celn.
/sɛl/, U.S. /sɛl/ Film.
A transparent sheet of celluloid or similar film material, which is drawn on and used in combination with other sheets in the production of cartoons.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > cinematography > filming > filming equipment > [noun] > film > sheet of
cel1933
1933 G. H. Sewell Commercial Cinematogr. x. 160 The two drawings are..replaced on the desk, a cell placed on top of them, and the drawing of the ram in its first position is made on the cell. The subsequent cells receive images of the successive positions of the ram.
1938 S. W. Bowler in S. G. B. Stubbs Mod. Encycl. Photogr. I. 253/2 With these celluloid overlays, or ‘cels’ as they are called, there are almost unlimited possibilities of action available, since at least two or three may be used..over the same background.
1959 J. Halas & R. Manvell Technique Film Animation xix. 223 The head of the colouring department..is responsible for handing out the traced cells to the individual colourists.
1966 New Scientist 10 Feb. 346/1 The cels have to be individually photographed.
1992 CU Amiga May Suppl.4/2 When Disney started his massive entertainment empire, labour was cheap and plentiful and animators worked on individual cells, painting images..a frame at a time.
2005 New Yorker 17 Jan. 67/2 Hayao Miyazaki started his professional career drawing animation cels and rose to head an independent cartoon empire.
Compounds
General attributive, as cel animation, cel sequence, cel technique, etc.
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1959 Listener 23 July 126/2 A new pencil called the cell-graph, invented by the London film cartoonist John Halas, enables the key artist to draw his own work directly on to the celluloid sheets.
1967 T. Taylor People who make Movies iv. 42 An extremely expensive process, due to labor costs alone, cell animation involves the use of a special animation camera.
1978 L. Diamant Broadcast Communications Dict. 14 Cartoonist working from master key drawings to complete a cel sequence.
1992 MacUser Nov. Nov. 81/1 An onionskin feature, which lets you see the previous or next frame with respect to the current frame—an important aid for cel animators.
2001 Guardian 24 Mar. i. 22/2 Hanna promptly joined the staff as storyman and in-betweener filling in the cel transparencies between the animators' poses.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2008; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1933