Abstract

In the era of advanced digital technology, the distinctions between live-action film and animation are becoming less apparent. As Lev Manovich suggests, digital film has placed a new classification between live-action and animation. Recent films such as “Beowulf,” “Transformers,” and “Avatar” fit neither entirely within live-action nor animation, they bridge the two filmic forms. The appearance of digital film will not, however, end either live-action or animation. On the contrary, to understand digital film constructs, the integration of live-action and animation requires insight into the principles within each film methodology. When an artwork is reinterpreted in another form, numerous variables are often affected by that change. This is due in part to not only the personal taste of the filmmaker and public trend, but also to the different characteristics of the art form and its expressive limitations. Since cartoon animation is a visual style that informs a story by deformation and abstraction of reality, it is the perfect antipodal point to live-action that consists of photographic recordings of events that take place in real physical space. Analyzing these two different art forms in the same narrative will reveal the unique qualities of each form. The intent of this paper, therefore, is to employ comparative analysis in a single narrative to define the principles of cartoon animation and live-action film—how properties differ in: character description, visual expression, and impact on the level of fantasy. Additional discussion points in this study include disparity causations, as well as how contrasting visual styles affect the narrative between live-action remake from cartoon animation, and cartoon animation remake from live-action film.