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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Dec 21, 2011 7:41:50 GMT -6
I have been hearing some talk about the new movie Tintin, and the fact that the production of this "animation" made extensive use of rotoscoping.
The argument goes that a LOT of recent movies have used what is essentially digital rotoscoping (LOTR, Avatar, etc) in their production, so what is the big deal.
Counterargument, those movies were produced to present what was intended to be a realistic character to interact with and stand along side actual people, NOT to be presented as an animated production.
Realistic character movement has always been a challenge, from the beginning of industry. Rotoscoping has long been used to study the movement of people and other living being. The process of rotoscoping to directly trace over the film of an actor to produce animation has been considered "lazy" since Disney used it in Snow White in 1937. The movie Tintin apparently has revived this "lazy" technique in a digital environment.
So... lazy animation? or an extension of movie production of "live" characters in non-animation?
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Post by Chicago Jake on Dec 21, 2011 10:12:13 GMT -6
I have no inherent problem with it. It is just one more technique for creating a movie and giving it a specific "look." The only real question is, do people enjoy watching it or not?
The only movie I've seen that was completely rotoscoped was Ralph Bakshi's ill-fated version of LOTR from the late seventies. I thought it made for an interesting style.
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Post by Irish Stu on Dec 21, 2011 11:22:48 GMT -6
Are Tintin books popular in the US? When I was a kid everyone collected the Tintin books, as well as Asterix the Gaul.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Dec 21, 2011 11:32:43 GMT -6
I was one of the very few that liked the Bakshi LOTR and was disappointed when the second half was not made.
Wired Magazine had a great article last month on animation and people's perceptions of the quality (realness) of the people in it. They have found that people react very positively as the "realness" of animation increases... up to a point. When the animators get close to maxing out the current level of the technology, the viewers reaction crashes into negatives, with "creepy" being the common complaint. So it would seem that our brain likes "realness" up to a point.
As for Tintin. I think that what has been done with LOTR and Avatar were incredible, but they were entirely different uses of the technology. I probably wont see Tintin in the theater, so I wont form a true opinion on this application, this time around. I will be interested in Beeb's commentary if he reviews it..
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Dec 21, 2011 11:34:40 GMT -6
I became aware of Tintin in the 70's when I was an undergrad in college and talking with foreign students. Before that I had never heard of him.
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Post by New Mama on Dec 21, 2011 12:43:19 GMT -6
I for one have never heard of the Tintin books.
Just a side comment....Jamaican men call a woman’s neither region her Tintin or sometimes her kitty. Art and I both got a good chuckle out the first TV promo we saw on this movie.
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Dec 21, 2011 12:44:43 GMT -6
I will be interested in Beeb's commentary if he reviews it.. Sorry, Gordon -- my movie class is over for this semester and since I only post movie reviews for things I see in my class, I probably won't be putting anything on my blog about it. Also, like you, I'm not certain this is something I need to rush out to a theater to see. FWIW, Simon, I was familiar with the cartoon as a kid -- it ran on a local NYC TV station for a couple of years. Never read any of the books, though. Don't ever recall seeing them around, as a matter of fact. |
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Post by Chicago Jake on Dec 21, 2011 12:49:21 GMT -6
I was one of the very few that liked the Bakshi LOTR and was disappointed when the second half was not made.
Wired Magazine had a great article last month on animation and people's perceptions of the quality (realness) of the people in it. They have found that people react very positively as the "realness" of animation increases... up to a point. When the animators get close to maxing out the current level of the technology, the viewers reaction crashes into negatives, with "creepy" being the common complaint. So it would seem that our brain likes "realness" up to a point.
.. Yeah, I liked the Bakshi flick too. He has had an interesting career. The "negative" reaction you are talking about when things get too real has a name: the Uncanny Valley. It's why animators go out of their way to NOT get too real, giving characters three fingers, stylized faces, using animals instead of humans, etc. As for Tintin, I've heard of it, but couldn't tell you anything about it beyond what I've seen in recent commercials. I didn't know if it was a book or a comic or what. Certainly not popular round these parts. |
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Dec 21, 2011 12:53:04 GMT -6
I for one have never heard of the Tintin books. Just a side comment.... Jamaican men call a woman’s neither region her Tintin or sometimes her kitty. Art and I both got a good chuckle out the first TV promo we saw on this movie. Hence the popularity of the movie canine RimTinTIn |
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Post by Irish Stu on Dec 21, 2011 19:04:05 GMT -6
As for Tintin, I've heard of it, but couldn't tell you anything about it beyond what I've seen in recent commercials. I didn't know if it was a book or a comic or what. Certainly not popular round these parts The Adventures of Tintin was created by Belgian artist Georges Remi who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. I'm not sure how the stories were originally presented in the 1930s but when I was a kid in the 70s they were oversized, perfect bound, hard covered, full colour comic books. Tintin was a Belgium reporter who got into all kinds of adventurers whilst investigating stories, and was always accompanied by his faithful white fox terrier Snowy. Supporting characters included Captain Haddock, Professor Calculus, and the bungling detectives Thompson and Thompson. The Tintin books (they weren't comic books to us, they were books) were the ultimate must-read adventure stories to us young Brits. Personally, I believe it may have been because although Tintin was a grown man he was drawn more like a teenager, so we could relate to him. As Beeb mentions, Tintin also became a very popular (on this side of the pond anyway) cartoon series.    |
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Post by Merlot Joe on Dec 22, 2011 0:54:26 GMT -6
Never heard of Tintin before they started advertising this movie. I just hope that the hair cut does not catch on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Also it is not on my planned movies to go see list.
Edited to add. At first I thought they said the adventures of RIN TIN TIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Post by Tex on Dec 22, 2011 11:14:01 GMT -6
I never saw them growing up in Texas but my wife said they were very popular in Vietnam.
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