Monday, September 29, 2008

Technology & Art

Art was once a giant mural on the roof of a church, art has progress from paintings to photography and finally to digital images and animation. When we look at photographs online they may have been edited to suit the photographer’s need, they may also have been completely rendered in a digital environment. Animation has been taken to a whole new level. Where animation was once only cartoon characters, actors are now able to do physically impossible moves or be in imaginary places because an animator can digitally create the scenes or moves. Dinosaurs can move; they have skin and muscle, something only possible through animation. If an engineer created a dinosaur, it would appear less realistic. Animation can show sweat and movement much better than fabric and machines. Animation can also allow people to see something as more of a story, not existent in our daily world. If we look at the movie ‘Beowulf’ originally when you watched the movie you may have believed that the characters were completely human. Animators spent a great deal of time on this movie, if you look closely at the characters’ hair you can see each individual strand, something you would probably never notice with truly real actors. The characters’ skin also appears too flawless to be real. These small details make the movie more believable as a story. If the movie was created without these effects it would appear false and unappealing, technology has allowed for a more fantasy based appeal. While highly realistic there is something missing from an animated character that allows us to accept the possibilities of the story.


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