After watching all kinds of mediums for long time in my life, I’ve come to the conclusion that there is a hierarchy of which mediums are the best (or most creative) for storytelling. Live-action movies and TV shows can be beautifully artistic if the right person has the creative reins. However, there are some aspects that make them third on the list of most creative mediums of storytelling. The first on this list is (probably) to no one’s surprise, books. And the second is animations. We all know that nothing can truly beat the creative freedom we’re given in books whether it’s reading or writing them. So today we’re going to talk about animations and a few reasons why it takes second place above films or TV shows.
Camera Angles and Movements
Some ambitious directors are able to do interesting camera movement and angles that go beyond your average close-up and longshot. With animations, there are barely any limits if you have the right animators and budget. A perfect example are the maneuver gear scenes in Attack on Titan. It’s not easy to pull off the actual animation but the possibility of it is always there with the right resources. Trying to achieve those camera movements in live-action is as likely as HBO making a family-friendly show.
Character Design
Usually the right kind of actors can always make you forget about little details. Like Targaryens having blue eyes instead of purple wasn’t a big deal considering how well both actors played those characters. (Granted Dany’s character arc was less than pleasant).
Even so, animations provide far more range of creativity for character design that isn’t limited to the actor playing it. This is why we get to see so many strange and interesting characters in animations. Unless you have Marvel level budgeting, there’s only so much you have achieve in the character design category.
The only problems animations tend to have is making sure darker skin-tones aren’t completely atrocious and actually look like human skin-tones. But even that has been improving significantly in the animation sphere.
Blending
Anyone who can see notices bad CGI. Magic and intense editing definitely moves smoother when everything is working with the same medium. Which is why fantasy fiction in live action is always given backlash because the mix of real people with fantastical effects create awkwardness in blending the two worlds together. Especially if the actors aren’t the best at what they do. Or the story is just a mess (*coughs* the Last Airbender).
Voice actors are also integral in this part. There’s a reason why people don’t like English dubs (I understand this is usually for people with reading impairments but that doesn’t mean the voice acting can’t be good and well thought-out). Katsuki Bakugou (My Hero Academia) having a ‘suh dude’ American accent is a little weird considering he’s a Japanese student in Japan where Japanese is most likely the primary language spoken. The same goes for any of the Haikyuu characters dubs. More often than not, voice actors try not to have a specific accent in English dubs unless it’s specified to be a certain way but aside from this, blending is usually not a problem in animations.
Overall
All this is to say, go watch more animations. A lot of people chalk animations up to either childish or insanely inappropriate. There is a charm and art to animations and the way they shape storytelling. It makes it colourful, fun and sometimes even more meaningful than anything a live-action could achieve.
If you’re an animation lover, let me know some of your favourite works (or maybe you think otherwise, give us some reasons). I’ll also be coming out with a post of my favourite animations sometime soon. Other than that, I will see you next week!
Ashley Ram 