One of the most striking things about Tintin is the quality of the animation. While I found the character design somewhat cold and distant, everything else was rather impressive, so when I recently had the chance to talk to the film’s VFX supervisor Joe Letteri, I wanted to understand why things like the character movement in Tintin work so well, while the in films like The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol it looks a bit odd.
During the course of the interview we discuss the extent of the creative influence the VFX department have on the film, the use of ‘wire-frame’ props and sets for the actors to interact with, the workings of the ‘virtual camera’ and how the motion capture techniques combined with traditional animation to create Tintin.
We finished the interview by discussing the advantages motion capture has when it comes to cutting around a bad performance, which might sound rather technical and dull, but is also a reason why so many directors are so keen on the technique.
Check out the interview in the video below.
[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW_8yEdqd4M’]
