Let’s take **Akira** (hand drawn anime) vs **Shrek** (CGI feature film) vs **Metal Gear Solid** (videogame cutscene).
Akira is in 2D so it’s suffice to say that everything is hand drawn and the camera angles are pre-positioned from an outline.
Akira trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooKBenGK3R4
Shrek is a 3D feature film. When they were filming the scene where Shrek meets Donkey, could I, during post-production, spin the camera around and look behind Shrek? Is there anything past what I see on the screen? Is there anything behind Shrek and Donkey (and the rest of the characters)?
Shrek meets Donkey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlCnQXpdci4
The Metal Gear Solid series are famous for their cutscenes that don’t use CGI and instead use in-game models (think of how classic Final Fantasy 7 cutscenes differed from the gameplay aesthetic). When they created these cutscenes, was it essentially a dollhouse with the dolls (the character models) moving around and the cinematographer having an invisible camera float around?
Metal Gear Solid – Snake meets Ocelot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imdfPWnTbWw
In: Technology
There is indeed a virtual camera. Think of it as using a computer to create a virtual claymation movie, except you can go back and edit whatever you want because it’s not real.
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