Live-action

In film, theatre and video, live-action refers to works that are acted out by human actors, as opposed to by animation. As it is the norm, the term is usually superfluous, but it makes an important distinction in situations in which one might normally expect animation, as in a Pixar film, a video game or when the work is adapted from an animated cartoon, such as "The Flintstones" or "Josie and the Pussycats" films, or "The Tick" television program. Use of puppets in films such as The Dark Crystal is also considered to be live-action, provided that stop-motion is not used to animate them.

The term is also used within the animation world to refer to non-cartoon characters: in a live-action/animated film such as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" or "Mary Poppins", in which humans and cartoons co-exist, "live-action" characters are the "real" actors, such as Bob Hoskins and Julie Andrews, as opposed to the animated "actors", such as Roger Rabbit himself.

Live-action can also means that a film or a show is adapted from an anime, manga, or comics. Example of this show that are adapted from manga are Death Note and Great Teacher Onizuka. The show that are adapted from anime are Speed Racer and Dragonball. The shows that are adapted from comics are from Marvel comics such as Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four. DC Comics such as Superman and Batman are also adapted into live-action films.

See also

*Animated cartoon
*Live-action/animated film
*List of live-action puppet films