My mom took me to see this film when I was a child, and it stayed with me for years. Imagine what it was like to be sitting in the same recording studio with the voice of the stork, Sterling Holloway.
Sterling was delightful and funny throughout the session, and he certainly inspired our storyboards. One of my career moments I'll never forget.
I love this scene. The Stork is so amusing and sounds like a very warm character. That's probably due to Sterling Holloway's voice. The animation is excellent and completely appropriate for the tone of the picture.
I'd like to know who did the effects of the bundles falling? Although Hans told me he bet that Babbitt did every single drawings, and had his assistant to clean them up.
August 27, 2010 2:34 PM
[Image]In this sequence, we learn that the stork carrying Mrs. Jumbo's baby is running behind schedule.
The entire sequence is animated by Art Babbitt. The acting does not require flashy animation, but what's there demonstrates Babbitt's skill. During shot 1, a flying cycle, the stork's entire body stretches and squashes with the beating of his wings. The wing upstroke takes 12 frames while the downstroke takes 8 frames, giving the downstroke a definite accent that is timed to the music.
The rest of the sequence is all about weight. While we haven't seen the contents of the stork's bundle yet, we suspect that it's Mrs. Jumbo's baby and the way that Babbitt handles the weight of the bundle reinforces our belief. The bundle appears heavy when the stork drops it on the cloud. Babbitt also gets great contrast in timing in shot 3 between the stork's slow scanning of the earth below and his fast lunge to prevent the bundle from falling. That's contrasted with the slow lift, emphasizing the weight of the bundle yet again. The bit is repeated twice within the shot.
Shot 8 is another that's all about weight. For a third time, the stork has to stop the bundle from falling. There is a slow lift. The stork grabs the bundle with this beak, uses his wings to hold the bundle from the bottom and then waddles over to the edge of the cloud. That waddle is a very expressive piece of movement clearly showing how difficult it is to move this bundle. At the clouds edge, the stork leaps, and the weight of the bundle rapdily pulls him downward.
posted by Mark Mayerson at 8:42 AM on May 17, 2010
"Dumbo Part 3"
5 Comments -
My mom took me to see this film when I was a child, and it stayed with me for years. Imagine what it was like to be sitting in the same recording studio with the voice of the stork, Sterling Holloway.
Sterling was delightful and funny throughout the session, and he certainly inspired our storyboards. One of my career moments I'll never forget.
May 17, 2010 12:51 PM
I love this scene. The Stork is so amusing and sounds like a very warm character. That's probably due to Sterling Holloway's voice. The animation is excellent and completely appropriate for the tone of the picture.
May 17, 2010 1:22 PM
30 years later, Central Florida would be the home of Walt Disney World.
May 18, 2010 11:01 PM
I just read your blog from 2007 on MICKEY'S SURPRISE PARTY. I have an original drawing from the film hand signed by Fred Moore.
http://www.celfcentered.com/walt-disney-drawings.html
May 21, 2010 11:19 AM
I'd like to know who did the effects of the bundles falling? Although Hans told me he bet that Babbitt did every single drawings, and had his assistant to clean them up.
August 27, 2010 2:34 PM