An early sequence in the Hellboy II movie (blogged below) has a story-telling flashback to "magical times" done entirely in CGI... but with puppets. This was done for budget reasons, but it works really well, and I think they may have invented a new medium of sorts.
Think about it, when doing puppets in CGI you get all of the charm of puppetry, but without the limitations that gravity and physical space impose on real puppets. And then you have all of the freedom of CGI, but at less cost because puppets don't have the complexity of muscles and semi-translucent skin, etc etc.
It would be a clear step down from full CGI movies if it was not for the interesting fact that puppetry has a centuries-old tradition, everybody has seen puppet shows/TV-shows/films from childhood and we are trained to react emotionally to them. So I think that this could really work if somebody put their mind to it.
It would be like a Tim Burton puppet movie, only much more alive and without all the f***ing singing puppets. :-)
(But seriously: a puppet musical?? Twice??)
I believe they were real people in Sweeney Todd (the same ones in Corpse Bride).
ReplyDeleteIsn't there a CGI remake of the old puppet series "Captain Scarlet"?
Also, one could almost consider Toy Story and Robots as CGI puppet movies.
Finally, the puppet like villain in Reboot would be an example of how to do this badly.
I wonder if a CGI magic lantern would work well?
CGI puppets? Old traditional art meets modern technology.
ReplyDeleteA bit like Okami.
You're right, Alex: Woody is definitely a fabric puppet. In CGI. :-)
Several years ago, I saw a truly excellent documentary on french TV about magic lanterns. Some of them were just awesome, even by today's standards. Real masterpieces of hand-made visual art.
I always like talented hand-made creations. It's... unique. Something that was made by the motion of a human hand gains a special sort of... soul.
Of course, the "random art" that Eolake's mind selects isn't half-bad either. But it's just not the same, not like something that owes its existence to the active consciousness of a human, through one of Nature's most impressive masterpieces: the human hand.
Nature gives us a hint:
An earthworm cut in half can regrow into two complete animals. But the more complexity evolves, the less spontaneous regeneration remains possible.
Octopi are very intelligent. But their surprisingly efficient tentacles? Can regenerate COMPLETELY. In fact, the male octopus "mutates" one of its tentacles as a reproductive organ, then ABANDONS it with the female to inseminate herself.
Grasshoppers? Whole legs regrow.
Lizards? A tail, although less than perfect.
A human hand? Not even the tip of a finger can regenerate naturally. Far too advanced for simple growth mechanisms.
And I'm not even getting started on the human BRAIN. Regeneration of neurons exists, as discovered these last few years. But it's nearly insignificant.
Remember that an earthworm will literally regrow a head and brain from its rear end. :-)
"Also, one could almost consider Toy Story and Robots as CGI puppet movies."
ReplyDeleteYes indeed, in fact I almost put that in there. And both work really well, though TS had the better story.