Dream Is Destiny: Waking Life
Steve Brown compliments the film in its success of going beyond the live-action images that served as reference. He likes that each artist could move away from model sheets, and interpret the characters according to their own perspective. Brown observes, "It's not the normal physics that one thinks of in terms of animation, in terms of squash, stretch and other fluidity of movement ... but it seems appropriate to the film. There were certainly segments where you could almost see the film stock underneath the images; they looked very photographic in a way. But then there were other scenes, where [the artists] were willing to start with the photographic image, but then actually distort the forms, and really think about manipulating the shapes. That's much more in the spirit of animation; that, to me, took it beyond the idea of just rotoscoping."
Bring It Home
In terms of the availability of off-the-shelf technology which made this movie possible, "That's the democratization of the artform," Brown says, "taking it away from just a few powerful producers and opening it up to a much wider range of people." Given the ever-evolving nature of the industry, Brown fully advocates "bringing more fine artists, and people of that sensibility," into animation.
Paul Beck, in his own poetic way, agrees: "This stuff is becoming more available to average, everyday people, and we can do this shit, and make it interesting."
Nathan Jensen adds: "Now you can do so much with a $1500 machine in your home, without a lot of extra things."
This brings us, therefore, back to the original contention of whether Waking Life should be considered validly animation. Brown suggests, "People are too interested in defending the little piece of ground they have staked out. I wouldn't go so far as to say they feel threatened, but traditional animation needs to be challenged, and to rethink what it is doing, and what it wants to do. Student and professional animators, both, struggle with their own ideas of what animation is, and what it can be, and perhaps they need to think beyond the current commercial paradigm for what theatrical animation generally tends to be."
An angry, red-hot, poker-in-the-eye diatribe, questioning freedom, justice and sanity.
Rotoscoping, of course, may not always be the most favored or flattering technique for an animator to pursue, but with Waking Life costing something on the order of $10 million to make, there are certainly arguments supporting it.
Brown continues, musing, "Part of the reason the animation industry is in trouble is that people [audiences] are just being given the same old things all the time."
Inagro Lazarre, director of Creative Puzzle Development, which is hosting and showcasing some of the fine art of the animators who worked on Waking Life, says, "The hope and idea is to create commercial art that still maintains its artistic integrity."
Brown concludes, "I think we have to at least be open to seeing what is possible, especially with the economics of the market."
Gregory Singer is an independent animation producer and freelance writer. He currently resides in Los Angeles, California.
Steve Brown expands on this notion of an evolving and growing animation community: "I'm excited to know that there is this active animation going on in Austin, or really just outside of Hollywood in general. I think the whole digital evolution of art also means a decentralization. It's an exciting thing to think that maybe there are these nexuses of animation appearing in other areas besides within the industry; and probably that is where new ideas will come from -- fortunately or unfortunately -- outside of the traditional Hollywood film business."
"On especially romantic nights with myself, I like to go Salsa dancing with my confusion."
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