Lets Talk About Motion Capture

Lets talk about motion capture animation for a minute. I remember beating 'Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time" and seeing credits for the motion capture team. I was amazed that people could capture motion and translate it digitally, and now as video game and film technology progresses, it is amazing to see all the things that can be done with motion capture animation.

Animation has always been a form of motion capture. Great animators from all over the world, Including Walt Disney Studios, hire actors and performers to come preform many actions live in a studio, so they can 'capture' the motion with their eyes and translate it to hand-drawn animation correctly. Many animated movies, especially those from Don Bluth studio, rotoscope which is a form of Motion Capture, where an action is filmed, and literally traced over with a pencil to become the finished animation. Rotoscoping is often frowned upon in most creative circles, because it is seen that the artist is not good enough to do the animation him/herself. PIXARr uses no motion capture (as told humorously in the end credits of Ratatouille)




Rotoscoping turned 3d is called motion capture. It is taking the action that is recorded and using it to become your final project. Using light reflections and an infrared camera, actors movements are recorded and translated into animation. Robert Zemekis is a large supporter of this, creating such fully mo-cap movies such as "Polar Express" and "Beowulf". Often time, people ask why the movies were not made with real actors in live action, but Mo-cap offers things that are impossible in real life, such as sweeping cameras and closeups in fights, and magical characters, such as Gollum (Andy Serkis) in Lord of the Rings, and Grawp in Harry Potter 5.



What are your opinions on Motion Capture? I think that in live action films it is amazing for effects and makes stunts safer for everyone, but stunt people are against it saying that they are being put out of jobs. What are your opinions? More on this to follow.

Review: INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL

I won't spend too many words on this review, but basically, if you liked the first three Indiana Jones movies, there is no reason for you not to enjoy this one. There has been the clamour that this film is cheesey and unbelivable, but when one thinks about it 1) its been 20 years since a Indiana Jones movie has been made and 2) in Raiders of the Lost Ark, G-D came out at the end and killed all the villians. What is beleivable about that one? Also, if that was a spoiler of Raiders of the Lost Ark for you, I don't care. The movie was made in 1984 and if you haven't seen it yet, you woulden't be seeing it anyway. Thats like me spoiling Citzen Kane. People have either seen it and know, or they just don't care.

Anyway... Harrison Ford is good as always, and Shia Le'bouf is showing that he has some high callibur acting chops, and he certainly will star in many more films in the not too distant future. Ray Winstone shows the world he is not as in shape as his animated body in Beowulf, and Karen Allen makes a nice reprise to the screen as Marion Ravenwood, Indy's lover in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Cate Blanchett makes an obnoxious, but acceptable villian, and the plot is just as fun as they were back in the old trilogy.

The action is fantastic with just as many crazy nuiances that Speilberg and Lucas could think up, with one invloving monkeys being the only thing I didn't care for in the film. The direction by Spielberg is fantastic, with amazing cinematography, and the choice to shoot film rather than digital was a good one because it helps the film fit the canon of looks and style perfectly. A nice touch is the use of Silhouette, which is used frequently by Spielberg to heighten the drama and magic of the scenes and the film overall.

It can officially be declared that Lucas and Speilberg still have thier magic... but maybe it is time for them to think of new franchises, because thier old golden boys are getting a bit tiring. Sure, it can have Harrison Ford, but its gotta be something we haven't already seen a trilogy (or two trilogies)of and numerous ripoffs by lesser quality filmmakers.