We still don’t know anything about the film, granted.
But I think (given the nature of the tale it’s based on and obviously the title they have), that the film will extensively feature snow an ice, elements that can be captured much more beautifully on CGI, so I do think they are using the right style for the story they’re telling.
But, anyway, I think we shouldn’t be so eager to have positive or negative opinions about this at such an early stage. When we actually know the details of the film, we’ll be better entitled to say where they are failing.
And they can’t just put 2D characters in a CGI snow/ice environment, why?
This is why I question the whole switch Disney made for the film. Remember that brief snow sequence in Aladdin? That definitely looked like something that could have been set in a CGI snow environment of some kind (and then there’s Mulan).
Maybe the creative team doesn’t dig the blending of 2D with CGI (I personally don’t like it most times), or simply they’re trying to achieve visuals that involve more than just the environment (long hair on a blizzard, snow over clothes, and who knows what else?). The fact remains that we still don’t know what they have in store.
Luckily, I don’t care what medium a film uses as long as it’s a nicely done picture, but I respect if some of you need one specific style to enjoy it.
I just need Disney to do things a little differently from the rest of the crowd, that’s all. Even if they think that using CGI characters will make the film look any better than it would have if they weren’t. And even if the snow environments weren’t CGI, Disney had made a lot of hand drawn films in the past with such scenery that looked gorgeous nonetheless, going all the way back to Bambi.
Well, maybe they actually want to make something different.
If they’ve done scenery like that in 2D so many times in the past, like you very well say, then doing it in CGI is actually doing the new thing in this case!
As you said, winter environments have looked beautiful in traditional animation, but I don’t think there’s any CGI film where it really stands out (The first Ice Age, the only CGI animation film I remember with extensive use of snow and ice, looks very dated by now). If they achieve it here, then Disney will actually stand out from the rest of the crowd, like you want.
Imagine having a complete film that looks like the short Nepal sequence in Monsters, Inc. That would be outstanding!
I think you misinterpreted what I said. I meant that I wished that Disney was still different from the whole CGI crowd they have around them, with DreamWorks, Blue Sky, and Pixar themselves. In order to do that they just need more 2D films, but it depends on how willing they are to make them.
Well, like I said, I can respect that, but as a filmmaker, I’ve learned to believe that every choice (particularly the techniques that will be used), should be made in order to benefit the story that will be told, not just to deliberately try to be “different”.
But that’s me, and I suppose I can relate to your anxiety on some level.
Now I think we should rest until we learn more about the film
My 2¢ on the matter is that
I think we certainly could use more traditional animation and I’d be happy to see Disney doing more 2d films, especially as Disney largely leads the industry here in the US but, they should use whatever they feel the film calls for artistically and in terms of its story. I think the CG in Tanged work fantastically towards the emotional undertones to the film and if they feel it works with Frozen, then that’s good. They shouldn’t go for whatever’s easiest just because it’s the easiest but they shouldn’t pick one for no reason more than ‘to be different’.
Since your a film maker SoA, I have a question for you. Why do people use CGI in hand drawn animated movies and tv shows? Whenever I see CGI in something that hand drawn, it’s always a little jarring to me. It sticks out so much from the hand drawn stuff.
I suppose there’s not just one reason, but several. Mostly practical reasons (probably the effect they’re trying to achieve is easier that way).
I’ve only worked in one animated production so far (so that’s not my strong suit), and in it, we did the opposite thing. The short film is CGI, but we used some 2D elements because they made the job easier. That’s specially true with low budget productions.
Then you have megafilms like Beauty and the Beast, where they famously blended techniques to achieve the camera work from the ball scene.
Avatar The Last Airbender and Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated are two shows who’s art direction I love. And it’s always been so jarring to me when I see CGI during an episode.
I don’t think those character designs are final. Reminds me of the first image of Ralph from 2011 and how it looked nothing like his final design. Anyhow, those character images were probably early images that just happened to be leaked.
Disney said they had to remove it because it’s fanmade Why should they remove fanart, there are tons of fanart of frozen already, it’s just a bad excuse!
Seemed pretty obvious given the awful photoshopping done on those posters. I did read somewhere that there would be significant changes made to the characters, specifically Anna.
Shame. I kind of liked that one. It’s the Snow Queen herself who’s very bland.
And I wouldn’t say the Photoshop is that awful. As a fanmade thing done from unavailable material, I think it’s quite good, and it deceived us on a first look.
The article I read states that Anna will now be a redhead (an orange red, not Ariel red) and her design has more sharper features in the face and doesn’t look much like Rapunzel. Elsa will remain the same from that leaked poster, if I remember correctly. Not too sure about the other characters.
Well, I do think she’s already a redhead (what I call a strawberry blonde). I kind of like it since it’s very unique among Disney leads, so I hope they don’t change it much. I could do with slightly sharper features, if they help to improve her.
I dislike The Snow Queen a lot. She looks straight-to-video. Also, I know this is their own version of the story, but in most incarnations, the Queen has been strikingly beautiful. Which she isn’t here. Even the town girl looks more regal than her.
Why should they remove fanart, there are tons of fanart of frozen already, it’s just a bad excuse!