Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Essay I am working on


Motion Capture: Killing the Soul of Animation is the title. Here is my introduction, hope you see where i am going with this.

We have all loved animation for its ability to break free from the realm of the physical world. Cartoons defy every single law of physics and bend the rules of biology. And we as viewers still love them and accept them for everything they do because well, these are ‘cartoons’. If someone were to see a human perform the same crazy antics as Wile E. Coyote it would induce more horror and shock than laughter. It is a simple fact of animation. But still some studios and directors feel the need to ‘push realism’ in 3D animated movies through motion capture.

2 comments:

Jeremy said...

I totally agree man, the point of animation is to do what live action can't. To expand on the imagination of what could happen in reality, not what can happen. The concept is not only killing animation, but also live action in the same way... what's the point?!

Sooi Leon Li-Aun said...

I agree to some extent. Much of motion-captured animation production today seems to be killing the "essence" and appeal of animation. However, I would like to propose that we do not put the blame on the technology. Technology just provides the tool, the artist (or actor, in this case) makes the animation. The acting in "Beowulf" and "The Polar Express" were rather bland and it wouldn't have made much difference regardless of what technologies they use.

In contrast, Weta's creation of Gollum (in LOTR) was not only successful in its realism, but also in its stylization of Gollum's grotesquely contorted figure. It was motion-captured, but what gave it its believability was the acting.

Btw it this for your History of Animation class? Hope to see your completed essay soon.