Scanner Animation

[Big T]

I just watched Scanner Darkly, I enjoyed it even though i'm still not sure what happened in it but the animation fascinated me. Is this just a really good animater at work? was motion capture involved?
I'm just curious to see if anyone knows any "behind the scenes" info.

[PoolMan]

It's a process called "rotoscoping", extremely similar to what they did with Waking Life a couple years back. It's also distantly related to what they did on Bakshi's Lord of the Rings cartoon in the 70's.

Basically, you shoot a live sequence with real actors, and then you animate on top of them. I don't know how it's physically done, but that's the long and the short of it.

[StarOpal]

poolman said:

It's a process called "rotoscoping", extremely similar to what they did with Waking Life a couple years back. It's also distantly related to what they did on Bakshi's Lord of the Rings cartoon in the 70's.

Basically, you shoot a live sequence with real actors, and then you animate on top of them. I don't know how it's physically done, but that's the long and the short of it.

Another example would be the Take on Me, by Aha, video.

If memory serves, rotoscoping is done by going frame-by-frame tracing over the actors and/or scenes. Then those lines are colored in one frame at a time and that's put in the movie. That's why it gives that strange constantly moving colors and shading effect.

...Of course, I could be remembering completely wrong.

[Head Mutant]

Also, apparently Holli Would from Cool World was rotoscoped (I didn't realize this, or that Cool World was directed by Bakshi until I updated that page the other day).

[eatmyshorts]

That's a little weird only because the film makers have to do double the work (filming the actors and everything else like a real live action movie, then making it animated).

[Big T]

Psshaw! It may be more work but it gives it such a cool look. I'd never heard of the rotoscoping process before. Pretty cool.

[PoolMan]

eatmyshorts said:

That's a little weird only because the film makers have to do double the work (filming the actors and everything else like a real live action movie, then making it animated).

True, but they're not doing it to save labour. They're doing it to establish a certain look. Or, in the case of Cool World, it's absolutely necessary to the plot, because Holli Would was an animated character in the real world. It also lets you do effects as cheaply as in an animation studio... like the character in Darkly with about thirty eyes. Impossible with practical effects, and maybe too costly with CGI.

[eatmyshorts]

Yeah, I wasn't saying I didn't like it, I was just stating a fact. Waking Life is good. I haven't seen Scanner Darkly yet.

[PoolMan]

eatmyshorts said:

Waking Life is good.

NnnnggggggaaaaAAH. <twitch>

[Spiderdancer]

Just to establish a dissenting vote - I really hate rotoscoping. Scanner looks absolutely hideous to me, as if you'd taken a movie and colored over it with earthtoned crayons. Ick. I prefer my animation to be ALL animation, thanks.

[blinkfan]

Yeah, I think the animation is kind of bothersome and wish it was just live action. But the story looks great and I am willing to look over the animation.

[sarahbot]

poolman said:

eatmyshorts said:

Waking Life is good.

NnnnggggggaaaaAAH. <twitch>

We had to watch this for English 12. Half of us were fascinated and half hated it right off the bat. All of us were incredibly frustrated trying to keep up. It's like they took a four-hundred page book of philosophy and squeezed it into an hour and a half, while you try not to become overwhelmed and/or nauseous (some people found all the shifting made them sick, like waves) by the animation.

[Storm_Rider]

poolman said:

eatmyshorts said:

Waking Life is good.

NnnnggggggaaaaAAH. <twitch>

I just plain love it.

[StarOpal]

sarahbot said:

and/or nauseous (some people found all the shifting made them sick, like waves) by the animation.

I thought I was the only one that happened to. Strangely enough this makes me feel better.

[Ms. Jellybean]

I like the technique used, but I don't like it as animation. Does this make sense?

I know people who take photographs and, for lack of a better word, rotoscope them. The effect is insanely cool. But to use it in animation just seems a bit superfluous.