No Animals Were Used in the Making of This Film? Post-animals and the Call of Anthropomorphism in the Era of CGI
Kamil Kalbarczyk
donkamillo3@wp.plJagiellonian University in Cracow (Poland)
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4541-6275
Abstract
The article explores the impact of the digital revolution on animal representation in feature films. The author analyses computer-generated animals in the context of the progress of CGI and the effects of seamlessly compositing photorealistic animation with live action material. The author studies the phenomenon that has been developing since the 1990s in the context of visual effects studies and animal studies. He emphasizes the issue of progressive anthropomorphising of digital animals in the live action cinema of the last decade. The author differentiates three basic strategies for creating perceptually realistic animals, depending on the degree of their internal personification and external anthropomorphism or cartoonishness. Analysing The Lion King (dir. J. Favreau, 2019) the author notes a new trend, characteristic of hybrid cinema (a mélange of photorealistic animation and live action material): representations of deeply anthropomorphized fauna maintaining hyper-realistic physiognomy.
Keywords:
CGI, animals, digital animals, post-animals, anthropomorphism, digital revolution, visual effects, VFX, hybrid cinemaReferences
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Authors
Kamil Kalbarczykdonkamillo3@wp.pl
Jagiellonian University in Cracow Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4541-6275
A graduate of art history as well as film and new media studies at the Jagiellonian University. He is a doctoral student at the Institute of Audiovisual Arts there. Permanent collaborator of the Ekrany magazine. His main area of interest are issues related to the digital revolution and the so-called new ontology of film, as well as the subject of screen acting and stardom.
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Copyright (c) 2020 Kamil Kalbarczyk
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