What is Animated Film?

Animated films can be made in loads of different ways;

• cel


• CGI


• stop motion

All of these work on the basic idea that each frame of film is made up of a still image and, slowly, these still images when put together (each one is slightly different to the one that came before it) create the sensation of movement and is therefore animated.

As technology moves forward filmmakers have always sought new ways to make films (sound, colour, 3D, special effects, CGI). The latest method to be tried is Motion Capture. Motion Capture (or Mo-Cap as we'll call it from now on) uses the technique of dressing an actor in a lycra suit, sticking censors all over them (including their faces) and using computers to track their movements (thus capturing their motion - clever, no?).

So far, the most famous example of this is Andy Serkis' performance as Gollum in Lord of the Rings, but this isn't an animated film. Maybe a better example would be Beowulf or The Polar Express. See below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9qpqyO_dmU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVfB6GhlwIM

Both of these were directed by Robert Zemeckis, famous for the Back to the Future trilogy and Forrest Gump. One criticism of these movies is that the faces (and especially the eyes) seem slightly creepy or 'soulless', whereas the rest of the film is incredibly realistic (see backgrounds and clothes).

Another criticism is that there seems little point in animating characters to look super-realistically human. Why not just film the actors themselves? The picture below shows Jamie Bell and Andy Serkis (yes, him again) on the 'set' of the new Tintin movie, with Peter Jackson (LOTR) and director Steven Spielberg (Jaws, Saving Private Ryan, Indiana Jones).

This picture shows just how much extra 'stuff' the artists and animators will have to add to this film. The filming of the actors is only one small step on the way to making this film. So, is this animation? What do you think? Is this the future of animated film? Or would you prefer to see real actors on screen? What will be the main factor on whether Hollywood goes along this road much further? The fact the Hollywood big shots like Jackson and Spielberg are having a go, suggest they think it will be popular.

Empire's Top 10 Cartoon Songs

Those lovely people at Empire have blogged on their favourite songs from cartoons. You can read it here:

http://www.empireonline.com/features/top10/cartoon-songs/10.asp

So it got me thinking why do so many cartoons have songs in them? Actually, scrap that. Why did they? I can't think of many modern animated films that have songs in them (they do, but tend to use pop songs already familiar to the audience. Often this is to add atmosphere to a scene; more romantic, more exciting etc).

The last one I can think of is Toy Story 2 and this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=natWIzL4gLg

Having checked this link you are now no doubt in floods of tears (admit it!) and so need cheering up. What better than The Jungle Book, probably the best of all Disney's movies in terms of songs (King of the Swingers!!).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOcyYyxqN_g

So why WERE songs so common in these films? It probably has something to do with the fact that when animated feature films began (with Snow White in 1937) one of the most popular genres of films was the musical. And so, naturally, cartoons followed suit. Ironically the cartoon and its songs outlasted the musical, so much so that by the 1990s and films like The Lion King, cartoons were almost the only films that had songs woven into them.

The other reason may be that an associated album of original songs might be one of the few ways that the audience could own a part of the film (this is before DVD remember, even before VHS!).

Whatever the reason you should be aware that for a large part of their history songs have been important LANGUAGE FEATURE of animated films.