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Maurice Noble's Design Influence on the Classic Cartoon 'What's Opera, Doc?'
Key points
- "What's Opera, Doc?" cost $35,510 and took seven weeks to produce.
- Director Chuck Jones credited Maurice Noble for the film's visual design.
- Noble's work included angular settings, dramatic camera angles, and unique colors.
- Jones drew nearly 500 pose sketches for the animation, more than usual.
Production Challenges and Ambition
"What's Opera, Doc?" was a more ambitious project than typical Warner cartoons of its era. It cost $35,510, equivalent to almost $430,000 today, and required seven weeks of production time, two weeks longer than the standard five. Director Chuck Jones and his crew reportedly faked time cards and shaved time off other productions to complete the film.
Key Creative Elements
Beyond its extended production schedule, the cartoon featured a complicated score recorded in advance, and animators studied movements from ballet stars Tatiana Riabouchinska and David Lichine. Jones also created nearly 500 pose sketches for the animators, significantly more than the typical 300 for other films, to guide the visual execution.
Maurice Noble's Design Impact
Chuck Jones specifically highlighted Maurice Noble's role in the film's success, crediting him with the colors and layouts. Noble's design work contributed to the film's "angular settings, gargantuan shadows, rapid cuts, odd colors and dramatic camera angles." Jones stated that the film "could not have been made" without Noble's stimulating influence.
Noble's Approach to Design
Maurice Noble was a prominent mid-century cartoon designer known for giving many of Jones's films a modernist aesthetic in the 1950s. He viewed design as a storytelling tool, adapting his style to suit each project. Noble was not influenced by UPA, believing they "oversmarted itself in overdesigning."
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Reporting from
The 1957 Bugs Bunny cartoon "What's Opera, Doc?" achieved its distinctive visual style and enduring popularity largely due to the design contributions of Maurice Noble. Director Chuck Jones credited Noble's work on colors and layouts as essential to the film's success, which was an ambitious and costly production for its time.