The video blog author KaptainKristian has published a seven-minute video, in which he analyzed how the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" by Robert Zemeckis was shot and what difficulties had to be encountered by its creators in order to incorporate animated characters into the film.
As the author of the video notes, one of the main difficulties of such films is putting the animated characters in the frame in such a way as to achieve the correct correlation of the position of their eyes with the views of the actors. Most often, the creators of such films could not do it - so the final shots did not look too realistic: talking to cartoon characters, the actors looked past them.
"Who framed Roger Rabbit," says KaptainKristian, is one of the best examples of how this problem was resolved. In the video, he compares how those or other scenes looked on the set and in the final version of the film.
Please, watch the video below and tell me your opinion about this old film. Do you think the endeavors of incorporating the cartoon characters were worth it? Do you like the idea of mixing video and animation? If yes, what is your favorite example?
Sources:
youtube.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Framed_Roger_Rabbit
Comments
But when I was younger, in primary school, as everyone I absolutely loved 'Space Jam'. It was so amazing how good it looked. Now, something like that doens't make an impression on anyone - but then? It was a hit. Everone loved it, everyone was watching it. Having 'Space Jam' on VHS was making you a super cool.
I'm quite neutral when it comes to mixing video and animations - I think that if something is good, I simply enjoy it. I try to be open for new experiences so I do not have rules like " I do not watch anime or horrors movies". As a boy who was raised in nineties, I'm huge fan of "Space Jam" and that's probably my favourite movie that mixes animation with video.
My favorite is "Roger rabbit" , best of my opinion animations here.
"Who framed Roger Rabbit" definitely showed that it was worth producing it. It had an influence on popular culture (with Jessica Rabbit becoming one of the best well known sex symbols) and it was an absolute hit at the box office.
I can't recall movies other than the already mentioned Space Jam and an adult movie Heavy Traffic. You mentioned "Stylo" of Gorillaz, and I remembered there was also
Paula's Abdul Opposites Attract: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xweiQukBM_k
I didn't saw the film, but I saw the trailer. And it looks amazing. Rabbit reacts so naturally, it's easy to believe he's real. I like the most the part about interaction, where the rabbit was breaking plates and moving objects around. Or when Jessica touched the man's jacket.
I have never like the idea of mixing animation and video. For me it just doesn't look good.
Generally speaking, if the show is well made, the technique doesn't matter that much to me.
I actually don't recall many mixed movies, the only one I can think of was Space Jam(1996). I think movies have moved to talking animals in the recent years, easier to make.
Actually I do recall one, Alvin and the Chipmunks was a mix of movie and animation. I haven't seen a single one though, just not my type of movie.
Modern cartoons don't have this problem as they are made almost 100% with computer graphics. Compare that to some good old Looney Tunes or Tom & Jerry cartoons, where every scene was hand-made, and you'll see how much work was needed even for "simple cartoons for kids".
As for the questions - of course putting characters in live action movies is worth it if it produces a great movie. In this example this exact thing happened and I think it is wonderful that people try to do something different and innovative. Too bad that I will never look at animations in the same way after watching the video above.
I like the trend of mixing cartoons and normal movies and my favorite is one of the most popular of its kind “Space Jam” with Michael Jordan and Looney Tunes starring roles.
In my opinion mixing video and animation is good idea. It isn't clichéd... I don't like dreariness in movie industry.
To be honest I'm not a huge fan mixing real actors with cartoon characters. I recall Space Jam, as it was a huge hit made by Warner Bros a couple of years ago.
I don't remember a lot of this type of movies, but one movie that stands out is "Space Jam".
I'm really like a combination of classic animation and cinematography. It looks fresh and unusual. As a child, I'm watched "Space Jam" again and again, but watched a "Who framed Roger Rabbit" much later, thanks to the parents and their control over the TV. -_-
In my opinion, and according to the author of the video, the "Who framed Roger Rabbit" is one of the best in quality films of this genre. All these shadows and glare to fit cartoon characters into the real world is very organic. Many of the shown passages of other films were unfamiliar to me. I think it's worth investigating this issue and creating your rating of such films.
I am concious that it was really hard to achieve such an effect but for me it was not worth it. Actors sometimes can't deal with imaginar characters and it looks really artifcial.
The best films of this kind are certainly "Space jam" and "Looney Tunes: Back in Action". When I was little, I loved watching these movies, until the tape came down or I had to go to sleep. I think that this is an interesting combination, but in recent times no similar film has been recorded at a good level.
While I think "Roger" is the best, I also recommend "Cool World" which was mentioned in a video. "Cool World" is kind of a " Roger Rabbit" for adults. It addresses some interesting topics like falling in love with one's own creation or running from the real world problems by switching to imaginary reality. "Cool World" is far from ideal, but It has something to it.
I like movies that mix cartoon and real characters, but at the same time I am glad there are not many of those :P The niche character of those productions makes them really special.
It's hard to record it well. Well enough to satisfied the people. You have to put in it a lot of work. It's much easier to separate these two movie genres. However, I can't wait for Space Jam 2!