Art appreciation post - The Adventures of Tintin
View images in full size to understand what I’m talking about.
I think something that falls utterly short about Spielberg’s Tintin movie is the fantastic art it contains. I rarely see anyone talk about it, so I feel I need to point out some of it. From what I know, the movie is completely CGI (with motion capture for the human characters).
In the age of CG-laden movies we are used to all sorts of awesome looking works from the computer graphics artists, but for some reason I always felt it stood out in Tintin. Good CG often adds to a movie without you ever knowing that it’s CG. But since the characters are in the style of Hergé and still look realistic, you know it’s all CG; and maybe that’s why I can adore it so much.
I don’t want to dissect every aspect of the movie, but I want to direct your attention at the fabric/clothes and skin throughout it.
Picture 1: The stubbles and moles and the pimple (yuk! xD) on the henchman’s nose are simply fabulous; and we don’t need to mention Sakharine’s hair, I think. But maybe his age spots.
Picture 2: Let me just say: Sand!
Picture 3: Those damn hands look so very real, they could be my father’s. The fingerprints and the hair on the back of his hands are simply jaw-dropping.
Picture 4: This is my most favorite shot from the movie. I guess one’s supposed to look at Tintin, but I always find myself staring at Haddock’s pullover. It looks as if you could touch it and feel the rough wool. Also the slight breeze moving Tintin’s and Haddock’s hair and some dust flying by just give this scene such an amazingly realistic touch.
Picture 5: And then there is little things that add to the realism, like the way clothes behave. I particularly like how Sakharine’s trousers keep revealing his lower legs when he lifts the knees (can be seen on Sir Francis, too). It happens in the dueling scene as well, where the fabric actually seems to get stuck and doesn’t fall down all the way again. I’m sure everyone has had that moment with some trousers where one annoyedly had to pull them down by hand. I just love these little details.
Picture 6: Two words: Wet fabric.
Last picture: Composition. The light behind Haddock, the devil in the bottle. I hardly know where to begin. And great image composition can be found throughout the entire movie. This is just one of many, many examples (I might do an entire post dedicated to reflections in the next few days).
I hope I could convey my enthusiasm for the CG art in this movie ;)
So long!
