#this of course isn't too imply that NO creativity or innovation comes from high budget productions

[celiaelise]

Saw a post talking about a live-action adaptation of a book, and how op understood that the cgi budget was limited, and there were other more important elements that it was going to, but they were still really disappointed that certain aspects of the source material were being left out.

And I feel like I've seen so many similar posts about so many things!! Especially fantasy-flavored things. It really just once again begs the question: what about 2d animation??? Like, these limits are being artificially imposed!!!

Or not even only that? CGI that's more stylized, or a combination of live-action and one, or more, forms of animation. Like, I know we tend to read live-action characters surround by 2d cartoons as goofy and silly, but they don't have to be! The beauty of art and storytelling is that you can use the tools at your disposal to convey literally any emotion, if you know what you're doing. I know all of us here on tumblr, at least, have found ourselves moved by ridiculous-looking comics, or short stories based on the jokiest of premises.

Which isn't even getting into the possibilities of puppetry and practical effects!!! 😭 Ugh!!! Like...some colored lights shining on an actor's face and a miniature in the foreground of the shot could absolutely have as much emotional impact as a painstakingly-rendered digital dragon breathing fire. I feel like we all know this??? Or at least we used to?

I know I'm really not qualified to talk about this, given that I almost never watch anything anyway, and film is certainly not my medium. But storytelling and art definitely are, and they are so, so important to me, and it's upsetting to think about just how much corporations have commodified them and boxed them in.

You know how we did fight scenes in one of the plays I was most recently in? (At my community theater with no budget, where ticket sales don't always even cover rent.) We used toy swords, which I bought at Spirit Halloween, and all of which I returned for a full refund once the show done, except for the one that fell apart while I was using it. Our fight choreographer set it up so the audience wouldn't hear the plastic blades hitting each other, more for the sake of eliminating the distraction than actually hiding that they were, very clearly, plastic.

And I'm not saying the effect was blockbuster-worthy, but I will tell you that many people gasped and at least a couple got misty-eyed when my character got "stabbed", despite the cheap weapons, and the lack of fake blood, and the fact that we didn't even bother to use a spring-loaded knife, and just slid the thing under my arm. (the ones we can afford always have a very audible rattle anyway, so that's probably for the best.)

And honestly, I'm still unlearning the need to cling to realism myself! (but community theater has been an excellent teacher for that) Also, I think I'm getting off topic. My point is, people have always been able to create compelling stories without the need for anything fancy. But we want to create stunning and immersive visual spectacles now, too, right!? There are literally countless ways to achieve that goal, but our culture seems to have latched onto, like, two of them. I'd love to see mass media produce the kind of imaginative innovation that I've seen webcomic creators produce out of their homes for free.