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Re: JIN-ROH and LoTR



On Mon, 25 Mar 2002, The Mattrix wrote:
> Finally, I need to say this regarding animation as a form of
> cinematography.  The line between animated and live action film has long 
> been blurred.  Large portions of LoTR, and numerous other flicks, were
> computer animated.  90% of the "Phantom Menance" was digital, making it
> a sort of inverse "Roger Rabbit", but it is not called "animated film"
> due to the presence of a few flesh and blood actors.  Yet not even all
> the actors were flesh and blood!  The stigma attached to animated film
> has got to go!

Indeed.  They had a new feature-animation category at this year's Oscars,
but the only films that got nominated were kids' movies and/or fairy
tales.  Some of the more adventurous or interesting animated films, like
_Osmosis Jones_ and _Waking Life_, were shamefully overlooked ... in
favour of _Jimmy Neutron_, of all things.  That's as good a sign as any
that nobody in Hollywood wants to take animation seriously.

But speaking of animation as special effect, I have to say I love films
like _The Ten Commandments_ and _Forbidden Planet_ and _The Birds_, all of
which used traditional hand-drawn animation to depict pillars of fire,
alien lifeforms and swarms of crows, etc.  The fact that many of our
effects today are little more than cartoons isn't a new thing; the only
thing that's changed is the *kind* of cartoons that they are.

Well, that, plus the fact that this new *kind* of cartoon is so life-like
that it can be used in situations that would have been unthinkable back in
the day, a la the CGI characters we see like Jar Jar and Gollum, etc.

--- Peter T. Chattaway --------------------------- peter at chattaway_com ---
 "I detected one misprint, but to torture you I will not tell you where."
      Winston Churchill to T.E. Lawrence, re Seven Pillars of Wisdom

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