Ever since the massive success of Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story in 1995, animated films have gradually moved further and further away from traditional, hand-drawn methods of animation towards the use of computer-generated imagery, or CGI. While some animated feature films have attempted to preserve the traditional element by complimenting hand-drawn elements with CGI, most have come to be produced entirely through CGI methods, with the ratio of the former to the latter becoming smaller and smaller over time and with entirely hand-animated films becoming virtually non-existent. Perhaps this is inevitable, for how many people have even heard of Disney’s Brother Bear or Home on the Range (Disney’s most recent traditionally animated films) as compared to Pixar’s films, the Shrek films, or even Disney’s own CGI film Chicken Little? The public’s infatuation with these newer methods of animation have led many animation studios to focus solely on CGI-based films,... but will this always be the case? I don’t think so, or, at least, I hope not. CGI has certainly opened the doors to many new possiblities in animation, but it surely has not produced an alternative to replace the more traditional forms, as these two methods for animation truly are two separate media, much in the way that photography and painting are two separate media for art-making.
In July 2008, Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli released its latest animated film, Gake no Ue no Ponyo (English translation: Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea), written and directed by filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, one of the most famed animators and film directors in Japanese history. (Anime fans outside of Japan are sure to be familiar with Miyazaki’s name, and perhaps even those who aren’t anime fans may be somewhat familiar, as it was not too long ago that his film Spirited Away won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.) Miyazaki’s films have always maintained the traditional animation technique, but ever since the 1997 film Princess Mononoke, CGI has been employed in some form or another in order to give the films “a little boost of elegance.” Interestingly, most if not all Japanese animators have resisted making the switch to completely CGI-based animation in the way that American animators have, perhaps largely because of the differing needs and wants of their primary audiences. However, virtually none of these animators have stuck solely to traditional animation techniques, as they have all strived to add this “boost of elegance” into their films. However, in Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea, Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli have made a complete return to hand-drawn, traditional animation, proving to the public and more importantly to themselves that digital technology is not always necessary to create an engaging and visually captivating animated film.
Trailer for Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (2008).
I actually had the opportunity to see Miyazaki’s Ponyo when I visited Japan in the summer, and much of the beauty of the film lies in its visual and conceptual simplicity. Not only has the animation been simplified through its resistance to make use of digital imagery, but the plot itself has also been made simple, with no complicated side plots and a fairly limited cast of characters. Despite being aimed primarily toward a very young audience, the film is surprisingly entertaining and engaging for those outside of the target audience. There are probably many reasons for this—for example, the film demonstrates to the audience the nearly endless potential of the human hand. However, I am sure that another one of the biggest reasons is actually the break that it gives us from our constant overexposure to computer-processed imagery in our everyday lives. Ponyo simply gives a refreshing change from such digital imagery, and this point relates back to the point I made in my previous post about graphic design and the computer—the use of the computer is not a better way to create work, but rather is just alternative for doing so. Computer-generated animated films are often breath taking, but so is Ponyo, a hand-animated film that, in fact, looks just as modern as any CG-based animated film.
In a similar vein, it is also interesting to note that in December 2009 Walt Disney Animation Studios will be releasing the film The Princess and the Frog, their first traditionally animated feature film since 2004. In the production of this film, the artists are employing animation techniques that rely upon the use of traditional pencil and paper, as they “focus on what the [hand-drawn] line can do.” It was actually not too long before the production of The Princess and the Frog that Disney announced that they would no longer produce traditionally animated films. Yet here they are now, working on one to be released just next year. Perhaps the infatuation with computer technology in the area of animated film-making is soon to end, as more and more people come to the realization that traditional animation is still just as modern as it ever was.
Teaser Trailer for The Princess and the Frog (2009).
2 comments:
I think we will eventually see both merge. There is no reason hand drawn shapes can't co-exist in a CGI 3D space.
For example, in the video game XIII (which is based on a comic book of the same name), the artists used a modern game engine coupled with new cell shader technology to give the game a comic book feel.
While this isn't necessarily blending hand-drawn animations in a 3D space, you could get the idea of the possibility.
Or maybe I'm just way off base here — that could also be true.
You bring up a good point, and I agree that there indeed is no reason that hand-drawn objects can’t exist in a 3D space. It would be great so see both media merge in various ways, and I think we already do see some examples of such cases today, for it is not uncommon to see CG elements in more traditionally animated films.
I just simply hope that traditional animation in its pure form is not “replaced” by CGI animation, as I do not think that CGI animation is necessarily an updated or upgraded form of traditional animation.
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