposite'' directions. This creates an effect of rotation. An early example is the scene in [[Walt Disney]]'s ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]'' where the [[Evil Queen (Disney)|Evil Queen]] drinks her potion, and the surroundings appear to spin around her.

==History==
[[File:Lotte Reiniger, Carl Koch, Walter Türck, Alexander Kardan.jpg|thumb|Lotte Reiniger and husband Carl Koch, with assistants Walter Türck and Alexander Kardan, probably 1920s]]
An early form of the multiplane camera was developed by [[Lotte Reiniger]] and her husband [[Carl Koch (director)|Carl Koch]], for her animated feature ''[[The Adventures of Prince Achmed]]'' (1926).<ref name="bfi.org.uk 2001">{{cite web |title=Drawn to be Wild: The life of Lotte Reiniger |website=bfi.org.uk |date=3 March 2001|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/wild/learn/animators/reiniger.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010303135533/http://www.bfi.org.uk/features/wild/learn/animators/reiniger.html |archive-date=3 March 2001 |url-status=dead |access-date=10 November 2019}}</ref> Reiniger had long experimented with [[Chinese shadow puppetry]] and its methods of suggesting depth by layering shallow, flat planes with colorful backgrounds and backlit action. Her novel design, dating to 1923, used multiple layers of glass to create added depth in the figure-ground relationships, and her camera was at a fixed position above the artwork. [[Berthold Bartosch]], who worked with Reiniger, used a similar setup in his film ''[[The Idea (1932 film)|L'Idee]]'' (1932). 

In the 1930s, others began improving on Reiniger's design and techniques, seeking to add to the parallax illusion to create a further dimensional effect, as well as traveling shots moving through space, along with panning displaying layers or planes moving in perspective parallax. In 1933, having separated from [[Walt Disney|Walt Disney Studios]] temporarily to run [[Iwerks Studio|his own studio]], [[animator]]/[[film director|director]] [[Ub Iwerks]] developed a more advanced multiplane design, partly from salvaged parts from an old [[Chevrolet]] [[automobile]].<ref>
{{cite book
 | title = How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life
 | author = Pat Williams and Jim Denney
 | publisher = HCI
 | year = 2004
 | isbn = 978-0-7573-0231-2
 | page = 133
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=f2qjAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA133
 }}</ref> His camera was used in a number of the Iwerks Studio's ''[[Willie Whopper]]'' and ''[[ComiColor Cartoons|Comicolor]]'' [[cartoon]]s of the mid-1930s.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

[[File:Sketch_of_a_Multiplane_camera_with_motorized_movements.gif|thumb|right|Sketch of a computer-controlled, 4-plane Multiplane camera [http://www.sparetimelabs.com/animato/animato/stand/stand.html#mplane2], showing the glass-covered planes and the different motions.]] 
[[File:MultiplaneDemo.webm|thumb|Demonstration of the multiplane effect using three planes.]]

The technicians at [[Fleischer Studios]] created a distantly related device, called the ''Stereoptical Camera'' or ''Setback'', in 1934.<ref name="Barrier">Barrier, Michael (2008). DVD audio commentary on ''King of the Mardi Gras''. Bonus Material from ''Popeye the Sailor: Volume 1'' [DVD release]. Warner Home Video.</ref> Their apparatus used three-dimensional miniature sets built to the scale of the animation artwork.<ref name="Barrier" /> The animation cels were placed within the setup so that various objects could pass in front of and behind them, and the entire scene was shot using a horizontal camera.<ref name="Barrier" /> The Tabletop process was used to create distinctive results in Fleischer's ''[[Betty Boop]]'', ''[[Popeye the Sailor (film series)|Popeye the Sailor]]'', and ''[[Color Classics]]'' cartoons.

An advanced multiplane camera was developed by [[William Garity]] for the Disney Studios to be used in the production of ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)|Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs]]''.<ref name="TIME">{{cite magazine|title=Cinema: Mouse & Man|url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,758747-1,00.html|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=1 July 2020|date=27 December 1937}}</ref> The camera was completed in early 1937 and tested in a ''[[Silly Symphony]]'' called ''[[The Old Mill]]'', which won the 1937 [[Academy Award for Animated Short Film]].<ref name="commentarySW">(2001) Audio Commentary by Walt Disney and John Canemaker. Bonus material from ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: Platinum Edition'' [DVD]. Walt Disney Home Entertainment.</ref>

