For a while I have been excited to see a French film called Renaissance. And by a while I mean nearly a year. What was so intriguing about this movie? It is a 3D animated movie that was rendered in a stark black and white contrast; Sin City-esque without the occasional spots of color. I love animation, I love darkness and the French are OK. Finally, not too long ago, I got to see this film. And what happened?
I was very pissed off.
The plot was fairly boring, of the very mainstream American action sort, but it was French, so maybe it was groundbreaking over there. The voice acting was OK, nothing special, but not the worst I’ve ever heard.
“Well, gee, Mickey, none of this sounds that angering.”
And none of it was. I made it through the movie, only letting my attention fall on a twittering bird outside for a short while, and I was fine. Then I went to the bonus features and I learned the truth.
“They were inspired by Blade Runner?” Who hasn’t been? “The bonus features were in French with subtitles?” I can read, I have no problem with that. “Then what?”
It was feckin’ mo-cap!
For those of you who are not mega-stupid-nerdy like me, you might not know what “mo-cap” is. It is the in-the-know term for Motion Capture. That is when a bunch of actors stand around in funny suits with white balls sticking out all over them and a series of special cameras record their movements.
“So what’s so bad about that?”
Because this animated film that I had waited so long to see WAS NOT EVEN ANIMATED! Sure, I am positive there were some animators doing some clean-up work on material that was lost in translation. And the modelers and the lighting department and the special effects unit all did a bang-up job.
But when I pay money to see an animated film, I want that money to be spent on an actual animation process. Animators scrutinizing every little thumb movement and pelvic gyration and facial expression. I want the non-beautiful people getting paid to put the work in to make the motions even better and more interesting than a real person makes them.
Would you feel the same about the Mona Lisa or the Scream, knowing that Da Vinci or Munch had just taken a quick, cheap, digital image and used a simple Photoshop filter to make it look painted?
I am obviously not a Luddite. I am writing this on the internet and I do 3D animation myself. I am not screaming for the glory days of ink and paint because I know they are all but dead. Innovations are obviously a good thing, because I would not expect to animate an ocean particle by particle. God Bless the emitters.
But I do expect an animated movie to involve a real animation process. Because that is always what has made it so beautiful and perfect. The fact that it is our take on reality, not just exactly capturing reality.
Do not misunderstand me. I am not saying that we should toss all the mo-cap machines in the ocean (because that would be littering). I think mo-cap has a very integral part in Hollywood. As we have introduced more animated characters into films, it has left actors reacting to tennis balls on sticks. Which does not always translate that well. So let’s get the voice actors out on the set in their mo-cap suits. Then we get better performances out of everyone involved. But that is all mo-cap should be used for.
I guess to summarize my disappointment, I would call as evidence this year’s Oscar nominees for Animated Feature. Cars, Happy Feet and Monster House. The last two films used motion capture. Can they then really compete against a film that was wholly animated? “Well how could you use mo-cap to animate a car,” you scream? Obviously, it would not be that effective if it were a person in a suit. But if we were to call the Pixar track record into account, I think you will see my point. As it says at the end of Ratatouille, “100% Animated! No motion capture or shortcuts were used in the making of this film.”
And maybe that is just part of the reason why Pixar has consistently better movies. That mixed with their constant effort making sure they have a solid story and a terrific script and things like character development, which certain competitors, like (let’s keep half their name a secret so we don’t embarrass them) Dream_____ (no no no, that’s too obvious) ______Works, do not come close to. But that is an argument for another day.
The point is that in the future I am looking at animated movies more closely before I pay money for them. If they aren’t 100% animated, than they need to get themselves a new title. Maybe Spamimation or Ramenimation. Something that implies that mo-cap movies are perfectly acceptable, if you want something that is clearly a cheaper product on the whole.
Did I sound like too much of a snob just then?
