The progression of Tim Burton's 'Alice' characters
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.More of a sequel than a remake of Lewis Carroll's children's stories, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, opening in many countries March 5 in 3D, is fashioned as an action-adventure story following a young woman, not a fanciful Victorian tale about a little girl.
As a hybrid, the film combines live-action, CGI animation and performance-capture. In addition, a variety of techniques required calibrations for all the complex interactions between characters and their facial expressions.
Ken Ralston was the visual effects supervisor. He's a highly respected, five-time Academy Award winner for his work on Forrest Gump, Cocoon, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Return of the Jedi, and three Star Trek films when he worked at Industrial Light & Magic. Yet even he found Burton's film a challenge.
The Red Queen, the Mad Hatter and Knave of Hearts are humanoid fantasy figures - part animated and part human, requiring performance-capture. All the animals are animated - the Cheshire Cat, the White Rabbit and the bloodhound, a new character introduced in this version of the story. Alice is played as a "normal" person, though even she changes sizes.
In addition, the backgrounds are also all computer-generated. A progression of images illustrates the evolution from sketch to completed picture. The complicated process is seamlessly executed as visualized on the screen.
With art direction, Burton's choices are far from arbitrary. The orange circles under the Mad Hatter's eyes, which match his hair, are caused by mercury poisoning, which accounts for the character's madness. Technology and Burton's imagination appear to be in sync with a twisted update on this originally surreal tale.
http://adisney.go.com/disneypictures/aliceinwonderland/
RC
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments