dark scannerly

Ok so A Scanner Darkly is a movie that is right up there on my list of movies to see. Directed by the wonderful Richard Linklater (think Tape, Before Sunset/Sunrise, and Dazed and Confused). But it was with Waking Life in 2001 when he really distinguished himself with what was essentially a new way to craft a film. Basically what he did was to film a very cerebral film essentially about the meaning of life. Shot in digital he then got a team of animators to rotoscope each frame. This technique has been used before but in the past the cells were painted by hand. This was the first attempt to my knowledge where it was done digitally. The effect is extremely unnerving and was used again in Scanner Darkly to what I'm sure will be dramatic effect.

And then I stumbled across this article about how to achieve this effect yourself. Here is the link. I am very tempted to try something in Flash and see how it turns out. It would be really time intensive but I think the effect of animating people in this way creates a mesmerising animation. I will keep you posted on this...