Debate: Traditional vs. CGI Animation

A child’s tradition
Like with many technical tools and traits of modern life, technology is changing and becoming more and more advanced every year, as is animation.

Like many people of my generation, my childhood consisted of watching mostly the traditional 2D within television and film, from Mickey Mouse, Dennis the Menace to Tom and Jerry and Wacky Racers there was hours on a weekend or before/after the school day that you would spend time watching instead of doing your homework due to their classic silly playful fights and the pure brilliance of the show endlessly delivering the entertainment we love. For me, personally, I loved watching all of these programs for the stories and the comedy that is shown in these classic shows. Often trivial, silly and occasionally violent-it was all fun entertainment.

But it was also something that from an artistic point of view inspired me. There was something about the art that even as a child was the most important reason I found these cartoons so personally appealing and magical that I wanted more and more of it!! It was more than just the classic comedy, laughter and sometimes violent outbursts I got out of it; it was the rich and colourful power I could feel from the quality of the classic hand crafted image, frame by frame.

The traditional ‘key’s that are used in classic cartoons range from dust on the ground, if for example a car brakes or a person who’s running suddenly screeches to a halt, or the ground shaking like an earthquake from the impact of someone falling. This is one of many things I feel is becoming more and more lost in CGI.

CGI
A new generation of films and movies has now erupted onto our screens; from the early Pixar movies, such as Toy Story, to some of the latest hits like Frozen and Lego Movie. The entire generation of feature animations is changing and becoming more and more reliant on computer technology which gives a whole new feel from a visual perspective.

Most films in the present generation still maintain a storyline well and there’s still always the one sidekick character who may be far from the lead of the main plot but still provides a crucial coherence and a vital comedic aspect to the film.

However, I feel that some of the most recent animated feature films and television programs show a decline in the appeal of imagery. There is no longer a feeling of authenticity in these shows, there is no longer a feeling that an individual has sat down and put pen to paper, there is no raw creativity coming through our screens. Every frame that is put in a CGI creates a block between the artist and the viewer, and I feel a little passing regret for the artistic skill from our first ever creators.

Comparing a 21st Century CG animated feature to a Traditional Feature

Frozen 2013

Frozen was one of those films where rumours were quickly spiralling on how great it was. Friends and even my tutors from the Hereford College of Arts at the time (where I was heading towards the end of a 1 year Portfolio Foundation in Art and Design) were telling me how it must be seen. Eventually I got around to seeing it as a festival volunteer during the 2014 Animated Exeter festival.

To start with it was pretty standard for a typical Disney movie of CGI media, the opening scene with the ice stone cutters was ok and like most Disney movies old and new it contains the same story arcs. It’s also one of them films with a very catch feature title song “Let it Go” that becomes one of those songs that you absolutely love at first and then weeks later you suddenly change sides by putting your fingers in your ears at the annoyance of hearing it and find it the most irritating song to date.
In terms of the storyline it remains a trivial opening, two sisters who as children are best friends and love each other’s company, then something happens that causes a break-up in their relationship with one another. But then later in the film the plot became flawed and it got to the point I just lost interest, and besides some comic laughter from some of the sidekick characters like Olaf the snowman there was just no development within. This lacking story combine with a lack of artistic brilliance of traditional disney films and I just did not feel the same power from an artistic view as I did 10-20 years ago.

101 Dalmatian’s 1961

101 Dalmatian’s is film few children of my time have failed to hear about and very few fail to hear of. A film of 15 puppies being stolen and the parents Pongo and Perdita on a long going mission to rescue them from the evil Cruella De Vil and her sidekicks whose mission is to make fur coats out of the many Dalmatian puppies she has kidnapped 99 in total.

Right from the start its bursting with entertainment; the classical opening sequence, orchestra sounding music along with animations of Dalmatians running across the screen and then pausing to scratch themselves and carrying on to an illustrated opening with Pongo walking down the street, seeing a beautiful female dog presumably Perdita before catching a taxi all solo. Watching it as a young child it was one of the first films I ever watched on DVD, and as a person who spent most of my childhood living on a farm it had some appeal to me.

I loved the fine detail of all the background that was used in its traditional scenes, the detailed sketch of each and every characters, not just the main sidekicks including the pet owners Roger and Anita and of course Nannie the charming housewife. All the other side kick animals who we venture upon throughout the movie ,doing their bit to help the puppies survive and maintain their journey home, becomes an epic part of the story along with the fine detail used in many of the scenes all the way through, my favourite being the stables barnyard scene with ‘Captain’ the horse, Colonel the hairy dog and Sgt Tibbs the cat.

It’s not just what’s happening as part of the main story plot that brings to my attention of excitement, it’s the extra detail such as the background detail of distance fields, the trees and the odd tractor that gave it all the extra magic to becoming a success. This shows how the media used in a film can have just as much appeal on a film being successful and appealing as the characters, the storyline, and the in-between excitement and comedy that lurks upon it all.