Disney's multiplane camera, which used up to seven layers of artwork (painted in [[oil painting|oils]] on [[glass]]) shot under a vertical and moveable camera set for successive frame [[Technicolor]],<ref name="TIME" /> allowed for more sophisticated uses than the Iwerks or Fleischer versions. A camera crew of up to a dozen technicians might be required to operate and advance each of the planes. The senior Disney executive [[Card Walker]] rose in the company from the multiplane camera department in the late 1930s. Occasionally the studio used another camera, operating horizontally along tracks laid on a studio floor to allow wider movements (e.g. establishing shot of [[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio's village]]) or extremely long [[tracking shot|tracking]] or complicated dissolve shots (notably the ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Ave Maria]]'' forest sequence). The multiplane was featured prominently in Disney films such as ''[[Pinocchio (1940 film)|Pinocchio]]'', ''[[Fantasia (1940 film)|Fantasia]]'', ''[[Bambi]]'', ''[[The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad]]'', ''[[Cinderella (1950 film)|Cinderella]]'', ''[[Alice in Wonderland (1951 film)|Alice in Wonderland]]'', ''[[Peter Pan (1953 film)|Peter Pan]]'', ''[[Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'' and ''[[The Jungle Book (1967 film)|The Jungle Book]]''.{{Citation needed|reason=In an earlier edition of this page, the list included Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, and Peter Pan. Pinocchio and Bambi advertised their multiplane use, but if there are sources to confirm its use on the other films listed here, then they should be included.|date=January 2017}} The camera would be used more rarely in later movies, like [[The Fox and the Hound]], which contains just a single multiplane shot.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=BpvhCgAAQBAJ&dq=The+Fox+and+the+Hound+%281981%29+multiplane+shot&pg=PP52 Animation: A World History: Volume III: Contemporary Times]</ref>

[[File:Disney 1937 multiplane camera.jpg|thumb|The 1937 multiplane camera developed by [[Walt Disney Studios (Burbank)|Walt Disney Studios]]]]

''[[The Little Mermaid (1989 film)|The Little Mermaid]]'' was the final Disney film to use a multiplane camera, though the work was done by an outside facility as Disney's cameras were not functional at the time.<ref name="commentaryTLM">(2006) Audio Commentary by John Musker, Ron Clements, and Alan Menken Bonus material from ''The Little Mermaid: Platinum Edition'' [DVD]. Walt Disney Home Entertainment.</ref> The process was made obsolete by the implementation of a "digital multiplane camera" feature in the digital [[Computer Animation Production System|CAPS]] process used for subsequent Disney films and in other [[computer animation]] systems.<ref name="commentaryTLM" />

Three original Disney multiplane cameras survive: the first at The Walt Disney Studios in [[Burbank, California]], the second at [[the Walt Disney Family Museum]] in San Francisco, and the third in the [[Art of Disney Animation]] exhibition at [[Walt Disney Studios Park]] in [[Disneyland Paris]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Art of Disney Animation|url=http://www.dlrpmagic.com/guidebook/walt-disney-studios-park/toon-studio/art-of-disney-animation/|publisher=DLRP Magic!|access-date=16 November 2012}}</ref>

{{wide image|Multiplane pan.tif|1000 px|align-cap=center|A 4-plane Multiplane background. The lowest plane, furthest from the camera, is only a rendering of a water surface. The plane above it contains (in addition to a cliff with a waterfall) a moving distortion glass, giving a ripple effect to the water. Note how the plane closest to the camera (dark tree in foreground at left) is strongly out of focus. The second plane from top contains a long background, continuing to the right.}}

==Impact==
Before the multiplane camera, animators found it difficult to create a convincing tracking shot that kept perspective (for instance, a moon of constant size in distant background) by using traditional animation methods. Furthermore, the act of animating the forward motion was becoming increasingly costly and time-consuming. The multiplane camera answered this problem by creating a realistic sense of three dimensional depth in a cartoon setting.

The multiplane also made possible new and versatile types of [[In-camera effect|in-camera]] special effects for animated films using, for example, 3D practical elements/mock-ups in foreground, filters and planar lighting, distortion glass and reflections, to achieve naturalistic moving water, flickering light and other subtle effects.<ref>{{cite web|title=Multiplane Educator Guide|url=http://www.waltdisney.org/sites/default/files/MultiplaneGuideCurriculumPacket_Final.pdf|access-date=19 March 2015}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Parallax scrolling]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |last=Telotte |first=J. P. |author-link=Jay Telotte |title=Ub Iwerks' (Multi)Plain Cinema |journal=Animation |publisher=SAGE Publications |volume=1 |issue=1 |year=2006 |issn=1746-8477 |doi=10.1177/1746847706065838 |pages=9–24 |s2cid=194955038 |ref=none |oclc=5723744668}}

==External links==
*[http://dizfanatic.com/DizTech006.aspx Disney’s Multiplane Camera: The Original New Dimension]
*[http://www.sparetimelabs.com/animato/animato/stand/stand.html Building a low-budget multiplane camera]

{{Walt Disney Animation Studios}}

[[Category:Disney technology]]
[[Category:Movie cameras]]
[[Category:Cameras by type]]
[[Category:Animation technology]]
[[Category:Articles containing video clips]]