Complete Essay

I hope this post makes up for the lack of separate posts as described in the module guide. The essay was submitted in 4/11

Abstract:

CGI has advanced radically in the past decade or so. However, what effect has this had on the industry? Is CGI a fad or is it here to stay. Although CGI has risen dramatically in popularity, what effect has it had. The purpose of this paper is to find the answers to these questions.

 

Introduction:

CGI has advanced in leaps and bounds over the past decade or so. It has changed the film industry beyond recognition. Film makers regularly digitally enhance and edit films and CGI has totally replaced traditional cell animation. The aim of this paper is to answer the following question. What effect has CGI had on the film and animation industry? The main aims are to find out what effects CGI has had and how has it changed the industry?

 

Literature Review:

Beck 2004 argues that CGI's rise caused many traditional animation studios to dramatically change their production methods, also stating that 'CGI went from being the exception to being the rule'. Meanwhile Thomson & Bordwell 2010 argues that as CGI rose and became more popular. Cell animation declined, despite having a moderate success with 'Lilo & Stitch' is 2002, Disney suffered the expensive failure of 'Treasure Planet' and shut down its cell-animation studios in 2004, becoming almost entirely dependant on Pixar. They also state that Disney retreated to 'FX Heavy' live action films such as 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

However CGI has not always been such a massive success. As Beck 2004 explains, Toy story wouldn't have happened if Disney hasn't financed the film; Toy story took four years the make, and without Disney wouldn't be financially viable. Beck 2004 summarises the situation very easily. Computer animation has taken over Hollywood. Due to the success of numerous CG films (Finding Nemo, Ice Age and Shrek), Hollywood studios have abandoned traditional hand-drawn techniques. Disney has downsized and Pixar as triumphed.

Research Methodology:

There are a few problems with research the CGI and animation. Firstly people's views always differ considerably among authors. But regarding the film industry, people interpret events differently. So while author x may think that 'Finding Nemo' really put the nail in cell animations coffin, author y may think that cell animation was long dead. So there is a certain level of difficulty when considering your own interpretation of events. It would be difficult to doubt that CGI had an effect on the film industry, but different sources

For my research, I am using a broad range of secondary resources for example Beck (2004 pp 336-346) argument that at the turn of the century, traditional animation studios had to rapidly rethink their strategy. Or Thomson & Bordwell 2010 argument about traditional cell animation and its decline, despite Disney's success with 'Lilo & stitch'. The research for this paper will mainly be secondary texts although a few relevant articles have been found on Computer animation. Quantitative data will not be used very much mainly because it doesn't seem appropriate for the paper being written. Results from a survey handed out to the public would not help to give an insight into the film industry. Although qualitative data may be used, this would include film clips being used as examples.

Research Results:

The results of reesearch into CGI and the film industry point towards the idea of CGI totally replacing traditional cell animation. For example 'As CGI animated films became popular, cel animation declined. Disney had its last 2-D success with Lilo & Stitch in 2002, but that same year saw the failure of its expensive Treasure planet' Thomson & Bordwell 2010. Moving away from the CGI animated films, there is also an argument that CGI began to dominate the film industry, live action specifically. ' Digital characters were not only dominating animated features, they were also taking big roles in live-action films as well. Films such as Stuart Little (1999) featured digital characters in starring roles' Beck (2004). The research also suggested that CGI was also having a large impact on the film industry over all, not just to the animation industry. For example 'Because Computer Generated imagery(CGI) became so common, filmmakers created footage with an eye towards digital manipulation later. When settings, background action, or additional figures needed to be added, actors performed in front of blue or green screens'. Thomson & Bordwell 2010. CGI had a large impact in all aspects of film productions , as Thomson & Bordwell 2010 p714-719 state. Similarly Beck 2004 states that 'Pixar strove to bring the technology behind Monsters, Inc, to the next level. The technical team developed a new application, "Geppetto", to add control points to a characters, acting much like the strings on a puppet'. All of the research that was done for this paper, points to CGI almost taking over the film industry. From film production to totally Computer animated films. Also Thomson & Bordwell 2010 argue that CGI helped to revive 3D films. 'Another push to innovative 3-D filmmaking started in the mid 2000's, but by then movies were being made digitally. The new technology offered three options: Shoot live-action films with a stereoscopic camera; make an animated movie in 3-D using CGI; or use a computer program to convert an existing 2-D film into 3-D'. Beck 2004 argues that CGI rose to popularity for a number of different reasons. 'While the visual novelty of CGI features was certainly a factor in this sudden change, these films also told a different type of story.. Pixar avoided the cliché of the musical fairy tale, while Shrek simply slapped it in the face'.

