Over reading week I sat down to watch the new ‘live action’ version of the Lion King. I’d heard mixed reviews, however as personally blown away by what the animation team had achieved with regards to animating the characters in the films. At no point did I get a sense of ‘uncanny valley’ during the feature. Even small things, like shaking muscles when the characters ran, were executed perfectly. In one short scene, a mouse runs into Scar’s cave; the mouse could almost certainly pass as real animal. (See clip below)
The camera angles and use of mood-setting colour and lighting (for instance, green and blue filters when Scar plots and takes power) reflected the first film, but we’re not ‘cartoonish’ in their use. The expressions used in the characters’ faces convey emotion well without adding unrealistic features. Whilst, in my opinion, this worked incredibly well, keeping true to animal movements obviously presented a problem with regards to mouth movements. Speech was not out of sync, but sometimes the human sounds were reflected in ‘best fit’ animal jaw movements.
close ups we’re largely avoided, however there were a few focusing in particular on the characters Timon and Pumba; surprisingly these full face close ups didn’t present any problems in terms of revealing the CGI nature of the production.
Whilst currently I intend to focus on my 2D animation abilities, at some point in the (probably very distant!) future, I would be enthusiastic to learn more about 3D modelling in animation.