Thread: Waking Life the movie

Awesome movie, though the "animation" kind of annoys me. The plot/premise behind it though keeps me interested and watching it though

I've tried watching it, but I coudn't endure the animation...

I actually like the animation in a lot of the scenes but in some scenes it is terrible. I don't understand everything in the movie but I get most of it. It is one of my favorite movies by one of my favorite directors.

@purebred I'm sorry but I just have to point out something in your sig. Lucid Dreaming means that you know you are dreaming. If you think you are having an OBE then you obviously DON'T know that you are dreaming, Therefore OBE's and LDs are not the same. I'm not saying that OBE's are actually a removal from the body or that they aren't I'm just saying that IF it is just a dream or "in your head" it certainly isn't lucid. Sorry about that the wording just bugs me.......

Ghaaa!!! STOP CALLING IT ANIMATION!!! Please!!

I know most people just call it that because there's really no better term, but to an animator that's grating beyond belief! All they did was shoot live-action video and run it through some kind of filter to make it look like drawings. It's not animation any more than motion capture or rotoscoping is animation.

Originally Posted by Waterknight

I actually like the animation in a lot of the scenes but in some scenes it is terrible. I don't understand everything in the movie but I get most of it. It is one of my favorite movies by one of my favorite directors.

@purebred I'm sorry but I just have to point out something in your sig. Lucid Dreaming means that you know you are dreaming. If you think you are having an OBE then you obviously DON'T know that you are dreaming, Therefore OBE's and LDs are not the same. I'm not saying that OBE's are actually a removal from the body or that they aren't I'm just saying that IF it is just a dream or "in your head" it certainly isn't lucid. Sorry about that the wording just bugs me.......

Nah. I've had a lot of LDs and even more OBEs. And I can truly say that it's one and the same. I can explain why.
For example, you are trying WILD. You reach so called SP, but you are stuck and can't do more. Now there are 2 possible actions you can take: imagine a dream scene and get sucked into it and another one, leave your body and end up in your room. Someone, long time ago, chose the 2nd option and decided to call it OBE, which is pretty annoying, because the outcome of both actions is the same. And I'm not the only one who thinks this way. And no offense or anything, I respect every opinion. But only if your opinion is really Yours and it is tested by yourself and not just read somewhere.

@DarkMatter Yeah, I've read about it in wikipedia. Sorry for making you angry

Lol you're forgiven!!! Gave me a nice chance to vent there!!

Originally Posted by Purebred

I've tried watching it, but I coudn't endure the animation...

Yeah the animation in A Scanner Darkly is way better.

I think you guys just killed Darkmatters

Originally Posted by Darkmatters

Ghaaa!!! STOP CALLING IT ANIMATION!!! Please!!

I know most people just call it that because there's really no better term, but to an animator that's grating beyond belief! All they did was shoot live-action video and run it through some kind of filter to make it look like drawings. It's not animation any more than motion capture or rotoscoping is animation.

I thought I read that in waking life it actually was drawn over. However in A Scanner Darkly they used a filter like you said. I may be wrong though.

@purebred Maybe you have OBE's and always are thinking throughout the whole thing "This is a dream" but when many people have them the thought that it could be a dream never goes through their mind. I will admit that some peoples' OBE's are lucid dreams, but for most people (if they are just dreams) are just regular dreams because they aren't lucid.

Originally Posted by Waterknight

I thought I read that in waking life it actually was drawn over. However in A Scanner Darkly they used a filter like you said. I may be wrong though.

That might be true, I don't know, but tracing live action frame by frame still doesn't involve any animation. Animation is creating the illusion of movement where there was none. If they traced frames that's called rotoscoping, and you don't have to know a thing about animation to do it.

I just looked at the trailer and Waking Life looks to me like it was just done by filtering live video. Basically they just changed the colors a bit, hardened edges where you'd normally see a gradual transition, and made outlines around the hardest edges. There's a blandness you don't see in real animation (as long as it' well done anyway).

** EDIT

Ok, I watched a little more, and they do distort things pretty far at times, but it's still so closely based on live action video I suspect they did most of the distortion in the computer - to the live video - before or after running it through the "make it look like a drawing" filter. At times it does get more interesting and start to look almost like actual animation.

But I hate all these computer tricks that let people think they're animators or artists because they can take pictures and then let the computer do things to it automatically. It allows everybody and their baby brother to make some pretty cool-looking stuff and think of themselves as artists, but it's actually killing real creativity and skill.

Lol ok anyway, sorry!! I'll let the discussion get back on track now!!

Still easier to say "I like/don't like the animation" instead of "I like/don't like the way it was rotoscoped"

But yeah I really enjoy some of the things in the movie. I sent an email to one of the people who was in the movie; a psychology professor at UT. I asked him a little about what he discussed in the movie, about determinism, and I asked him a little bit about what he believes. He said that he doesn't see how determinism or indeterminism can either really fit with our idea of free will. He also recommended some books on philosophy for me.