Can anyone here turn digital video into animation, in the style of "Waking Life?"

[F&SN]

Richard Linklater shot "Waking Life" on a store bought DV camera, then animator Bob Sabiston rotoscoped the footage using a program called RotoShop, wherein he and his staff basically traced animation over every single frame.

I know RotoShop will not be commercially available until 2007. But can anyone reading this do anything similar to what Sabiston did? I just shot and edited a feature-length DV movie and am toying with the idea of hiring someone to give it the "Waking Life" treatment, only with a much cheaper, more ragged look. (Emphasis on "cheaper.")

Thanks!

[Sharvonique]

Hi. I sent you a private message.

[F&SN]

Thanks for your reply!

A single animator doesn't need to do the entire movie. It would probably be more interesting if 5, 10, or even 20 different artists did 5 or 10 minutes a piece. I could send bits of the movie to various animators all over the country and would get an interesting patchwork result.

[F&SN]

Also, because what I've shot has a jagged, hasty, guerilla quality to it, it would be fun to get animation that matched that. (Such a style would also keep costs down).

[gabemarchionda]

after reading this post i got the idea to make my own cartoon interacting with real life video, the file size is 3mb buti think ti is worth the wait, its the first time ive tried this so please don't insult
well here it is
www.geocities.com/gabemarchionda/roto.html
please tell me what you think.

[andych82]

Hey guys, I've been working on a short rotoscoped/animated piece for a little now trying to do a similar technique to Kill Bill's anime sequence and Waking Life/Scanner Darkly by Sabiston. Here's the link to my movie so far:

http://www.achaynes.com/Images/twistedMed.htm

And if you want to see a compositing breakdown here's the reel for that:

http://www.achaynes.com/Images/CompReel.htm

Let me know what you think.. some of the text is a bit hokie and the movie isnt finished. Thanks guys.

[skinnylizard]

hey andrew. interesting approach, very graphic novelish. what softwares did you use

[andych82]

Hey thanks. I used Final Cut to edit the live footage, Photoshop to illustrate each frame, and then i composited it all in after effects. A pretty painstaking process.

[skinnylizard]

u did this by yourself? ill be honest with you mate. you have a cracking piece of work right there. downright inspiring.

[andych82]

hahah i don't know about inspiring... but I really appreciate that man. It took me a while. I'm trying to use that animated short to try and get me a job.. so far no luck I'll keep trying...

[Sharvonique]

Very nice work, Andrew.