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3D Computer Generated Movie From France
An anonymous reader submits a link to this Computer Graphics World article on a French-made film to be released in June. "A film by Xilam, Kaena is a full length feature film, entirely made from Off the shelf software. The previews looks amazing."
Using just off-the-shelf stuff, that's really amazing. I wish I could be that good with Bryce =/. It looks like the storyline could be equally amazing, but I'm wondering if there will also be an english release around the same time. It looks that way from the site, but I hope to see this in a theater near me.
- Sherman
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I thought the same thing about Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but the major downfall of that movie was that their characters were so detailed that people looked at them and expected to see the performance of an actor, which made the characters seem like zombies in their computer animated facial expressions and movements.
Cartoon characters (even human ones) don't suffer from this because they are stylized enough to allow us to suspend our expectations of reality and just see them for what they represent. This is the main reason the big companies stick to stylized characters in cartoony situations; they don't have to worry about trying to simulate reality.
Whether intentional or not, the characters in this film all have a very nice stylized look that may allow us to just see them as characters and not zombie like humans. It looks like a pretty beautiful film, and if it fails in the US it won't be for the same major reason Final Fantasy did.
The limitation is talent. Few people can drive these tools competently.
I've done software for high-end animation. I can run the tools myself, but I can't get the results that the people with real talent can. Watching a good artist running an animation system is striking. They work quite differently from amateurs running these programs. They draw far more than they edit. They're fast. They have a clear picture in their mind of what they want to see on the screen.
There aren't many people like that, which is why most amateur 3D animation sucks.
I'm surprised that no one posted the imdb link yet. And as someone stated, the voices did sound familiar, both in french and english: Kirsten Dunst, Richard Harris, Anjelica Huston...
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Suspension of disbelief is not the only effect of stylization. Stylization can also create a more universal identification with characters. Scott McCloud covers the topic well in his book Understanding comics.
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Actually as I understand it a huge part of the problem with Final Fantasy was the WAY they decided to animate the facial expressions. In most CG type movies, like Shrek, standard practise is to film the voice actors, and the animators work off of that. If done right, the characters facial movements look right, since they follow the dialogue naturally. With Final Fantasy, it was all done seperatly, based on what the animators thought it should be. So it doesn't match up right with the way the lines were delivered.
I just watched the fourth movie clip they made available on the site -- there's a creature that's helping her who has a very warm rich voice... with a slight British accent. Listen to the "if you had the chance, would you leave Axis?" to hear it clearly.
...Whoah, I just looked up his bio to make sure he is, indeed American (confirmed; grew up in NJ and Florida), and it seems his father (a bar-owner) was murdered in '68. His sister was murdered in '75, and 2 half brothers died while scuba-diving in '80. Ouch.
It could be that they're working off the stereotype that the elite (evil or not) speak with British accents. Think also of what's called the "mid-Atlantic" accent (the accent spoken partway between the US and Britain...) taught so carefully to Julliard drama students -- you know how "Frasier Crane" talks? Yup, Kelsey Grammer is a Julliard grad. He's got it down pat.
He also spoke the role of the villainous but brilliant Sideshow Bob on the Simpsons.
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