Can Animation Be Naturalistic?

 After one lecture the course got from a visiting animator, he claimed that we should forget about intimidating real life in our animated films. There are so many creative possibilities you can do in animation that there's no point in using it if you're only going to be like live-action. He is both right and wrong.

 Why shouldn't you be more creative than usual if you're making an animated film? You are making everything from scratch and the possibilities are endless. Many films in the past have used animation to their advantage and created scenarios that would never work in live-action. Mind Game (2004) and Sita Sings the Blues (2008) are examples that showcased a weird mixture of animation techniques to tell their story. It gives the movie an identity that can be remembered by the audience for years to come.

 But I'd like to argue that some of the best animated films out there have quiet naturalistic moments or feel like a live-action movie in animated form. Examples of these movies are Anomalisa (2015), My Life as a Courgette (2016), Only Yesterday (1991) and many other moments from Disney, Pixar and Studio Ghibli movies. It was even Disney who started the trend of making hyper-realistic animation for their feature films, rising in popularity over the rivalling Fleischer Studios.

 Many people argue that there's no point in making an animated film if it can easily be done in live-action, but to me that's not the case at all! I believe that a film would be so much more memorable if it was animated, creating images that'll last in your mind longer than a live-action film. Because like with every other film, if the story's not good, then nothing else matters. You can have the best animation, best actors or best score, but if the story isn't good then nobody will care about the rest. Your animated film which is there purely to be visual creative would be a spectacle for the audience to appreciate, but never connect to. These naturalistic animated films are still fondly talked about because the creator's made an effort to give the audience a chance to empathise, instead of be distracted. Sita Sings the Blues is a visually creative film but also a hilarious re-telling of the Ramayana that parallels with the story of the director's break up. The visuals add to the story!

 That doesn't mean I don't agree with everything the visiting lecturer said! I do agree that you should make creative decisions for your animated film. If it's more realistic in story then tell it in a visually pleasing way. Give it a style that nobody else has done before. Make it slightly fantastical if you want to! But I don't agree that you should avoid making realistic animated films or putting quiet moments in animated films. If the story is worth telling, you can make it animated, and there's nobody stopping you!