Script – Specialist Subject

Show title card – Rotoscoping in Music Videos

Narrator
In this mini-documentary I will be looking at animated
music videos that use rotoscoping. I will look into the
history of rotoscoping broadly as well as looking at
animated music videos that use that technique in
particular. By the end of this video, I want to be able
to answer the question – Why is rotoscoping still
relevant within the music video industry?

Show title card – Introduction to Rotoscoping

Narrator
Firstly, what is rotoscoping?

Show screenshot of rotoscope definition

Narrator
Google says - transfer (an image from live action film)
into another film sequence using a rotoscope.

This means taking some pre-filmed live action footage and

drawing over the top of it in an animation software,
creating an animation that plays with or instead of the
original video.

Show both videos side by side, no audio – Concrete and

Brothers in Arms

Narrator
Rotoscoping can be used to enhance footage like in
‘Concrete’ by Lovejoy which came out in 2022, or it could
be the entire video like in ‘Brothers in Arms’ by Dire
Straits which came out in 1985. Using this style of
animation can give a nice effect to a video.

Show images – old vs new animating

Narrator
Rotoscoping has been around for over a hundred years and
is still popular today, although the way we rotoscope now
is a lot different than it was back then.

Show title card – A Brief History of Rotoscoping

Narrator
 To kick off this video, I will start at the beginning
with a brief history of rotoscoping.
Show image of MF and Koko the Clown

Narrator
Rotoscoping was created in 1915 by Max Fleischer. He
wanted his cartoon, Koko the Clown, to have more fluid
and life-like movements so he recorded his brother Dave
and used the film to create the animation. Rotoscoping
was essentially exclusive to Fleischer for many years
until the patent he had on his rotoscope device stopped
in 1934.

Show mentioned video – Yellow Submarine

Narrator
In 1968 The Beatles released Yellow Submarine. The
accompanying music video was fully animated and at least
partly rotoscoped. Ron Campbell animated the film of the
same name and might have created the music video as well.

Show screenshot – first animated video over mentioned video –

Accidents Will Happen

However, in 1979 Elvis Costello & The Attractions made a

song called ‘Accidents Will Happen’, which some people
regard to be the first music video to be fully animated
and use rotoscoping. The video was created by Annabel
Jankel and Rocky Morton who also directed a lot of other
music videos as well.

Show mentioned video – Take on Me

Narrator
1985 came with the song Take on Me by A-ha. The music
video that came with it was a rotoscoped animation of the
band mixed with live action footage. It was very popular
then and now, with the video reaching one billion views
on YouTube in February 2020 since it was uploaded in
January 2010. The video was directed by Steve Barron, who
also directed music videos for other popular artists,
including Michael Jackson, Def Leppard and Toto.

Show mentioned video – A Scanner Darkly

Narrator
Although it’s not a music video, A Scanner Darkly is an
important piece of rotoscope work. It is a rotoscoped
film that was released in 2006 and directed by Richard
Linklater. The film is based on a book of the same name
written by Phillip K. Dick, and the art style used for
 the rotoscoping lends itself to the dark and sometimes
psychedelic nature of the film, which would have been
harder to achieve if it were live action.

Show mentioned video – Humility

Narrator
More recently, Gorillaz released a song called Humility
in 2018, which came with an animated and live action mix
music video that used rotoscoping. It was created by
Trace VFX, with The Line, Blinkink and Ruffian.

Show title card – How Technology Has Improved Rotoscoping

Narrator
In this section I’m going to talk about the technology
involved with rotoscoping and how it has improved since
its creation.

Show image of first rotoscope device – wiki diagram

Narrator
The first rotoscoping device was something that Max
Fleischer created using a projector and easel to trace
images from live action film. This method would have
taken a long time to create an animation and was
initially only available to Max and his company.

