#multiplane camera

I’ve talked about how Disney invented the multiplane camera to create the illusion of depth in his 2D animated films. But I would be remiss if I didn’t talk about the OTHER multiplane camera that was developed around the same time! That would be Fleischer Studio’s “setback tabletop” process.

First used in 1934, this was an ingeniously simple way to have true 3D effects in a 2D animated film. Instead of filming down through flat panes of glass like Disney’s setup, Fleischer’s setup would be vertical. Animations cels were sandwiched between panes of glass in front of a miniature set that could be rotated and moved behind it frame by frame.

This resulted in some truly amazing scenes where characters looked and felt like they were walking through real 3D environments… because essentially they were! All of the backgrounds were hand crafted miniature sets and you could light them just like you would a real set and get all of the benefits of shadows and ambient light reflections.

Unfortunately it also included a lot of the same drawbacks. Lighting the miniature sets in a way that didn’t produce glare on the cels was challenging, as was keeping the lighting consistent across lengthy and multiple days of shooting. Additionally some of the details would be lost to depth of field focus issues.

There was also an inconsistent use of this technique. Some of the shots used in Fleischer films seem to use the Setback Process haphazardly and at random. They seemed to prioritize using it when it would look impressive rather than when it would be narratively important. As such they probably spent a lot of time and money creating sets and scenes that were mundane or could’ve been achieved in 2D, rather than focusing that energy on the moments where it would make more sense to use the technology.

Still, when used appropriately the atmosphere these scenes could create was impressive for the time. Popeye’s Sinbad the Sailor cartoon from 1937 is a particularly lavish production with quite a few shots that showcased the technology at its best.

Incidentally, If you’ve ever played the video game Cuphead then you likely be able to spot some homages to the setback tabletop process as the developers faithfully recreated it and used it in multiple stages. The rotating background scene in Pyramid Peril is a good example.

scans from a book about the animation process and animation techniques like the multiplane camera. at the time of 70s Soviet Estonia at least.

Known as “Walt’s Swiss-Army knife” Ub Iwerks was born in Kansas City 1901, and when he turned 18 he would meet a fresh-from-war Walt Disney. The pair would work together through thick and thin until the 1930’s, when Iwerks would leave Walt to pursue a new job with the prospect of more creative freedom. This was something Iwerks had felt limited in his time with Disney. However, unbeknownst to him, the person offering the job was the Co-founder of Paramount Studios, a direct rival of Disney. Ub tried to plead his case to Disney, explaining that he would never take a job from Paramount, had he known what company was behind the offer. But it proved too little too late, Disney would exile Iwerks from the company. Iwerks would eventually return to the company, this time as a technical effects technician. Iwerks would make several innovations which would earn him decades of praise. However, one of his inventions streamlined Disney as a company, that being the multi-plane camera.

Typically consisting of three sheets of glass, with a camera above, the multi-plane camera completely changed how animation worked. Previously, animations either needed to have the backgrounds drawn on each frame, or space needed to be left to fill in for the main character. Neither of these options left much in terms of creative freedom. However, the multi-plane camera allowed for the background, middle ground and foreground to all be separate. This allowed for labor to be split up across multiple artists, and allowed for specific changes to be made on certain aspects of the animation. The original model, constructed by Ub Iwerks, was created using the spare parts of an old Chevy car. A more advanced version would be constructed in 1937, for use in Snow White, and the Seven Dwarves. Disney would use the multiplane camera until 1989, with the release of The Little Mermaid. 

While Iwerks had to use a stripped Chevy to build his camera, I’d argue that my materials were more restricted. In my previous class, we were put into groups and assigned to make our own version of the multi-plane camera. Our materials were small wooden blocks to separate the layers, plexiglass sheets to act as the layers themselves, and sheets of construction paper. Each group was given around an hour to complete their project, and we were given nearly complete creative freedom, aside from having to follow a prompt from a list. Our options were to create a silhouette film, something akin to Lotte Reiniger, or something involving music, like the work of Oskar Fischinger. 

My group and I decided on the musical prompt, selecting “Clair de Lune” as our music choice and beginning to brainstorm. We laid a sheet of black paper for the background, and created a cutout moon to serve as the middle ground. We also cut out several black shapes that when laid on top of the moon, gave the illusion of the moon shifting phases. Then came the music itself, we decided on using stars to convey the notes, which required us to meticulously construct and sync up the twinkling of the stars to the notes of the music. After around 45 minutes of animating, we ended up with about nine seconds of synced footage. All in all, I think the project was not only fun, but gave us a good look into how laborious and frankly, clunky, old animation used to be before the tools of today were invented. 

Work Cited

Fri, Posted on. “Ub Iwerks: Master of Animation and Technology.” The Walt Disney Family Museum, www.waltdisney.org/blog/ub-iwerks-master-animation-and-technology. Accessed 24 Sept. 2025.

“Multiplane Camera.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 3 May 2025, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera.

The Old Mill (Disney, 1937) dir. Wilfred Jackson, music by Leigh Harline