Comments on: In defense of Monster House http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/ My personal site for discussing animation and showing off my work. Fri, 09 Jan 2009 02:10:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU by: bunyip http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-11 Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:38:52 +0000 http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-11 Yes puppeteering is animation. "bringing the inanimate to life" My background is stopmotion and cgi where again I am animating a puppet, just a lot more slowly. Motion capture technology is going to get cheaper and more readily available. It will become second nature for commercials to use it all the time. I could see even the likes of Pixar adopting it for their films. I know that probably sounds like heresy but they already use it (or something like it) for crowd simulation. You don't get squash & stretch animation but I reckon some programming SOB is working on a plugin for motion capture right now! I guess we are beginning the transition phase similar to going from horse drawn cart to automobile and we unfortunately are the wagon builders who will be out of a job in 10 - 15 years. True animation will become a oddity that some people (arty types *smile*) indulge in to feel self important. Okay its probably not thaaaaat bad but money is a great motivator and sadly the movers and shakers just want a product not art. I'll get down from my soap box now :) Cheers Neil Yes puppeteering is animation. “bringing the inanimate to life” My background is stopmotion and cgi where again I am animating a puppet, just a lot more slowly.

Motion capture technology is going to get cheaper and more readily available. It will become second nature for commercials to use it all the time. I could see even the likes of Pixar adopting it for their films. I know that probably sounds like heresy but they already use it (or something like it) for crowd simulation. You don’t get squash & stretch animation but I reckon some programming SOB is working on a plugin for motion capture right now!

I guess we are beginning the transition phase similar to going from horse drawn cart to automobile and we unfortunately are the wagon builders who will be out of a job in 10 - 15 years.

True animation will become a oddity that some people (arty types *smile*) indulge in to feel self important.

Okay its probably not thaaaaat bad but money is a great motivator and sadly the movers and shakers just want a product not art.

I’ll get down from my soap box now :)

Cheers

Neil

]]> by: megamoze http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-10 Mon, 12 Feb 2007 10:24:03 +0000 http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-10 Bunyip, thanks for such an honest answer! Now here's the $64K question. Do you consider puppeteering animation? I know at Disney they refer to movement inside the character costumes at the theme parks as "animation," and I suppose by the dictionary definition, it is. But do YOU yourself consider your puppeteering craft to be animation? Bunyip, thanks for such an honest answer!

Now here’s the $64K question. Do you consider puppeteering animation? I know at Disney they refer to movement inside the character costumes at the theme parks as “animation,” and I suppose by the dictionary definition, it is. But do YOU yourself consider your puppeteering craft to be animation?

]]> by: bunyip http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-9 Mon, 12 Feb 2007 05:17:50 +0000 http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-9 Hi Megamoze, That's a fair call.. If I didn't know it was motion capture I would react differently. I actually enjoyed this film, and polar express and gollum and king kong etc etc. I am also a puppeteer as well as an animator. Wearing my puppeteer hat I see this technology as a great way to explore new media and satisfy the closet actor in me. Wearing my animators hat I think of all the heart and soul, intense character study and damn hard work replaced by a software program and an actor. I guess it removes my self importance in the process and dents my ego, becuase at the end of the day the audience doesn't give a crap how it was done. Hi Megamoze,
That’s a fair call.. If I didn’t know it was motion capture I would react differently. I actually enjoyed this film, and polar express and gollum and king kong etc etc. I am also a puppeteer as well as an animator. Wearing my puppeteer hat I see this technology as a great way to explore new media and satisfy the closet actor in me. Wearing my animators hat I think of all the heart and soul, intense character study and damn hard work replaced by a software program and an actor. I guess it removes my self importance in the process and dents my ego, becuase at the end of the day the audience doesn’t give a crap how it was done.

]]> by: megamoze http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-5 Fri, 09 Feb 2007 06:47:59 +0000 http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-5 I'm wondering, if you didn't know that that it was produced with actors with dots on their faces - and there's not any way to know that by simply watching the film - if you'd feel the same way about the movie. In other words, is your critique simply a prejudice against a certain filmmaking technique rather than an actual critique of whether or not the animation worked for the film. I’m wondering, if you didn’t know that that it was produced with actors with dots on their faces - and there’s not any way to know that by simply watching the film - if you’d feel the same way about the movie.

In other words, is your critique simply a prejudice against a certain filmmaking technique rather than an actual critique of whether or not the animation worked for the film.

]]> by: adelekthomas http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-4 Fri, 09 Feb 2007 06:31:26 +0000 http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-4 actually, i agree with bunyip too! actually, i agree with bunyip too!

]]> by: bunyip http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-2 Tue, 06 Feb 2007 23:12:51 +0000 http://megamoze.animationblogspot.com/2007/02/05/in-defense-of-monster-house/#comment-2 I saw the film and it was enjoyable, but it was produced using the same motion capture technique used in Polar Express. Actors with lots of dots all over their face. The animators just tweaked the imported performance. While the end product was good, the purist in me doesn't consider this to be animation (puppetry is a better comparison) and I would happily see motion capture consigned to the depths of hell! :) Motion capture will be the death of animation as we know it. I saw the film and it was enjoyable, but it was produced using the same motion capture technique used in Polar Express. Actors with lots of dots all over their face. The animators just tweaked the imported performance.
While the end product was good, the purist in me doesn’t consider this to be animation (puppetry is a better comparison) and I would happily see motion capture consigned to the depths of hell! :) Motion capture will be the death of animation as we know it.

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