IAT 343 – Compare/Contrast Paperman and The Blue Umbrella Joevy Leong

Both Paperman and The Blue Umbrella are 3D animated romantic shorts that have very different visual styles, but present the similar story of finding love at first sight in a vast city and overcoming obstacles present in such a setting, either physically or metaphorically. Paperman and The Blue Umbrella, released in 2012 and 2013 respectively, feature different animation techniques, while presenting a love story for all ages.

Paperman merges both 3D animation and 2D animation, creating a visual style that is reminiscent of the aesthetic appeal of traditional hand-drawn animation. The artists had more rein on the production of Paperman, since it did not have to deal with the technicalities of realism, texture, etc (Beck, 2012). Instead the creators delved into the exploration of visual styles. This allowed certain expressiveness from the characters that could not be seen through the 3D animation. Despite the initial impression of traditional hand-drawn animation, the strokes were animated using new computer software that was developed by Disney, called Meander. This program generated the in-between frames from one pose to another and those lines were laid over top of the CG (Snouty Pig, 2012). The palette and minimalism lends itself to the inspired classical feel of the style of animation. Negative space is emphasized greatly with establishing shots, making it seem as though one could enter and explore the world of Paperman.

The Blue Umbrella is more photorealistic, anchoring it to reality while giving life to inanimate objects present in a city setting. As opposed to Paperman’s inspiration from , The Blue Umbrella focused on the technical aspects of global illumination for the photorealism (Chai, 2013). Like how the colours of the main characters are vibrant and full of life compared to their surroundings, the photorealism adds to “the magic of [the city] coming to life” (Chai, 2013). The vastness of the world in The Blue Umbrella emphasized differently than in Paperman. With a lot of close up shots and many moving objects, the world in The Blue Umbrella seems very busy with a life of its own.

The techniques used in The Blue Umbrella helped advance towards photorealism, while Paperman went back to incorporate what made traditional hand-drawn animation so captivating. Both Paperman and The Blue Umbrella utilize software differently, but explore the capabilities and possible visual styles of 3D animation. Despite the similar genre and city setting, both tell their own sweet story of finding love in a unique world brought to life through computer animation.

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