- Live-action/animated film
A live-action/animated film is a
motion picture that features a combination of realactor s or elements:live-action and animated elements, typically interacting.The tradition goes back all the way to the earliest days of animation with
Winsor McCay 's short "Gertie the Dinosaur ", which shows a live-action narrator (specifically, a "live" actor, instead of a filmed one) interacting with an animated landscape and character (Gertie). In one scene, the narrator appears to throw a real orange which is caught by Gertie (the real orange is replaced by an animated one just as it leaves the narrator's hand), and the film climaxes with a scene in which the narrator enters the animated landscape (again, replaced by an animated version) and takes a ride on the famous dinosaur's back.In the later days of
silent film , the popularanimated cartoon s ofMax Fleischer included a series where his cartoon characterKoko the Clown interacted with the live world; for example, having a boxing match with a live kitten. In a variation on this concept,Walt Disney 's first directorial efforts (years beforeMickey Mouse was born) were the animated "Alice Comedies " short cartoons, in which a young live-action girl named Alice interacted with animated cartoon characters.In the era of
sound film , the 1940Warner Bros. cartoon "You Ought to Be in Pictures ", directed byFriz Freleng , can be seen as a predecessor to "Roger Rabbit". The animated sequence in the 1945 film "Anchors Aweigh" in whichGene Kelly dances with an animatedJerry Mouse is one of the actor's most famous scenes.The Disney Studio mixed live-action and animation in several notable films (which are primarily considered live-action):
*In "The Three Caballeros " (1945),Donald Duck cavorts with several Latin-American dancers, plusAurora Miranda (sister ofCarmen Miranda ), who gives him a kiss.
*In "Song of the South " (1946),Uncle Remus sings "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in an animated field, and tells the stories of Brer Rabbit through the animated sequences.
*"So Dear to My Heart " (1949) features sequences of a similar nature.
*"Mary Poppins" (1964) is one of the best-known films of this nature, including a scene in whichDick Van Dyke dances with cartoon penguins asJulie Andrews watches.
*"Bedknobs and Broomsticks " (1971) features a hybrid sequence in whichAngela Lansbury andDavid Tomlinson dance together in an underwater nightclub, while Tomlinson must bear the brunt of aggressive, anthropomorphic soccer-playing animals in the latter half.
*"Pete's Dragon " (1977) does the opposite of its predecessors: it puts the animated dragon, Elliott, in a live-action setting.
*"Who Framed Roger Rabbit " (1988) from Disney andAmblin Entertainment broke new ground with its advancedspecial effects and "realistic" portrayal of the interaction of animated characters and live actors.With the commercial and technological success of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", a number of live-action/animated films followed, including "
Cool World ", "Space Jam ", and "" - though none of them have had any major commercial success equal to "Roger Rabbit".There were also many previous films combining live action with
stop motion animation usingback projection , such as the films ofWillis O'Brien andRay Harryhausen in the United States, andAleksandr Ptushko ,Karel Zeman and more recentlyJan Švankmajer inEastern Europe . The firstfeature film to do this was "The Lost World" (1925). In the 1935 Soviet film "The New Gulliver ", the only character who wasn't animated was Gulliver himself. "See also:List of stop-motion films "Ralph Bakshi combined live-action and animation in 1973's "Heavy Traffic ", 1975's "Coonskin" (a.k.a. "Streetfight") and 1992'sCool World .The combination of live action and animation is very common in
TV commercial s, especially those promoting products appealing to children.Live-action can also means that a film or a show is adapted from an
anime ,manga , orcomics . Example of this show that are adapted from manga areDeath Note andGreat Teacher Onizuka . The show that are adapted fromanime areSpeed Racer andDragonball . The shows that are adapted from comics are fromMarvel comics such asSpider-Man ,X-Men , andFantastic Four .DC Comics such asSuperman andBatman are also adapted into live-action films.Techniques
Originally, animation was combined with live action in several ways, sometimes as simply as double-printing two negatives onto the same release print. More sophisticated techniques used
optical printer s oraerial image animation camera s, which enabled more exact positioning, and better interaction of actors and animated characters. Often, every frame of the live action film was traced by rotoscoping, so that the animator could add his drawing in the exact position.In the penguin sequence in Mary Poppins, they filmed the live action part first, having the actors sitting in front of a painted background. Then the penguins were added, probably by using cel overlay.
With the rise of digital
special effects , combining live-action and animation has become more common. The "Star Wars" prequels and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, for example, include substantial amounts of animation, though it may not be recognized as such because of the animation's realistic, non-cartoony appearance.Live-action/animated films
1910s
* 1914 - "
Gertie the Dinosaur "1920s
*"
Alice Comedies "1930s
*"
Betty Boop " (live-action in the episode)1940s
* 1940 - "
You Ought to Be in Pictures "
* 1945 - "Anchors Aweigh"
* 1945 - "The Three Caballeros "
* 1946 - "Song of the South "
* 1948 - "Melody Time " (with Amigo Mom from "Blame it on the Samba")
* 1949 - "So Dear to My Heart "1960s
* 1964 - "Mary Poppins" (
Julie Andrews )
* 1964 - "The Incredible Mr. Limpet " (Don Knotts )1970s
* 1971 - "
Bedknobs and Broomsticks " (Angela Lansbury )
* 1977 - "Pete's Dragon " (Helen Reddy )
* 1977 - "Dot and the Kangaroo " (Barbara Frawley )1980s
* 1980 - "
Nine to Five "
* 1988 - "Who Framed Roger Rabbit " (Bob Hoskins )1990s
* 1991 - "
Rock-A-Doodle " (Glen Campbell )
* 1991 - "Volere volare "
* 1992 - "Cool World " (Kim Basinger )
* 1992 - "Evil Toons " (David Carradine )
* 1994 - "The Pagemaster " (Macaulay Culkin )
* 1995 - "Balto" (Kevin Bacon )
* 1995 - "Casper"
* 1996 - "James and the Giant Peach"
* 1996 - "Space Jam " (Michael Jordan )
* 1998 - "Small Soldiers " (Kirsten Dunst )
* 1999 - "Stuart Little" (Jonathan Lipnicki )2000s
* 2000 - "
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle " (Robert De Niro )
* 2000 - "X-Men (film series) "
* 2002 - "Spider-Man (film) " (Sam Raimi )
* 2003 - "" (Brendan Fraser )
* 2004 - "" (Bill Murray )
* 2004 - "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie " (David Hasselhoff )
* 2006 - "" (Bill Murray )
* 2006 - "Death Note (film) " (Shūsuke Kaneko )
* 2006 - "Re-Animated " (Dominic James )
* 2007 - "Arthur and the Invisibles" (Freddie Highmore )
* 2007 - "Enchanted" (Amy Adams)
* 2007 - "Alvin and the Chipmunks" (Jason Lee)
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