Evaluation of the results:

The results of the research into CGI and its affect on the film industry, was fairly predictable. All the of the sources I found, mainly Beck 2004 and Tomson & Bordwell 2010 argued that CGI had slowly taken over the film industry. So much so, that traditional animation studios virtually ended production of traditional cell animated films. For example Beck 2004 'This sudden change of fortune caused traditional animation studios to rethink their production methods. In 2003 after a series of mediocre box-office returns, Disney announced that they were going to end 65 years of traditional cell animation'. Based on previous experience, researching CGI, specifically Pixar. It was expected that any research would point towards the downfall of cell animation and the rise of CGI. Most of the books focused on Disney/Pixar and Pixars spectacular rise. For example 'it released an unbroken string of innovative stories and hit features, including two Toy Story movies, Finding Nemo and Ratatouille. Each pushed some aspect of CGI further, as when Monsters Inc, displayed a spectacular mastery of moving fur'. Tomson & Bordwell 2010. Looking back at the literature review, the research data does match the theory in the literature review. The theory being that CGi has effectively killed traditional animation, in the film industry, and has become more and more popular.

 

 

Findings and recommendations:

After researching CGI and the film industry, it has been found that. Firstly CGI has almost totally wiped out traditional cell animation. For example Beck 2004 'in 2003 after a series of mediocre box-office returns, Disney announced that they were going to end 65 years of traditional cell animation'. It was also found that CGI had almost worked its way into the entire film industry, and was involved in all stages of film production. For example Tomson & Bordwell 2010 'Because Computer Generated Imagery became so common, filmmakers created footage with an eye towards digital manipulation later. When settings, background action, or additional figures needed to be added, actors performed in front of blue or green screens. These stretches of flat colour could be filled digitally'. By the mid 2000's CGI had worked it way into almost everything. Traditional cell animation was dead and thanks to Pixar, CGI films were more popular than ever. With every release Pixar raised the bar. Tomson & Bordwell 2010 'It released an unbroken string of innovative shorts and hit features, including two the two Toy Story movies, Finding Nemo, and Ratatouille. Each pushed some aspect of CGI further, as when Monsters Inc, displayed a spectacular mastery of moving fur'. It was also found that with the demise of cell animation, Disney specifically retreated towards FX-heavy films. Tomson & Bordwell 2010 'Disney instead concentrated on FX-Heavy films such as the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Overall there is a trend in recent year, with regards to CGI. The use of CGI is always increasing, like with film production. Most films have large aspects of CGI in them. Also CGI films, like Pixar's Wall-e are also rising rapidly in popularity. Each Pixar release is a technical advancement of some form. For example, with up the balloons were a major achievement.

Conclusions:

After looking at all of the research, it is obvious what effect CGI has had on the film industry. Traditional cell animation is virtually dead, CGI even forced Disney to end 65 years of traditional animation. Over the past decade CGI has advanced rapidly. Pixar released the first fully CGI animated film in 1995 and since then has made dramatic advances with every new release. Disney on the other hand was forced into a corner and started to work on live action films. However CGi has also worked its way into almost every aspect of the film industry. Most films are enhanced through CGI. Filmmakers film with eyes towards digital editing. They can use green/blue screens to produce all sorts of cgi effects, from background action to scenes impossible to film for real. Overall CGi has had a massive effect on the film and animation industry. Cell animation had virtually died out, even Disney had stopped cell animated films. Meanwhile CGi films became more and more popular. With the technology advancing with every new release. CGi has changed the film industry beyond recognition and is here to stay.

Reference Page:

Beck, J. & Ball, R. 2004, Animation art : from pencil to pixel, the history of cartoon, anime & CGI, Flame Tree, London.

Thompson, K. & Bordwell, D. 2010, Film history: an introduction, 3 , International edn, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Boston, [Mass.] ; London.

 

 

Bibliography

Beck, J. & Ball, R. 2004, Animation art : from pencil to pixel, the history of cartoon, anime & CGI, Flame Tree, London.

Moltenbrey, K. 2009, "A stitch in time: CGI is used to create the hyper-stylized, post-apocalyptic world and the ragdoll characters in the feature film 9.", Computer Graphics World, vol. 32, no. 9, pp. 36.

Thompson, K. & Bordwell, D. 2010, Film history : an introduction, 3 , International edn, McGraw-Hill Higher Education, Boston, [Mass.] ; London.

Weishar, P. 2004, Moving pixels : blockbuster animation, digital art and 3D modelling today, Thames & Hudson, London.