Instead, feast your eyes and mind on this week's selected Creative Mastermind! I've got to be honest, this mastermind is someone I've been wanting to profile ever since I started The Creative Cabana back in late August. However, I figured it would be much more appropriate to wait until we got closer to Christmas to talk about this popular animation production group. For this week's Creative Mastermind I have selected the company (well also persons named in title), The Rankin Bass Productions.
If that name looks familiar to you, then chances are you've seen it in many of those popular Christmas specials you grew up watching. You know what I mean: Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Jack Frost, The Little Drummer Boy.... you get the idea! These two men, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass came together to create a production company that specialized in some of our favorite TV special classics. What makes them stand out from other animation and video production companies is a technique that I'm sure many of you recognize, the "stop-motion animation" effect. Sometimes this can be referred to as "clay-mation", but the preferred term of "stop-animation" applies to most of their animated specials. Unlike traditional animation, Rankin & Bass produced series that portray "doll-like" characters that could move, talk, sing, dance, without the aide of a human counterpart. This technique was extremely popular and still today brings in a lot of popularity for viewers who enjoy the traditional animation standards.
In examples such as Rudolph or Santa Claus is Coming to Town, there would be a set of dolls for each character as well as set, costume, props, and other materials you would need on a traditional stage set. The camera used would capture shots of the figures and settings, and it would have to record each movement in the scene frame by frame. It sounds daunting, and for those of you who have tried it before, you know how long it can take, but the end results can be quite remarkable if done correctly. When you watch each of their classic shows, you'll notice how the movements aren't always flowing correctly or how you'd think they would be, but it doesn't have to be perfect to look good.
The "Stop-Motion" technique has been used since the late 1890s in filming as a unique way to produce actions in scenes, one thing that makes Rankin Bass stand out is that on other occasions they've combined traditional animated filters with their "stop-motion" scenes to created mixed-media shots. The best example of these would be in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. You can see how the characters are clearly part of the "stop-motion" feature, but the snow created was used through a "cel animation" technique. Basically your camera would be shooting the main objects in frame, then another layer would be added on top, that could consist of regular animation or looped sequences.
See this is why I've chosen Rankin & Bass for this week's Creative Mastermind because although they weren't the first to create the "stop-motion" effect in animation, they did it well enough to point where it was so unique and original that it's down right memorable. I mean, the only competition they had in animation at this time was the traditional 2D animation from other companies such as Disney and Hannah Barbera. This is NOTHING like what they produced. Which makes it fresh, innovative, and down right adorable. It's as if you were watching a child play with these dolls to help tell a story, so freakin' cute!
I also have to give credit to the level of creativity in designing these characters! For the human characters like Santa, Mrs. Claus (aka Jessica), and all of the characters in The Little Drummer Boy, each one was designed so you could easily tell who they were, but they didn't look like someone casted a bunch of Barbie and Ken dolls. Each one had a unique likeness to them, and some of the Rankin Bass' character even resembled the voice actors. Take a look at Sam the Snowman (first pictured above) voiced by the wonderful talents of Burl Ives (pictured below).
Come on, who could resist that smile? But I rest my case. Overall, I just want to give a lot of credit to Mr. Rankin Jr. and Mr. Bass, plus their incredible production team for giving us a lifetime of memorable Christmas classics, that we will never forget!
If you have a great idea for a Creative Mastermind, I highly encourage you share your ideas here at The Creative Cabana! Simply comment your ideas on this post or you can always share your ideas with us on Facebook and/or Twitter!
*All images used in this post were collected from Google Images. I do not own Rankin Bass Productions, nor do I own any of their films, TV specials, shows, or songs. No Copyright Infringement Intended
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