Good Trick (lost animated short film; 1984)

A cel from the short film.

Status: Lost

Good Trick was an animated short film directed by Cam MacMillan and animated with David Nethery and Andy Bartlet of Sheridan College between 1983-1984. Its significance was due to it being the first documented use of tracing computer animation for complicated computer shots. A similar technique would be used in Disney's 1986 film The Great Mouse Detective, though this system was far more automatic and practical compared to what was done in Good Trick.

Plot

Not much is known about the film's plot other than it being about the misadventures of a magician and his rabbit assistant.

Production

Animating Good Trick was considered rather experimental compared to traditional animation techniques. Instead of being animated on pencil and sent to ink and paint on celluloid, it used an entirely different approach. Animation would be done on paper before being inked directly with a felt tip pen. The coloring was done with Pantone markers on the back of the sheet, letting the ink bleed through to the front. Highlights and shading were added with colored pencils and finally the character would be cut out of the paper and pasted onto a cel.

One particular shot with a series of playing cards was first rendered with a home computer. The wireframes were printed out and traced by hand onto paper to achieve complicated movements and perspectives without the technical precision needed for fully analog animation.

Release

Good Trick was released in 1984 and allegedly screened at multiple film festivals, winning a handful of awards. It was also shown on HBO in the United States as well as other television stations in Canada. However, no documentation of this has been discovered as of this writing.

In a comment left by animator Andy Bartlet, who worked on Good Trick, he suggests at the idea of uploading a copy of the film from his own 16mm print. However, Bartlet seems to have never gotten the chance to do so.