The WB&T Society is slowly but surely moving into the controversial world that is the film industry (with emphasis on film, not industry). Although they have had a cinematic presence ever since moving pictures have been around (the society where the first ones to actively combine moving images with sound and voices -- the Photo Drama of Creation, 1914 -- 30 years before sound in motion pictures became common), but the society refrained for a long time from creating motion pictures for edu-tainment. This all changed with Young People Ask: How Can I make real Friends? where for the first time they took the step to actually dramatize a storyline. Since then the production studios constructed for just this reason in an underground facility outside Patterson, NY have been actively churning out shorts and documentaries, growing continuously in quality and budget.
NOAH was another step in a different direction, this time into the competitive realm of animation. The watchtower studios are not an animation house, but with this retelling of the story of Noah they have shown that the resources and talents are there. The motion picture can by no means be compared to running animation houses such as Pixar, Disney or even Bluth, and it would be unfair to do so. They were not trying to win awards (although the often do) or hit the cinematic jackpot.
Watchtower studios took a simplistic approach to make the images move, a technology as old as motion pictures themselves, by using a combination of cut-outs, stop-motion, digital rendering. TV shows such as South Park (or the animated shorts in Monty Python movies) used a similar process, but instead of bland 2D images that slide back and forth on a painted background, the watchtower studios attempted to bring more depth into the images by increasing the distance between the cut-outs and the background adding more layers of cut-outs, something rarely tried. The result is an amusing animation that looks simpler than it is, but does entertain.
It must be said that the demography aimed at with this motion picture is below 10 years of age. The combination of animation and live action is amusing to see and for children quite entertaining. It is a must-see for anyone wanting to bring the story of NOAH closer to his children.
NOAH was another step in a different direction, this time into the competitive realm of animation. The watchtower studios are not an animation house, but with this retelling of the story of Noah they have shown that the resources and talents are there. The motion picture can by no means be compared to running animation houses such as Pixar, Disney or even Bluth, and it would be unfair to do so. They were not trying to win awards (although the often do) or hit the cinematic jackpot.
Watchtower studios took a simplistic approach to make the images move, a technology as old as motion pictures themselves, by using a combination of cut-outs, stop-motion, digital rendering. TV shows such as South Park (or the animated shorts in Monty Python movies) used a similar process, but instead of bland 2D images that slide back and forth on a painted background, the watchtower studios attempted to bring more depth into the images by increasing the distance between the cut-outs and the background adding more layers of cut-outs, something rarely tried. The result is an amusing animation that looks simpler than it is, but does entertain.
It must be said that the demography aimed at with this motion picture is below 10 years of age. The combination of animation and live action is amusing to see and for children quite entertaining. It is a must-see for anyone wanting to bring the story of NOAH closer to his children.
