-1

In different cartoons (justice league unlimited, ghostbusters, ...) I noticed that buildings and walls that will be destroyed moments later are often displayed differently (like less textured, ...).

Is there any known / official reason behind this?

Thomas
  • 10,115
  • 6
  • 41
  • 67
  • I usually considered them "movable props" (e.g., if it's a broom that's going to be taken by the character). – Clockwork Mar 10 '22 at 19:20
  • I'd say this was off-topic, since this is about animation in general rather than anything specific to scifi or fantasy, but I'd be loathe to flag it without being able to suggest a better exchange. As far as I can tell, video and graphic design don't really deal with general cartoon animation questions either. – Harabeck Mar 10 '22 at 19:46
  • 1
    I fail to see how this is about science fiction or fantasy – Valorum Mar 10 '22 at 19:56
  • 5
    I’m voting to close this question because it's not on topic – NKCampbell Mar 10 '22 at 19:57

1 Answers1

8

On TV Tropes, this is known as a Conspicuously Light Patch, and Roger Ebert called if a "Fudd Flag" after the old Bugs Bunny cartoons.

In some cartoons, it is obvious that a part of the background will be used. What makes it obvious is that it is strikingly lighter in color than its surroundings. It might also have an obvious difference in detail or color saturation. Another telltale sign would be clear black outlines on the object: the three clearly outlined rocks on the cliff would be the ones to tumble.

....

This is an unintentional artifact from the traditional, celluloid animation process. This was largely because, besides being painted by different artists at different times/locations, already making consistent matching difficult, each foreground/animated object would require up to hundreds of different drawings, as opposed to backgrounds/matte paintings, which each only needed to be done once. Therefore devoting any more than basic color saturation and contrasting light values would only make the process even more lengthy and time consuming than it already was. Additionally, the unpainted portions of cels were not perfectly transparent, so the colors on lower cels became more and more muted as additional layers were added to the top of the stack.

FuzzyBoots
  • 223,803
  • 23
  • 680
  • 1,039