Many
moons ago, there was an arcade game called Dragon's
Lair. For those of you who don't know it, it was
sort of an interactive cartoon which ran on a LaserDisc
(think DVD), where you "controlled" a knight by
pushing the joystick in a certain direction, or pushing
one of the action buttons, at JUST THE RIGHT TIME, to keep
from dying and continue the game. I hate to think of the
money I threw into that machine.
The gameplay was idiotic, but for me, the addiction was
visual: Dragon's Lair was animated by Don Bluth Studios
at the height of their craft. These were the Secret of NIMH
days, and the game looked really good... so good that I
gladly fed that arcade machine whatever extra coins I had
laying around just to see the next level.
So it came as no surprise to me when I saw Richard Vaucher's
film "A Barbaric Tale" that Richard was inspired
by Don Bluth's work himself. The cartoon has that look,
that quality. And it has it in such abundance, I couldn't
believe this lush animation was the product of only one
man!
Turns out this Swiss artist, who left business school behind
to find his fortune as an artist in the UK, was being very
clever indeed. First off, he's using a cel shader to mimick
the hand-drawn effect of the old Disney and Bluth 2D classics.
But his real cleverness is revealed in the way he is using
the 3D tools to mimick the old Multiplane camera and so
on. His backgrounds, utilizing hand-painted textures, lend
a really nice, artistic look to the film. There are some
really nice bits at his website,
revealing the tricks and techniques Richard is using in
the film.
I hope that Richard gets the chance to do something longer
in format with Barbarian one day, but I'm sure whatever
he's got up his sleeve will be quality. He's saved up a
bit of money, quit his job, and taken the plunge, so I can't
wait to see what he does next.
I had wanted to create my own film since the early nineties,
when I discovered animation. But at that time, affordable
computers and software didn't allow me to fullfill my dream.
Years later, after having learned animation the classical
way (hand drawn), I realised that the technology had reached
a point where one person could basically create a short
movie in his/her bedroom (literally). It was an opportunity
not to miss.
CLICK TO VISIT THE BARBARIC TALE WEBSITE
A
Barbaric Tale follows a Barbarian (strangely enough) through
exotic locations on a lifelong quest. What he doesn't realise
is that he's not who he thinks he is. He'll have to not
only face strange characters, but conquer his own inner
fears.
The
film is a comedy at heart. There's no speech, and the film
is more in the style of a Tom and Jerry cartoon. It uses
Sound FX and Music to convey emotions.
I decided at the start to go for a cel-shaded look, not
only because I liked the look of it, but for rendering time
reasons as well. The characters, being constructed with
a relatively low polygon count, were extremely fast to render.
The backgrounds used only hand painted textures to blend
more closely with the characters.
"I
have tried to make the whole project look hand drawn
and not 3D. I used a very old technique pioneered
by the early Disney technicians..."
- Richard Vaucher
I
have tried to make the whole project look hand drawn and
not 3D. I used a very old technique pioneered by the early
Disney technicians, the multiplane effect. This is where
layers of 2D artwork are stacked in front of the camera
to create the illusion of depth. By animating the blur effect
on the layers, I was able to simulate the camera changing
focus.
Eventually, my goal is to present this film to animation
festivals around the world. I have been working on the project
for more than a year now, and while its very close to me,
the reason for it to exist is for other people to see it
and hopefully enjoy it."
