Friday, December 07, 2012

Making 3D More Like 2D

Genndy Tartakovsky has spent most of his life in hand-drawn animation land, so (naturally enough) he leans toward this.

Tartakovsky applied his customary 2-D approach to "Hotel Transylvania," using a digital pen and tablet to sketch over computer renderings and often giving the characters more exaggerated poses and caricature-like expressions.

The end result was a familiar Dracula with a few new tricks up his cape. ...

Funny how audiences respond more to CG animation that has that "cartoony" sensibility, and how mocap animation tends to leave audiences flat.

Mars Needs Moms could be one of the biggest write-offs in modern Hollywood history. The motion-capture animated film cost $150 million to produce but earned only $6.9 million in its debut at the domestic box office, the 12th worst opening of all time for a movie released in more than 3,000 theaters and one of the lowest openings for a major 3D release. ...

It has often been such. It's doubtful that filmgoers flocked to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to see the rotoed damsel in distress or prince. It was probably the seven little men that did it.

3 comments:

Juan Carlos Valdez said...

I wonder if the last part of our article was written sarcastically. If it was then... OK. If not then, people flocked to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs because it was one of the first fully animated films. While I enjoy the more stylized and cartoony animation in CG animated films. I find it immensely ludicrous and pointless. Why make something look like something that already exists? If "audiences respond more to CG animation that has that "cartoony" sensibility, and how mocap animation tends to leave audiences flat", then why don't we see more traditional animated feature films. I don't want to hear how it's more cost effective because it's not. I don't want the false belief that traditional animation is something of the past, because it's not! Don't say that CG films make more money than traditional animated films, because that's completely not true. A new traditional animated film will do just as well as a cg film if the studios put in the money for marketing and advertisement, a great story, and are committed to producing quality work.

Unknown said...

I wish John La$$eter and Co. shared your viewpoint, Juan.

However, I do see the sense in cartoonish CG films, a trend started by Madegascar and Incredibles, improved by Disney's Tangled, and refined by Hotel T. From my perspective, there is little sense in creating highly-textured characters, (where audiences can see every pore in the skin and every strand of hair,) if the overall design is round and exaggerated like a Rankin Bass puppet character.

Genndy's approach softened details, smoothed character motions, resulting in an overall aesthetically-pleasing experience. Disney's Paperman, which utilizes distinct outlines surrounding characters, (like a traditional animated feature,) is the closest yet in fullfilling the dream of Tra-digital animation.

I miss those outlines, those simple abstract shapes, those cartoony and colorful worlds. If Japan can successfully release hand-drawn features in the 21st Century, so can the United States.

Staloren said...

"""I miss those outlines, those simple abstract shapes, those cartoony and colorful worlds. If Japan can successfully release hand-drawn features in the 21st Century, so can the United States. """

Define "successful". I have a feeling that your definition doesn't fit with a major studio in the US.

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