Comparing television

In my younger generation in the 1990s and early 2000s, many children’s programmes normally CBBC in the morning included the popular Teletubbies and Tweenies’ that I would watch most mornings just before heading to school or for longer periods on the weekends. Mostly puppet or 2D animation, being a person who was brought up loving to draw cartoons it was a big part of what I liked about it. Like with films it’s as equally important to have skilled drawing and fine detailing in every frame along with all the background drawing, and many of the more traditional ones I remember maintained this, keeping a focus on quality.

I also felt they were a lot more flexible and open with the classic silly and playful fighting. A lot were about bopping each other on the head, or a cat and mouse fight with one another (of course including the traditional Tom and Jerry) and had very out-spoken opening sequences, which were catchy and fun to sing along to.

The example from this I will be taking about is ‘The Wacky Racers’ for those who may not have heard it was a series of films of various characters obviously having a race to win. But there was more than just the simple A to B story that kept me engaged, due to the development of the many characters within the series.

Characters like Professor Pat, the slag brothers Cave men, and the beautiful Penelope Pit stop who would always receive help whenever she found herself in trouble. Then of course, not forgetting the evil Dastardly and his sidekick dog Muttley who try every devilish entrapment they can think of in an attempt to throw their competitors off course to win the race, but ends up nearly always coming last.

This whole variety of different comic characters brings it alight, each with their own personalities and evil tricks, provides a perfect line up to a perfect animation and it’s one of those where you know that ‘typical’ scenario, yet it still amuses you due to its perfectly controlled outcome.

Comparing a traditional animation re-made to a CGI standard

Peter Rabbit, is a classic tale of a rabbit and his pals including his pal Benjamin Bunny and the evil Mr M Gregor who’s garden is a paradise of yummy vegetables including carrots for Peter to help himself to only to be confronted by the threat of Mr M Gregor.

The excitement of the story, along with all the artistic technique, was what gave me inspiration and excitement in my childhood. For example the drawing and sound effects, of an illustrated book turning into a live animated 2D sequence of a rabbit on a mission to find food only to encounter an evil Gardner who had already baked his father in a pie. These scenic illustrated stills being turned with real life effects, not just with focus on the main characters, but equally all the background sound effects and drawings on the woodland and the crows, gave it that magnificent effect that inspired me.

Fast forward to the present day and to be honest when I first realised what they had done to Peter Rabbit I was not very pleased. Changing from a 2d to CG it hasn’t maintained the same characteristics as in the original and having watched some of these episodes I feel there’s often nowhere near the amount of character and story development as there used to be. Also growing up in the 1990’s knowing the Peter Rabbit as a loveable character illustrated by Beatrix Potter and turned into simplified quality artistic animation it’s to me a crime to re-make 2d into 3D.

History should be remembered and whilst we are moving forward with technology and there is some inspiration in CG, I feel it is being too easy to camouflage the traditional; the way it was born. The hard working animators who spend long hours drawing frame by frame to turn superb quality art into movement should be given the credit they deserve and this is something our younger generation at present aren’t realising.

CG is good, its different, and sometimes it’s better depending on what it is, for example Toy Story. It is a new development that keeps the variety of characteristics you expect in a typical feature animated film whether by Disney, Pixar or anyone otherwise. But more recent films just aren’t maintaining that development and quality. I feel this is starting to become a rapid decline, which is why I feel we need to look back to where animation was born right from the very first cell animated Mickey Mouse through to all the traditional Disney movies and animation.

The Simpsons is one of the most popular animated TV series, which a lot of people love and it has kept its original maintenance of 2D traditional. The quality of the imagery is just as important as the story and the characters for any animation feature film, series or short to have the effect and desire it gives to our audience. If the Simpsons remains on our television in the present day then why not keep our 2d tradition going in other animated television and film properties and maintain the artform. At the end of the day it is respect to new and developed technology, but we should do more to maintain history and develop a much more balanced approach between the tradional 2d and more modern CG.

What would I prefer?

Of course I would prefer traditional, I love the effort involved in crafting these feature films and shorts we see on our television and seeing traditional art and design transition into movement. Quality original art can make a big difference in the quality of a film. No matter how good or bad the film is in terms of characters or story plot. It has to maintain the right balance of imagery and if something is born 2D or 3D it should stay that way. Originality I feel is becoming more and more dis-respected and forgotten about due to the advances in technology and this is what I would like to see change.

Animation takes time and patience and people who spent hours drawing to create our traditional films and programmes deserve more credit and more recognition for their hard work than they currently get. No matter how many years old a film is we should never forget what it brought to us. We should do more to bring this back to our television and feature films no matter how advanced our technology has developed. Traditional all the way for me…

Join the debate, let us know what you think in the comments

About the Autor
This article was written by Christopher Amor, who is just beginning a BA Animation course at the University of Worcester.