How important is "realistic-looking?"
PsychoKick
In no way am I saying that technical quality does not matter in
animation, but after reading one too many newspaper articles
glorifying "Pocahantas" just because it looks so darn realistic at times, I
put forth this question:
How important is it for animation to look "realistic?" It seems a
bit redundant to me. Sort of like painting a landscape as sharp-lined and
realistic as possible and ignoring whether it actually looks better a
bit more vague, and when a nice camera is handy. Again, I do NOT in
any way whatsoever mean to belittle the skill needed to do this; I'm an
artist myself. I am not saying that frame rates should be stuck at 8fps,
or that stick figures are good enough. I am merely questioning why do so
many people judge animation almost completely according to how
realistic-looking it is.
Look at the history of art and painting. The development of the
camera changed much of the rules as to what constituted art. No longer
was it almost sufficient to just draw things realisticly. Now other
factors were much more important than before such as placement,
impression, atmosphere, etc. In fact, that's how the Impressionistic
movement of art was started: the camera forced artists to do what the
camera could not. I think this can be applied to animation just as much.
They should be as realistic-looking as they need to be to portray just
the right amount of emotional impact. That is one of the main appeals of
animation in the first place: sometimes we identify more with an animated,
simply drawn character than with a filmed actor, who can seem distant and
impersonal. And if the background is too realistic looking, it contrasts
badly with the simply drawn characters, and makes everything look more
fake.
In short, I think there is such a thing as animation that is TOO
realistic looking (though it's quite hard to find): Good as a display of
sheer skill, but bad in terms of storytelling/emotional impact and
uneconomical in terms of budget.
Strike a balance,
-PsychoKick
"But the fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. Against these there
is no law."