Show image of computer and drawing tablet

Narrator
In more recent years, computers have advanced to the
point of being able to digitally trace live action
footage, either by hand using a drawing tablet, or by
using an animation or editing software.
This advancement in technology has increased the
availability to animate and rotoscope to a lot of people,
and it has also sped up the time it takes to animate so
projects can be completed faster.

Show title card – Key People in Rotoscoping

Narrator
Now for some of the key people involved with rotoscoping
and animated music videos.

Show image of MF, DF and Fleischer Studios.

Narrator
 One of the most important people in the rotoscoping
industry is Max Fleischer, the creator of rotoscoping. He
and his brother Dave founded Fleischer Studios, the
biggest competitor to Disney in the 1930’s, before the
company was acquired by Paramount pictures in 1941.

Show mentioned cartoons – Betty Boop, Koko the Clown,

Superman, Popeye

Narrator
Max and his company created many cartoons including Betty
Boop and Koko the Clown, as well as animating Popeye and
Superman short films.

Show mentioned video – Apollo 10½ with image of RL on top

(short period)

Narrator
Richard Linklater is the creator and or director of many
films, including some rotoscoped ones such as, A Scanner
Darkly and a more recent film called Apollo 10½: A Space
Age Childhood, which came out last year.

Show image of Oscars debate

Narrator
The film was nominated for an Oscar in the Best Animated
Film category, but it was refused on the grounds that
there was too much live action footage used since the
film is rotoscoped. Linklater said on the matter – “It’s
so disrespectful to the animators and the hundreds of
thousands of hours spent. I would invite anyone who
thinks this is an automated process: You deliver a 30-
second short with this level of detail and come back and
tell us it’s not animated.”

Show mentioned videos side by side and image of RB over the

top

Narrator
Ralph Bakshi is well known for his animating, in
particular The Lord of The Rings and American Pop which
both use a lot of rotoscoping. When I asked people about
what they remember most about rotoscoped videos, The Lord
of the Rings came up a lot. Ralph used rotoscoping in the
film to cut down on the production time and cost.
However, this led to the overall quality of the film
suffering where he went too far.
He has been involved in the creation of music videos,
though they were mostly, if not all, live action instead
of animated.
Show title card – Key Techniques Associated with Rotoscoping

Narrator
Here I’m going to talk about the techniques involved in
rotoscoping.

Show video – Rotojam: Spring ’17 Short Film

Narrator
Although rotoscoping has become its own technique within
animation, the main part of rotoscoping is tracing over
live action footage. This means that you don’t
necessarily have to be great at drawing to create an
animation that looks good.
The other main part of rotoscoping is augmenting what you
draw so that you can create whatever you want and go
beyond the limitations of physical reality. However, this
part will probably require some artistic ability.

Show title card – Interview with Trevor Discussing Rotoscoping

Narrator
I conducted an interview with Trevor, an expert on
rotoscoping and my animation teacher, to get his take on
the subject.

Show title card – Q1: How has rotoscoping influenced

animation?

- Interview audio
- Cut away to mentions

Show title card – Q2: How has rotoscoping been beneficial to

the animation and music video industries?

- Interview audio
- Cut away to mentions

Show title card – Q3: Who are the experts in the field of
rotoscoping?

- Interview audio
- Cut away to mentions

Show text - For this question I will also demonstrate my own

attempt to rotoscope by animating it.
Show title card – Q4: What is the future of rotoscoping?

- Interview audio
- Show own attempt at roto
Show title card – The Conclusion

Narrator
Now we are at the last part of the video, the conclusion.
At the beginning I asked, why is rotoscoping still
relevant within the music video industry? I have shown
you my research and now conclude that, rotoscoping is
useful and important to the industry because it is fun to
create animations that way and it makes those animations
look more organic and lifelike.
I learned a lot of interesting things making this video,
like how Max Fleischer kept rotoscoping to himself and
his company for many years, and that said company used to
rival Disney. Also, that rotoscoping was used to make the
lightsabers glow in the original Star Wars movies.
I hope you enjoyed this video or at least found it
informative,
Thanks for watching!

Fin