Description

Background

Film plays a central part in human life, in shaping the social construct and being a form of entertainment. Animation, commonly referred to as anime, is a genre of film that plays a pivotal role in entertainment using images projected on screens to depict a continuous script (Hernández-Pérez, Corstorphine and Stephens 20). The anime film’s origins can be traced as far back as the 19th Century where colorful painted pictures were projected moving across the screen, using a lantern, a genre that was known as utsushi-e (Fooken 189). The use of the Japanese magic lantern in the 19th Century to project these painted images on a screen was seen as a phenomenal and radical change in entertainment and paved way for the development of the anime industry. Concepts such as comics were also conceived during this period, and evolved from Japan to other industries. As technology has advanced throughout the years, a majority of the films have adopted newer ways to incorporate and present these images, with computer generated imagery, commonly known as CGI taking a center stage in the industry. At first, anime films, in Japan and the rest of the world, used a 2D model, with images being presented across a y and x axis model, a presentation model that countries still embody to date (Bremner 700). However, the introduction of 3D CGI, whereby the images developed by a computer can allow the generator to move around the scene and portray it from various angles, has led to a radical change in the world of film, introducing a new context where the images become more realistic (Okubo 121). However, the question that still persists is whether the fans are more inclined towards liking CGI remakes of old films that were depicted in the usual 2D model, or are still nostalgic about the older versions, such as Manga films, and other 2D animations.

Research Question

1. Has the use of CGI in animated films led to a better appreciation of these films or do people still prefer the traditional 2-dimensional model used for decades in anime films?

2. What type of film do the fans appreciate more: The old 2-dimensional models or the new 3D CGI enabled remakes of the same films?

(1) How are anime fans building narrative identity by watching anime, in what ways are they attracted? traditional 2D V.S. CGI films, what’s the differences?

(2) Reality theories and reality in CGI (alternations), magical realism

(3) I am planning to argue that CGI technologies doesn’t enhance the sense of reality (what Bazin talks about reality) but only it looks more similar to real humans, so please help me to find theories on how CGI distances audiences from the narrative sense of reality?

(4) CGI technologies history and how it works, how it conveys meanings to contribute to the storytelling, or not?

(5) The four case studies I am planning to use are: (please do refer)

The Lion King (Disney Walt, US),

Ne Zha (Chengdu Coco Cartoon, China),

Stand By Me Doraenom 1 and 2 (Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), and Abe Shuji and others, Japan), Studio Ghibli.