Why didn't Japan introduce 3D animation or movies?

It is undeniable that Japan and the United States are rare countries in the world that can be called "big countries" in animated films-not only because of the large number of animated films they have produced, but also because of their position in their respective film industries. While comparing the differences between the two countries, it is necessary to explain the research object of this paper-animated film. In the following, "animated films" refer to those cartoons that are distributed in cinema lines and have no direct relationship with TV animation. In this way, the animated films in this paper do not include TV animated series, OVA (directly facing the video or DVD market) and the theatrical version of TV animated series. This restriction is mainly aimed at Japanese animation. Compared with American animation, their TV series, OVA and theatrical versions are much more. If all these are compared with American animation, it is simply an "impossible task". On the contrary, according to the category of "animated films" set in this paper, the works of the two countries are equivalent in quantity and quality, so it is easier to compare the similarities and differences in style.

First of all, as far as the production process of animated films is concerned, the practices of the two countries are quite similar. Because the requirements of animated films are more detailed than other animated products, the production time and cost are far from those of ordinary animated products. Therefore, the animated films of the two countries are basically the top level in their respective countries from the production point of view. Needless to say, the average production cost of Japanese live-action movies is not high, while the animated films made by animation masters such as Miyazaki Hayao, Tomoto Toyo and Mamoru Oshii cost billions of yen and take several years. Even in Hollywood, hundreds of millions of dollars of big productions are popular, and the investment in an animated film makes the bosses of major studios nervous. But fortunately, high-input animated films generally bring high returns. Disney's annual works will definitely enter the top ten of the annual box office and occupy the first place several times; In Japan, Miyazaki Hayao's works have repeatedly broken box office records.

For the ordinary audience, it is not important how to make an animated film, what matters is what the final "finished product" looks like. I believe that people who have seen American and Japanese animated films will feel their different styles more or less. As far as visual effects are concerned, the animated films made in Hollywood have a tendency to gradually tilt towards three-dimensional animation recently. Although the traditional two-dimensional animation has not withdrawn from the market, in terms of box office revenue, three-dimensional animation is more popular than 2D animation, both in the overall cartoon market and in the box office distribution of all kinds of cartoons by a single production and distribution company. In Japan, two-dimensional animation is still the mainstream of the market. This is not to say that Japanese animation does not use computer animation (CG). For example, in Miyazaki Hayao's later works, computer animation was used to assist painting. By the time he arrived in Spirited Away, CG had been used to make some 3D effects of tears. As for Dayou Shengbo and Mamoru Oshii, they have gone further in CG application. The background in their works is basically polished by computer special effects, which makes the background look particularly real. This can be strongly felt by the audience of akira, Metropolis, Ghost in the Eggshell and The Last Vampire. In some of their pictures, if we only look at the background, there will be a strong sense of indistinguishability between true and false, such as the streets of Hong Kong in Ghost in the Shell and the US military base in The Last Vampire.

But there seems to be an unwritten "rule" in Japanese animated films, that is, characters and other characters adopt traditional two-dimensional composition-whether the background adopts 3D technology or not. Contrary to the three-dimensional authenticity of the protagonist in Hollywood 3D animation, Japanese animated films still insist on sketching the characters with relatively simple strokes. Both of them have their own advantages in shaping the role image. Although the characters in Japanese animated films are far from the real world, the creators usually give the characters fresh vitality through excellent observation, making those flat characters look so vital that the audience simply doesn't care whether they are "three-dimensional" visually. Hollywood's 3D animated films pursue the authenticity of appearance, but at the same time, they have not lost the interest of character creation: those 3D characters pursue "realism" in infinite details, and at the same time, the overall image design is vivid and exaggerated, often showing the most prominent characteristics of the characters to the fullest. At least as far as the author is concerned, from the overall effect of watching, excellent Japanese two-dimensional animation and American three-dimensional animation are equal in the vividness of characters. For an interesting example, there is a 4-year-old girl named Xiaomi in My Neighbor Totoro, Miyazaki Hayao, and there is also a 1 year-old girl in Disney's monster company. The characters of these two girls are super naughty+newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. In visual presentation, one is a simple two-dimensional image and the other is a fine three-dimensional model. However, the audience can feel the same infinite childlike interest from their performances and leave the same deep and beautiful memories in their hearts.

The pursuit of different visual styles in Japanese and American animated films reflects the different personalities of the two countries to some extent. The Japanese have retained the forbearance and implication of the Orientals, and even paid more attention to simplicity and freehand brushwork than we in China. Their two-dimensional treatment of animated characters reflects the inheritance of Chinese painting skills: that's what they want! The design of those characters seems simple, but with the whole picture, a few strokes can make the audience feel the feeling that the plot wants to convey. Americans, on the other hand, have always been more direct and like to "cut to the chase" the most. When expressing their intentions, they always choose the simplest and quickest way. At the same time, Americans advocate and are good at humor. No wonder they like to create funny and delicate 3D animation.

