Movies for TV - Early Television Foundation

316
THE PROGRAM ANGLE
For a straight clothes demonstration, fashion shows cannot be
beaten; even men will sometimes look at them, especially
if a few
bathing beauties are thrown in for good measure. Generally
speaking, twenty seconds are not long enough for a demonstration
of clothes or wearing apparel, but animation for this period to
point up a feature can do wonders.
Animation properly executed can assist considerably in over-
coming
the limitations of the television screen with its lack of
fine detail. Too often in commercials on film or even in films for
entertainment purposes the quality of the image is too poor for
viewing without eyestrain or a certain feeling
of "fuzziness"
around outlines. If this occurs in commercials the irritation it
engenders can quite easily influence its selling effect on the viewer.
Animation with its bold lines and clear-cut boundaries does not
suffer from this limitation and can often get a story or point over
more forcefully in twenty seconds than one minute of drawn out
repetition in live acting.
The tendency to forget the limitations of the small screen on
most home receivers is not as great with animation for its chief
appeal is in the frantic actions which are shown close up or at
most in medium shots. Even a chase is commonly presented as a
the back-
large figure in the foreground followed by smaller ones ;
ground, if any, is usually heavily drawn and stands out from
the distance without being lost in a haze or a myriad of small
details.
Semi-animation is cheaper than full animation and offers an
interesting medium for lower budget presentation which requires
the attraction of some form of mechanical assistance in catching
and holding attention. As will be observed in a later paragraph
cost is lower because fewer drawings are used in making the film.
This, of course, results in less smooth action, but for the somewhat
limited field for which this is suitable the results obtained are
perfectly satisfactory.
Discussion of mechanical means of bringing life and movement
to inanimate drawings would not be complete without mention
of the latest development in the synthetic field. This is the creation