What to learn from backgrounds PART 1

Backgrounds are often ignored or avoided, which is a shame because backgrounds are really fun. I was just the opposite during art school, I looooved backgrounds and because of that I got better at designing backgrounds and it is usually the first thing I notice when watching a film or cartoon.

Clarence is an excellent show to learn from, it has amazing artists and everything is thought through, it reminds of old cartoons that I watched as a kid, which is amazing. There is one scene in episode 29 "Jeff Wins" which takes place in Jeff's room and I wanted to analyze it because it utilizes a lot of successful methods of making the background into part of the show.


The scene starts with Clarence Bursting through the door and crashing into the carpet. The background is perfectly set up for this action. A low horizon and distorted perspective allows for a dynamic pan that follow Clarence as he crashes into the frame.

Cut to a similar camera angle (with Clarence still facing screen right), although Clarence is in the edge of the frame it works because of what just happened. His momentum got stopped and he fell down. and this shot reflects that as well as having nice compositional aids that point to the pile of pillows, the focal point of the shot.

Jeff screams at Clarence from inside his fort, This shot is important mainly because its simplicity, it says a lot about who is in there, and gives the viewers eyes a break from the previous pan and forced angle. It brings them back into reality for a bit.

Another simple background to stay consistent, the backgrounds transition from one to another in a way that helps the viewers eyes rest in one spot on the screen for a moment, rather than having to search around for what is happening. Notice how Clarence occupies the same spot on the screen that he was in two shots ago.

Inside Jeff's pillow fort, A really cramped shot, without thinking the viewer already wants to burst out of the shot, its claustrophobic.

BOOM! Jeff burst out from the pillow fort, when watching the episode this gave me a huge sense of relief, because the last shot set me up for this action. Everything in the shot also points to Jeff, He is the ultimate focus.

The rest of the scene to be posted tomorrow!