ABSTRACT
Editing Animation Some like to think that because animated fi lm is so carefully planned out in advance, the fi nal editing becomes a simple task of stringing together shots. But in practice we fi nd that the animated fi lm can require the touch of an editing professional just as much as a live action fi lm does. In addition, an editor possesses many more digital tricks to enhance the fi nal fi lm than they did in the age of guillotine splicers and tape. Most fades ( ‘ dissolves ’ in the USA) and wipes from one shot to another are now done in editorial. Editors can duplicate and fl op shots, and even digitally correct small mistakes. Additionally, an editor is an artist in their own right, and they are sensitive to the overall pacing of the cuts and the overall timing of the fi lm. After the work is done, there are many fi lms that could still use a fi nal tightening in editorial.
If your budget does not permit the hiring of an editor and their top-line equipment, new 2D and 3D software programs make desktop editing a simple task. But just be sensitive to the special challenges each type of project presents. You would not edit an online game for preschoolers like a violently paced feature fi lm. Over the years, editing styles have changed. Since the rock & roll video era of the 1980s, audiences are much more tolerant of rapid cutting and jump cuts than previous generations. In the fi rst decade of the twenty-fi rst century, the audience’s taste for ‘ reality ’ shows spun off an interest in a more free-fl oating camera, and a deliberate awkwardness to the camerawork — this all to duplicate a ‘ man-on-the-scene ’ home-made feel. The Sony Pictures 2007 fi lm Surf’s Up experimented with this to great eff ect. They animated and rendered their scenes the conventional way, then re-photographed the existing scenes with a separate camera to achieve the hand-held ‘ reality show ’ look. The 2008 Dreamworks Animation fi lm Kung Fu Panda played with split screen images, sometimes having three separate scenes occurring up on the screen simultaneously.
