Can “The Chase” By Philippe Gamer Be Considered ‘True’ Animation?

I caught this video over on Cartoon Brew the other day and disregarding the plot and characters for a minute, can it be considered a truly animated video?

Obviously a lot of skill and talent went into creating it, but I felt suitably cheated once the video actually started. You see, the screenshot on the Vimeo emebed below suggests a certain kind of CGI animation, but once you start watching (and this isn’t a spoiler), you realise that the characters are vastly different to the rest of the environment.

Photo-realism is the rule for backgrounds, cars and roads. Even the FX shots appear to ape their live-action counterparts.

Bear in mind this isn’t a rant against this kind of filmmaking, it’s just that if a film like this appears to be so realistic, can it be considered animation, or is it simply an extended FX shot?

Animation encompasses a wide, wide range of styles and simulating reality has been the goal ever since Snow White. Of course anything that simulates motion is animated, but I’m wondering, is it time to draw a line in the sand?  Should animation that aims for photo-realism be given its own category?

What do you think?

 

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