When I saw this story today headlined “Animation for the Masses,” I was very excited because it seemed that someone had actually carried out an idea I had some time ago.
My idea was that somebody oughta design a software program using all the 3-dimensional software that is now available in computer games – and constantly getting better – that would allow anyone to create their own animated movie. You could sell a software package that would include a basic suite of customizeable sets, locations, backdrops, characters, costumes, props, sound effects, etc., and let the creator of the movie – or feeeeeeelm if you’ve got aspirations – record the voices and program the visual action using the software’s physics and motion programming.
You would control your characters like the protagonist in a first-person shooter, or like a puppet, and layer the actions of different individuals in the same scene, like a music sequencer, program the actions of inanimate objects, and record "scenes," which you could then edit and stitch together to tell a story.
Of course some would inevitably scoff at the product of this software as “McMovies” –- anytime an exclusive realm is opened to the masses, elites try to put it down -- but with enough customizability built in, the creative potential need not be any more limited than any real motion picture. An art-director-oriented or serious filmmaker could devote as much effort as he or she wished to creating a visual masterpiece, while those who were interested more in just telling a story could use the defaults.
Either way, I bet a couple of things would happen. First, you would see a veritable explosion of creativity comparable to the explosion of blogs. Of course something like this already exists – Flash animation – and we have seen an explosion of creativity with that format. But this would allow for more fully realized, complex, quasi-photo-realistic dramas to be portrayed on-screen, and hopefully built more easily.
There would also spring into being a market for the sale of additional sets, costumes, designers, and all the rest, just like I hear they do on “Second Life.”
However, the "Animation for the Masses" article I saw is actually about is giving consumers access to really high-quality graphics. That's great -- but not nearly as exciting as the idea above IMHO. Better graphics are nice but you always gotta get back to the difference between a movie with a good story, and a movie with good special effects: the latter is empty without the former, while the former is compelling no matter how primitive the effects are. And that is exactly why genius would sprout if my product ever came to life (though like all genius, it would flower amid a vast field of manure).
Who knows if it's doable or if it would be used. But, movies are the art form of our century, and everybody wants to be in show biz, right? Anyway, I predict that sooner or later we'll have this. (But it still won't be any easier to come up with a good original story!)
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