Date: Wed, 12 Jun 2002 15:45:19 -0400
Subject: PUPT: CG & Final Fantasy, was re: Frank Oz


If I remember correctly, actors did the voiceovers in FF. I think Aki was done by a Japanese actress, but most of the others were anglo.
I found the movie to be incredible eye candy (wow, that's what they can do in CG nowadays?), but tell you the truth, it fell short for me, emotionally & plot wise. As my s/o said out of frustration when we came out of Metropolis said, "Does all Anime have this weird apocolypse theme?"  "Japanese art scene seems to be obsessed with Christain based new age themes and psychic phenomenon. Funny, huh, when most people in Tokyo don't know the meaning of a Christmas tree, but are obsessed with this, " I said. "The next time you want to see anime, I'm dropping you off at the theater & I'm doing something else."  "Hey, not all anime is this cheesy!"

Oh well. I enjoy it more when the unreal is made real rather than trying to imitate reality. As one of my teachers said once, "If you are trying to be photorealistic, why not just snap a picture with a camera? Other forms do so much better trying to capture the essence, the mystery, rather than depicting pure superrealism."

That's why, imperfections and all, I enjoyed Shrek and Monsters, Inc. much better.  The closer to imitating life, we'll realise that we are loosing the 'soul' of art in the meantime. Once we have learned our limit, the cg will become more and more surreal and expressive as artists take more risks and allow the computer to be the tool, rather than the means to an end.  The same is true about puppetry- pushing the boundaries of what can be done and then going back and being experimental within those techniques.  There's something visceral about real flesh and paper mache, be it depicted in Little Otik, Conspiritors of Pleasure or Zed and Two Noughts, or in live theatre.

Wayong


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