Recent from talks
Syncro-Vox
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Syncro-Vox
Syncro-Vox (sometimes spelled Synchro-Vox) is a filming method that combines static images with moving images, the most common use of which is to superimpose talking lips on a photograph of a celebrity or a cartoon drawing. It is one of the most extreme examples of the cost-cutting strategy of limited animation. The method was developed by cameraman Edwin "Ted" Gillette in the 1950s in order to simulate talking animals in television commercials. Gillette filed the technique on February 4, 1952, and obtained patent #2,739,505 on March 27, 1956.
Because animating a mouth in synchronization with sound was difficult, Syncro-Vox was soon used as a cheap animation technique. The 1959 cartoon Clutch Cargo produced by Cambria Studios was the first to make use of the Syncro-Vox technique. Clutch Cargo, along with fellow Cambria shows Space Angel and Captain Fathom, superimposed actors' lips voicing the scripted dialogue laid over the animated figures.
The Syncro-Vox technique is considered noticeably cheap and unnerving, so it was short-lived in serious form. The three Cambria Studios cartoons listed above were some of the few examples of the technique being used straight, and the fourth and final Cambria Studios cartoon, The New Three Stooges, did not use it.[citation needed]
Although Syncro-Vox has long since fallen into disuse as a serious animation method (other than when a computerized version was used in the short-lived, and ultimately controversial, Mrs. Munger's Class shorts of the 1990s), it has survived sporadically in comedic form, most notably on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where a celebrity's face is superimposed with live video of the moving lips of Conan's writer Robert Smigel. This comedy bit was reused on Conan O'Brien's 2010 talk-show Conan and the "In Hot Water" podcast on Compound Media.[citation needed]
A spoof of Cambria Studios' Syncro-Vox cartoons called Mr. Incredible and Pals was also included as a special feature on the 2005 DVD release of The Incredibles.[citation needed]
The technique was used in the Barenaked Ladies music video "Thanks, That Was Fun", which combined clips from previous videos with new mouth movements.[citation needed]
Painty, the talking pirate painting that asks, "Are you ready, kids?" in the introduction to SpongeBob SquarePants cartoons, imitates the Syncro-Vox technique with modern animation technology. It was also featured in standard episodes of the series, including (but not limited to), "Karate Choppers", "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture", "Moving Bubble Bass", and "Knock Knock, Who's There?".[citation needed]
A form of this technique was used in the 1996 BBC Schools series Hallo aus Berlin for the mocapped animated characters Rolli and Rita.
Hub AI
Syncro-Vox AI simulator
(@Syncro-Vox_simulator)
Syncro-Vox
Syncro-Vox (sometimes spelled Synchro-Vox) is a filming method that combines static images with moving images, the most common use of which is to superimpose talking lips on a photograph of a celebrity or a cartoon drawing. It is one of the most extreme examples of the cost-cutting strategy of limited animation. The method was developed by cameraman Edwin "Ted" Gillette in the 1950s in order to simulate talking animals in television commercials. Gillette filed the technique on February 4, 1952, and obtained patent #2,739,505 on March 27, 1956.
Because animating a mouth in synchronization with sound was difficult, Syncro-Vox was soon used as a cheap animation technique. The 1959 cartoon Clutch Cargo produced by Cambria Studios was the first to make use of the Syncro-Vox technique. Clutch Cargo, along with fellow Cambria shows Space Angel and Captain Fathom, superimposed actors' lips voicing the scripted dialogue laid over the animated figures.
The Syncro-Vox technique is considered noticeably cheap and unnerving, so it was short-lived in serious form. The three Cambria Studios cartoons listed above were some of the few examples of the technique being used straight, and the fourth and final Cambria Studios cartoon, The New Three Stooges, did not use it.[citation needed]
Although Syncro-Vox has long since fallen into disuse as a serious animation method (other than when a computerized version was used in the short-lived, and ultimately controversial, Mrs. Munger's Class shorts of the 1990s), it has survived sporadically in comedic form, most notably on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, where a celebrity's face is superimposed with live video of the moving lips of Conan's writer Robert Smigel. This comedy bit was reused on Conan O'Brien's 2010 talk-show Conan and the "In Hot Water" podcast on Compound Media.[citation needed]
A spoof of Cambria Studios' Syncro-Vox cartoons called Mr. Incredible and Pals was also included as a special feature on the 2005 DVD release of The Incredibles.[citation needed]
The technique was used in the Barenaked Ladies music video "Thanks, That Was Fun", which combined clips from previous videos with new mouth movements.[citation needed]
Painty, the talking pirate painting that asks, "Are you ready, kids?" in the introduction to SpongeBob SquarePants cartoons, imitates the Syncro-Vox technique with modern animation technology. It was also featured in standard episodes of the series, including (but not limited to), "Karate Choppers", "Mermaid Man & Barnacle Boy VI: The Motion Picture", "Moving Bubble Bass", and "Knock Knock, Who's There?".[citation needed]
A form of this technique was used in the 1996 BBC Schools series Hallo aus Berlin for the mocapped animated characters Rolli and Rita.