#Live action

[baltharino]

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Dir. Brian Henson

[zombie-bait]

As an animation student I absolutely hate live action adaptations like the ones Disney's been churning out the last few years. They strip away all the artistic intent of the original pieces of media and turn them into grey, heavily cgi-ed experiences that don't even carry a quarter of the whimsy. The purpose behind these adaptations isn't to fully utilize a new medium and find a unique way of retelling the original story, it's just to make money.

Imagine you see a painting, let's say The Mona Lisa. Now, you can put on a black wig, pose in front of the countryside and take a selfie in the same pose. Is it fun? Yeah, sure. It's the kind of thing you can send to your friends or maybe post on an account. But to argue it is superior somehow because it's "real" is an insult. You could spend thousands of dollars on makeup, cameras and lighting but still, it will not carry the same cultural impact. It can't.

And don't get me wrong, photography and cinematography are 100% an art form. You can do beautiful things with a camera that cannot be done through any other media. Cosplay is another beautiful example of artists bringing their creative interpretations of characters into the real world. People who do those should be admired and appreciated. But we know that's not what's happening here.

You might not think The Little Mermaid (1989) or Beauty and the Beast (1991) are as artistically valuable as something like The Mona Lisa. That's the thing about art, no one really gets to decide what piece of art is or isn't superior to another. But all three are definitively intentional art. It doesn't matter if you're an overworked in-betweener for a mega-corporation in the 90's or a famous renaissance painter working on a portrait. Either way, you're pouring a little bit of yourself into your creation. Every choice you make has intent behind it and years of hard work, even if you're not conscious of that.

These adaptations are an expensive selfie boasted around as a superior product. Because that's all they are, products imitating art. You end up losing those intentional choices somewhere along the way as hand-picked colours, distinct silhouettes and visual storytelling all get dulled into the same "realistic" shape. And children deserve better. Not just because exploiting families by rereleasing content is scummy, but because I whole-heartedly believe that children deserve artistically rich, complex stories. Almost every animation student and professional that I know got where they are because they were inspired by something. Maybe it was Beauty and the Beast or My Little Pony or Animaniacs or How to Train Your Dragon. But there's something immensely powerful about being a little kid and being shown a completely new, beautiful way to imagine and interpret the world. And you find yourself sketching day and night to replicate that interpretation until suddenly you're creating something new, with intention, that's never been made before.

I'm sure there are plenty of kids who like movies with realistic-looking animals. But the animals aren't realistic because these corporations thought kids would enjoy them, they're realistic because studios executives that don't actually give a shit about art or animation think they are more visually impressive and needed to come up with an excuse to recycle content instead of daring to do anything new. They don't care about artists, they care about consumers.

Since we keep getting "live action" CGI remakes of already perfectly adequate animated movies, and because people need to understand that animation is a medium and not a genre, I have prepared this primer about the importance of Visual Language for Conveying Information.

Can you tell what the personalities of these two mice are?

Can you tell now?

Which of these two tigers feels safer to be around?

Which of these three dogs is the funniest one?

If you can answer these questions, then you already have experience with the idea of visual language and stylistic choices being used to impart narrative meaning. If you can understand why these choices were made to impart meaning, then you can understand why animation is a medium for telling stories that has its own inherent value, and is not merely a "placeholder" for the eventual implementation of photorealistic presentation (aka "Live Action" CGI). Animation does not need to be "corrected" or "legitimized" by remaking it into the most representational simulation of observable reality.

[sincericida]

«12-year-old Fred Hechinger interviewing ANDREW GARFIELD about “The Amazing Spider-Man” (as denied by Joseph Quinn)»

(Fred Hechinger x/t)

[demifiendrsa]

Cobra Kai: Season 6 | Part 3 Date Announcement

Part three of the sixth and final season of Cobra Kai will stream on Netflix on February 13, 2025.

[do-you-know-this-queer-character]

Do you know this queer character?

Castiel is Queer and Agender or Genderfluid, and uses varying pronouns based on presentation!

[enchantedchocolatebars]

@pokeycub

christmas with no limits

really, this art was all an excuse to show you this image. i miss when old movie promo photos were awkward as shit.

[his-madness-keeps-him-sane]

[pink-titration]

Live action ninjago movie bingo!

[azehearts]

In honor of the clickbait scarf scene and artist! Zuko, WE'RE BACK, BABYYY 😎

I'm a little rusty but yey! An art!

[perosp3ro]

SHE IS SO BEAUTIFUL. OMG.

[baltharino]

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Dir. Brian Henson

[evelina-maar]

Biblically accurate Sokka 🌊

[jjay-mess]

I usually just reblog stuff on here, but I need to say something about the live action How To Train Your Dragon remake.

It was not needed.

And I know some of you may think "ok well, art isn't necessary to human life" but that's not what I mean.

Httyd came out in 2010. That's 14 years ago. It's animated in 3d and sure, we made some improvements, but honestly? It holds up, and really well. It has a distinct style, the designs are unique, and everything looks amazing.

We didn't need a live action remake, especially not when it looks so similar to the animated one. At this point, it's just becoming disrespectful to animation. Why make an animated movie if in less than 20 years there's gonna be a live action version? Why isn't the original one good enough?

Truth is, it's a cash grab. And everyone is falling for it, this time, because it's not Disney, because the original movie is so loved, and because it's so similar to the original one. But there was no need for this! The original one is a masterpiece that should be left alone.

That said, it's probably gonna be a spectacular movie (because it's gonna be a copy and paste of the original one...). I won't watch it.

How To Train Your Dragon was always one of my favorite movies, and to see so many people praise this....feels discouraging, as someone who loves animation this much.

[ricomola]

I finally saw the sneak peak :D He did perfect!!

[demifiendrsa]

Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds celebrates Deadpool & Wolverine Worldwide Box Office Opening Weekend by recreating the "Wolverine Crush" meme.

Hugh Jackman:

Wolverine and Deadpool is the #1 movie in the world. Thank you ALL!

Ryan Reynolds:

I miss Hugh already.