In the making of animated films, both shorts and feature length, story(board) drawings are made to develop gags, establish the story, identify camera moves, and guide the animation. ‘Who framed Roger Rabbit was one of the earlier animated feature films to utilize a ‘script’ prepared by designated scriptwriters. Nevertheless, storyboard drawings were created for most scenes for the additional detailed guidance provided to the filmmaking process that scripts do not give. Many live-action films utilize storyboarding (and now, animatics) to provide that same common understanding of the expectations of the director.
There will be thirteen posts that highlight the work of several story artists in ‘Who framed Roger Rabbit.’ This first post shows story drawings for the opening Maroon Cartoon segment. Most of these drawings were made by Richard Williams. The final drawings show the development of some of the gags.