Correspondingly, the differences between the creative groups and target audiences of Japanese and American animated films also affect their choice of animated stories and narrative methods. Although regardless of age, the audience can generally feel their favorite emotions and meanings from Japanese and American animations. But relatively speaking, Hollywood films have a more pure purpose of "serving children". Children in European and American countries have the habit of "reading at night", that is, parents read a story book before going to bed, among which fairy tales, legends and classic historical stories handed down from generation to generation are undoubtedly the most read. Looking at American animated films, it is always the majority to create animated stories based on stories that children are familiar with, especially Disney's works. From the first animated film Snow White, it began the process of "animating classic stories", and it kept the same pattern until Treasure Planet in 2002. This is not to say that Hollywood animation writers are trying to save trouble. In fact, telling a well-known story so rich, interesting and childlike, and making it truly entertaining, is really worth studying by colleagues in the East.

Japan is a country of comics, and the share of animation in Japan's publishing and entertainment industry is far greater than that of the United States. Different from the United States, Japanese animation has a strong adult reader and audience in history, not just providing entertainment for children. Therefore, as a part of animation culture, animated films inevitably bring many adult perspectives and thoughts. Generally speaking, Japanese animated films generally have more adult themes, and it can even be said that the original intention of their animated films is to bear the theme of the protagonist. Even in Miyazaki Hayao's works with the slightest "adult flavor", the degree of thinking about the relationship between man and nature is still far beyond the understanding of ordinary children. Not to mention other animated films except Gong, hard-core sci-fi, ninja and vampire themes full of violence and eschatology have always been their favorites, and many of them can be said to be "seriously unsuitable for children to watch". Perhaps it is the geographical limitation of the island country, and the Japanese imagination is particularly easy to go to extremes. In the creation of animated films, Japanese people pay more attention to the ultimate relationship of human beings and the ultimate proposition about the world than Americans, and the result of their thinking is often pessimistic. In this sense, compared with American animated films, Japanese animated works are not so positive and optimistic in consciousness; On the other hand, Japanese animated films are more "profound" than American animation. The Japanese have touched on some very serious and profound problems in animation, and the explanations and solutions to these problems are likely to be disliked by "playful" American children. It is said that Japanese children are the most "mature teenagers" in the world compared with their peers. I wonder why their animated films promote this phenomenon, or is it a true reflection of this phenomenon?

Choosing different themes and different ways of story interpretation make Japanese and American animated films have different functions. Hollywood works pay more attention to entertainment, while Japanese animated films seem to pay more attention to narrative. Adapting to its function, American animated films look more elusive, while Japanese works look more heavy and profound. In fact, there is no absolute difference between the two, but they represent the taste and character of the eastern and western peoples respectively; Furthermore, it represents people's different appreciation needs. American animation is funny, novel and entertaining, which is very suitable for the whole family to watch together. When children are teased, they also learn.

The value of family and friendship. However, those childlike and hard-hearted guys are not suitable for watching Hollywood cartoons. For them, it is boring to watch too much fun and advocate family values. The fresh freehand brushwork and extreme thinking of Japanese animated films are very suitable for those who are curious about the world and like to tinker around, which will help to further enrich their already tricky imagination. However, it's better for people with weak psychological will to watch less Japanese animated films, especially those of hardcore friends Katsumoto and Mamoru Oshii, because that usually makes you question the meaning and authenticity of existence and have pessimistic expectations for the future.

Having said that, it must be admitted that Japanese and American animated films have their own merits and are worth writing in detail. But there is no doubt that on the whole, the animated films of the two countries still have their own distinct characteristics. Generally speaking, Japanese animated films are like tea, while American animated films are like coffee: tea is meaningful and coffee is intoxicating.

It is undeniable that Japan and the United States are rare countries in the world that can be called "big countries" in animated films-not only because of the large number of animated films they have produced, but also because of their position in their respective film industries. While comparing the differences between the two countries, it is necessary to explain the research object of this paper-animated film. In the following, "animated films" refer to those cartoons that are distributed in cinema lines and have no direct relationship with TV animation. In this way, the animated films in this paper do not include TV animated series, OVA (directly facing the video or DVD market) and the theatrical version of TV animated series. This restriction is mainly aimed at Japanese animation. Compared with American animation, their TV series, OVA and theatrical versions are much more. If all these are compared with American animation, it is simply an "impossible task". On the contrary, according to the category of "animated films" set in this paper, the works of the two countries are equivalent in quantity and quality, so it is easier to compare the similarities and differences in style.

