Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!csustan!polyslo!csun!sdcrdcf!trwrb!desint!geoff
From: geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning)
Newsgroups: comp.graphics
Subject: Re: the Computer Animation show
Message-ID: <1676@desint.UUCP>
Date: 12 Feb 88 08:36:16 GMT
References: <457@mv03.ecf.toronto.edu>
Reply-To: geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning)
Organization: Interrupt Technology Corp., Manhattan Beach, CA
Lines: 30

In article <457@mv03.ecf.toronto.edu> apollo@ecf.toronto.edu
(Vince Pugliese) writes:

>   i had the opportunity this weekend of viewing a film entitled
> the Computer Animation show ...
> overall i highly
> recommend catching this film if you get the chance...

What I found interesting about this show was the generally low quality
from a "cinematic" standpoint.  The graphics were technically interesting, but
for the most part the plots and "direction" (as in movie directors) were
atrocious.  Even the well-known "Tony de la Petrie" is at best a B movie.
There were a few standout exceptions, most of them from predictable sources
such as Disney studios (the Disney entry was also saccharine and "Disneyish").
However, there was also one other really exceptional film involving
stick-figure acrobats;  I don't remember the title or the source, but
it was produced on an Amiga in somebody's bedroom.  To me, plot and humor
are much more important than ray-tracing.

I inferred from the show that most computer animation is being done by
"techies" like myself, who have real cinematic background, and whose interests
run more to the technical details of rendering than to plot and audience
entertainment.  Not to criticize too much;  I have the artistic sensibilities
of your average tennis shoe, and these people *were* trying.  But I don't
think anything outstanding will come until things are easy enough to use
that "nontechnical" artistic types become interested in using computer
animation as a TOOL, not an end.

Still, I concur with Vince's recommendation.  A most interesting evening.
-- 
	Geoff Kuenning   geoff@ITcorp.com   {uunet,trwrb}!desint!geoff