During the early days of animation, the audience enjoyed seeing repetition of actions (Thomas and Johnston 42). Since repetition in animation also cut studio spending, three popular methods of repetition were developed (Thomas and Johnston 42). These methods are known as the cycle, repeat action, and the cross-over.

The cycle used a series of drawings that created a particular action and the last drawing worked back into the first (Thomas and Johnston 42). For example, a character could be drawn up and then animated throwing balls quickly and repeatedly as if the character is a pitching machine using the cycle method. This method was usually used for walks, dances, and a characters scrambling actions while trying to get away from some kind of danger (Thomas and Johnston 42). However, this method could be suitable for other repeated action too such as my above example depending on how it is used.

Repeat action is much like a cycle but it also involves at least a slight variation at the beginning or end of the action. With this method, animators can take drawings from earlier on in the scene and reuse them with a different variation but the same action (Thomas and Johnston 42). The action being reused in this method can be used in a variety of different situations. For example, if the action involved a character sliding to avoid hitting its head off a pipe while running, the same slide could be reused in another scene involving baseball and getting to base in time. This method is exactly what it says because only the action is repeated.

The cross-over involves multiple characters doing the same action. In this method, one drawing is traced on the same cel but in different locations (Thomas and Johnston 42). This repetition method would be useful in many situations including, for example, if the animator wanted a group of marching characters marching the same way by only actually drawing one. The cross-over method could also be combined with the cycle method and create a group of people doing the exact same thing repeatedly.

The cycle, repeat action, and cross-over methods of animation were useful in the early days of animation to help save money as well as to please the viewers. The same methods can be and more than likely are still used occasionally today, but it takes more than that to please the viewer now. However, if it were not for these methods the animation business in the early days may not have been as successful and may have lost much more money than earned.


Thomas, Frank and Ollie Johnston. 1995. The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation. New York: Disney Editions.