There are no less than 57 articles tagged by Google about the news that Robert Zemeckis is setting up a motion-capture animation studio at Disney. However, it is best to start off by reading the official press release first (The Walt Disney Studios and Academy Award(R)-Winner Director Robert Zemeckis and Producing Partners Form New Company That Will Produce 3D Performance Capture Films). Disney has always been a driver of new cinema technology (pace digital cinema), so this makes perfect sense, even though Zemeckis did 'Polar Express' at WB, 'Monster House' at Sony Pictures and 'Beowulf' at Paramount.
However, to me it seems like Disney is hedging its bets. They closed down the hand-drawn animation division and its CG-animation division got absorbed into Pixar. So while they like Steve Jobs, they definitely don't want to trust their entire future to him when it comes to animation. So this makes perfect sense. I am not a huge fan of motion capture, as used by Zemeckis, as it makes the character's eyes seem lifeless. It can be put to great use if you have Andy Serkis doing the dotted leotard honours, as witnessed in the Lord of the Rings and King Kong films. Let's hope Zemeckis puts him under contract at his new studio.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment