Source: Bloop Animation
Spider man into the Spider-Verse: 2D or 3D?
Every once in while an animated movie comes
out that is impossible to ignore.
Spiderman Into the Spider-Verse is one of those movies.
It is without a doubt one of the best animated
films I’ve ever seen.
Apparently I’m not alone. The film won
the 2019 Academy Award for
best animated feature film.
But what is it that made this movie so great?
I would say it was these two aspects:
·
Great Story
·
Unique and ground-breaking
animation style
In this post I want to talk about the latter.
If you watched the film, or even seen the trailer, you probably noticed something
was different about this one. The way this film looks and feels is different
from other animated films in recent years.
It doesn’t look like 3D animation,
but it’s also not really 2D as we know it. So what is it?
Is this movie 2D or 3D?
When the industry first made the transition
from traditional 2D to 3D computers animation, the shift was very clear. It was
obvious that Toy Story looks completely different from Lion
King. It was visually apparent.
Once the switch was made, the industry worked
harder and harder to push the art form as much as possible. Getting better and
better renders, producing more realistic results. Films looked better and
better each year.
But there’s only so far we can push it.
At some point, all films just look amazing.
The fidelity is incredible and there seem to be no limit to what we can produce
with computer animation.
Then the question had to be asked – what’s
next?
Now that we can make everything we can possible
dream of – where do we go from here?
The people behind Spiderman Into the
Spider-Verse found at least one answer to that question.
Playing with people’s expectations.
At this point we all know what to expect when
we go to the movies to watch an animated film.
Yes, Disney has its style
and Pixar is known for creating amazing worlds, and Illumination is
still trying to go the other way with more edgy humor and cartoony character.
Japanese anime is also rather visually predictable, and Laika has
mastered stop motion to the point that it almost looks like a CG film.
Honestly, I got bored of animated films in
recent years.
Sometimes I feel like I watch them because I
have to. Like I need to be in on what’s new so I don’t get left out of the
conversation. It became a chore.
It might be that I got older. But it also
might be because most animated films feel the same.
From the first minute I sat in the theater to
watch Into the Spider-Verse, I knew I was watching something
different. I saw a change.
I felt something I haven’t felt in a very very
long time: Watching something new.
The film kept playing with my expectations.
I found myself staring at the big screen,
trying to figure out how they did this, or that.
I was like a student of animation all over
again.
I fought the urge to pull out my phone and
start taking notes on all the things they did different. I bounced between
trying to analyze what I see to forcing myself to sit back and enjoy the
experience.
Was it 2D or 3D? Who the hell cares? It broke all my
expectations and dazzled me almost like a new genre of animation. A new D.
Of course, just to be clear, it’s not a new D.
It’s 3D animation. But we’ll get to
that in a minute.
If we want to break new grounds with
animation, it’s up to us to come up with visual ideas that challenge
our viewers in new ways. Go right when everyone goes left.
It’s not about making the art-form more
sophisticated. It’s about using it in new and creative ways.
And now, because you did click on this post
for the question posed in the title, let’s talk about the technical things this
movie did different, from a professional point of view.
Getting a 2D look,
No comments:
Post a Comment