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Live Animation May Be A Feasible Future in Film

  • Tanya Raman
  • Nov 29, 2021
  • 6 min read

Updated: Jan 7, 2022

A glance at animatics, live-action-animation and VTubers



Animatics, in the professional world, are the storyboards one makes before the final product, but this definition has changed over the years. If you ever stumble upon a short video with 2D characters voicing dialogue without really moving their mouths, or a bunch of scenes stitched together with music as the adhesive, then that’s what an Animatic has become today.


But why is it that an unfinished product is more popular than a fully produced one? And why doesn’t this format work on the big screen if it’s so popular?


The answer lies with content creators today. “YouTube is more unique in the sense that re-playability of content is quite important,” Thevral Lee, an East-Asia based animator and VTuber, who has grown recently thanks to her animatics, explains, “If I specifically want the YouTube video to get more views, I would make a YouTube Shorts version with possibly as many entries as possible, like the pencil test, the animatic, the colour and the finished product.” The advantage social media platforms have is that the main video relies on marketable content, which is almost equal to the main video. The constant churning out of new short content, for our short attention spans eventually makes us anticipate the final cut, so we continue to scroll for more information about it.


Example of an animatic by Thevral Lee

Each instance we see is like a step closer to the final form of the game's ultimate boss, and it works because of how quickly the content comes out, unlike the making of a film which takes time. Behind the scenes aren’t necessarily as devour-able as spoilers, because there’s only so much to see.


But animatics have also grown more popular largely due to the pandemic. Tori Cane (alias), a student of art, and consumer-producer of similar content vouches for this. “The animation market overall is booming because of the pandemic, because of the people holed up in their homes wanting entertainment. And the entertainment that can be made without going outside is animation. Since the creators are also holed inside, they have more time to work on art like animatics.”


Thevral also adds, “The more entries, the more chance it will end up on someone’s feed while scrolling YouTube Shorts, with a finishing part redirecting people to click on the channel. Since Shorts don’t appear on the main channel, I would have a non-horizontal 'proper' version on it too. If it’s a longer project, just having the best parts as advertising on YouTube Shorts are ideal.” A little bit of advice from someone in the industry for those holed up in their homes wanting to start their own channels!


Fanbases are the main capital for larger projects. Here, you have content essentially created by the people, for the people, using some other person’s work, or the person themselves, as a base. And if the main source of ideas is lucky enough to be popular, you’ll find a lot of starving fans devouring anything mildly resembling the original content. Content creators also bounce off this advantage of reusable base ideas, letting them churn out enough to benefit both them and the original creator in terms of profit and popularity.


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A Tug-O'-War between me and my little friend, Shiroha.

The availability of free software and time has given several artists the space to make their own fully produced content without burning a hole in their wallets. The ease of animatics is that one doesn’t need to finish it fully for it to do well. 'Animatics’ quality depends on the composition, the framing of the character, the character’s performance, and how well it’s timed to the music.” Tori explains, “As for animation, having more frames and making things smoother does not necessarily equate to higher quality. It might contribute to it, but having more frames isn’t the point…Having quality is nice, but if the goal is to get ‘good views’, the quality doesn’t matter as much as the topic. Making animatics on a popular topic that is still popular at the time of upload, is going to get decent views even if the quality isn’t super high. It’s all about timing. If many animatics are made around the same topic, then the one with higher quality is generally going to get better views.”


It’s for this reason that nowadays, there’s a sort of tier list for animatics. You have the standard format of storyboards timed to music or dialogues, with minimal background and detail. Then you have the slightly more detailed ones which take into account framing, perspective and postures and tell a more comprehensive story either via music or with words. And then you have the combination of animation with real life. The third category is slightly different, but it still fits into the ‘less work, more profit’ tag, which could be a potential inspiration for short films as well.


The combination of real-life and animation is not new to the world, but it has changed with the creation of VTubers (Virtual YouTubers) and motion capture technology. But before I come to that, let’s talk about why we hardly see the collision of 2D and 3D on the big screen.


One reason would simply be because the world has seen the beauty of CGI – Computer Generated Imagery. The other would be that creating a story that lets the viewer fall into that willing suspension of disbelief, in this era, is not as easy as it seems. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit is still pretty highly regarded ‘cause the plot is about toons and real-world combining, so it serves a niche, but it was also quite visually astounding for its time, and it fit the plot. If you want that now though, just watching Rabbert does the trick, plus it’s free.” Thevral winks through text, referring to a recently blown up TikTok animator, who has a mini animated person called Rabbert playing the guitar with them.



Combinations of animation and life

While this niche can be consumed because the world of social media has largely become individualistic in the kind of content put out, it can still make a comeback with the right ideas and tools. (Hinting to anyone who sees this, take some inspiration!)


“I definitely don’t think that this (combination content) will be limited to only short-form content, in the sense that with good enough content, anything is pretty much possible for the silver screen. But I do think that unless there is an amazing idea that requires this, CGI will always be the go-to, partly because it’s easier, more familiar and overall more useful for many genres of cinema.” Thevral also adds that something like Roger Rabbit can now be done by any individual with the right tools, and at quarter the cost.


But what about the current combo of real-life and animation? That’s right, VTubers. With the convenience of readily available 3D models which just require a little modification, and a creative individual behind a mo-cap cam, this Anime-esque creation of a virtual character with the unpredictability of human nature is slowly taking over the streaming side of the internet. Not only do VTubers like Thevral keep their real identity safe, they also profit from their alias. VTubers are a great marketing strategy for the niche market which is into parasocial relationships.


Curious about this combo, I did in fact see if it was possible to combine it into a short film, particularly in India. I was a bit saddened to find that the Indian VTubers, Aadya, Vihaan and Noor, who debuted in 2020 under Ichikara.Inc’s project, NIJISANJI, were eventually discontinued due to lack of popularity, mainly because their reach was exclusive to English-speaking individuals. If something like this was rekindled, it would be wiser to communicate in the language of that region, and also use it more efficiently.


Aadya’s debut, NIJISANJI IN/Ichikara.Inc

In terms of film, VTubers would be like real-time CGI, which would be interesting to experiment with, or they would be a scripted narrator, made to appear as though it was real-time. Thevral also explains that VTubers usually cater to a particular community, like gaming, music or animation. In her case, it’s a mix of many things as she’s experimenting with the audience. In terms of costing, using 3D models is also more viable than 2D animation, which is why so many YouTubers have taken to this trend. “Now with an iPhone and a bunch of free apps, I’m trying to make a 2D model with 3k cost level quality,” Thevral adds.


From a student’s point of view, Tori states, “If there is a willing investor who likes the idea that was pitched, then sure. The problem is always money. As long as people can consistently get paid for doing it then it’s possible to make a comeback. There is always the ‘how’. YouTube is a good platform for short content, so that’s one good thing. However, there are too many unknowns. What kind of content can be made by combining real-life and animation? Would there be an audience for it? Is the time it takes to create the content worth the pay? Can someone do this long term and always have ideas? What about burnout? Overall, too many uncertainties.” (She’s got a point…)


But on the whole, the trajectory of content is changing today. Short-form content has been seeing a sort of ‘boom’ when done correctly. This is something we in India have to figure out how to incorporate into our short films as well. Be it the novelty of having a sketched animated mouse interact with a real-life computer, or a Live-2D or 3D character pop out of the frame to narrate for a bit, playing with style and media seems to be an interesting pathway and possible spark to fame for creators.



You can find the above mentioned creators here!


Thevral Lee:


Tori Cane:


Rabbert:


Aadya:




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