First of all, as far as the production process of animated films is concerned, the practices of the two countries are quite similar. Because the requirements of animated films are more detailed than other animated products, the production time and cost are far from those of ordinary animated products. Therefore, the animated films of the two countries are basically the top level in their respective countries from the production point of view. Needless to say, the average production cost of Japanese live-action movies is not high, while the animated films made by animation masters such as Miyazaki Hayao, Tomoto Toyo and Mamoru Oshii cost billions of yen and take several years. Even in Hollywood, hundreds of millions of dollars of big productions are popular, and the investment in an animated film makes the bosses of major studios nervous. But fortunately, high-input animated films generally bring high returns. Disney's annual works will definitely enter the top ten of the annual box office and occupy the first place several times; In Japan, Miyazaki Hayao's works have repeatedly broken box office records.

For the ordinary audience, it is not important how to make an animated film, what matters is what the final "finished product" looks like. I believe that people who have seen American and Japanese animated films will feel their different styles more or less. As far as visual effects are concerned, the animated films made in Hollywood have a tendency to gradually tilt towards three-dimensional animation recently. Although the traditional two-dimensional animation has not withdrawn from the market, in terms of box office revenue, three-dimensional animation is more popular than 2D animation, both in the overall cartoon market and in the box office distribution of all kinds of cartoons by a single production and distribution company. In Japan, two-dimensional animation is still the mainstream of the market. This is not to say that Japanese animation does not use computer animation (CG). For example, in Miyazaki Hayao's later works, computer animation was used to assist painting. By the time he arrived in Spirited Away, CG had been used to make some 3D effects of tears. As for Dayou Shengbo and Mamoru Oshii, they have gone further in CG application. The background in their works is basically polished by computer special effects, which makes the background look particularly real. This can be strongly felt by the audience of akira, Metropolis, Ghost in the Eggshell and The Last Vampire. In some of their pictures, if we only look at the background, there will be a strong sense of indistinguishability between true and false, such as the streets of Hong Kong in Ghost in the Shell and the US military base in The Last Vampire.

But there seems to be an unwritten "rule" in Japanese animated films, that is, characters and other characters adopt traditional two-dimensional composition-whether the background adopts 3D technology or not. Contrary to the three-dimensional authenticity of the protagonist in Hollywood 3D animation, Japanese animated films still insist on sketching the characters with relatively simple strokes. Both of them have their own advantages in shaping the role image. Although the characters in Japanese animated films are far from the real world, the creators usually give the characters fresh vitality through excellent observation, making those flat characters look so vital that the audience simply doesn't care whether they are "three-dimensional" visually. Hollywood's 3D animated films pursue the authenticity of appearance, but at the same time, they have not lost the interest of character creation: those 3D characters pursue "realism" in infinite details, and at the same time, the overall image design is vivid and exaggerated, often showing the most prominent characteristics of the characters to the fullest. At least as far as the author is concerned, from the overall effect of watching, excellent Japanese two-dimensional animation and American three-dimensional animation are equal in the vividness of characters. For an interesting example, there is a 4-year-old girl named Xiaomi in My Neighbor Totoro, Miyazaki Hayao, and there is also a 1 year-old girl in Disney's monster company. The characters of these two girls are super naughty+newborn calves are not afraid of tigers. In visual presentation, one is a simple two-dimensional image and the other is a fine three-dimensional model. However, the audience can feel the same infinite childlike interest from their performances and leave the same deep and beautiful memories in their hearts.

The pursuit of different visual styles in Japanese and American animated films reflects the different personalities of the two countries to some extent. The Japanese have retained the forbearance and implication of the Orientals, and even paid more attention to simplicity and freehand brushwork than we in China. Their two-dimensional treatment of animated characters reflects the inheritance of Chinese painting skills: that's what they want! The design of those characters seems simple, but with the whole picture, a few strokes can make the audience feel the feeling that the plot wants to convey. Americans, on the other hand, have always been more direct and like to "cut to the chase" the most. When expressing their intentions, they always choose the simplest and quickest way. At the same time, Americans advocate and are good at humor. No wonder they like to create funny and delicate 3D animation.

Correspondingly, the differences between the creative groups and target audiences of Japanese and American animated films also affect their choice of animated stories and narrative methods. Although regardless of age, the audience can generally feel their favorite emotions and meanings from Japanese and American animations. But relatively speaking, Hollywood films have a more pure purpose of "serving children". Children in European and American countries have the habit of "reading at night", that is, parents read a story book before going to bed, among which fairy tales, legends and classic historical stories handed down from generation to generation are undoubtedly the most read. Watch American animated films%

American animation is flashy and not as good as Japanese animation. It's still the first floor. Yes, it's a question of connotation. Just as 3D games are not necessarily better than 2D games, the differences between the creative groups and target audiences of Japanese and American animated films also affect their choice of animated stories and narrative methods. Although regardless of age, the audience can generally feel their favorite emotions and meanings from Japanese and American animations. But relatively speaking, Hollywood films have a more pure purpose of "serving children". Children in European and American countries have the habit of "reading at night", that is, parents read a story book before going to bed, among which fairy tales, legends and classic historical stories handed down from generation to generation are undoubtedly the most read. Looking at% of American animated films, they are fresh and beautiful.