When it comes to animation, this colourful, computer-generated world is lot vaster than you first might think. Disney characters aside, there’s a lot more to 3D animation movies than meets the eye. In fact, in some cases, it can be so life-like you’d never even know it was there.
We’re not talking about those brazen, blue warriors in Avatar – who we can hopefully all agree are animated – but popular blockbuster titles and even TV programs will often employ the talents of an animator and VFX specialist to create landscapes or surrounds in green screen. After all, when the logistics of building a custom-made mansion are impossible, or you need hundreds of fireworks exploding above an offshore superyacht, 3D animation is the perfect solution.
With this is mind, we’ve rounded up our top five movies (or rather, films and TV programs) you’d never realise were in 3D animation.
The Great Gatsby
Featuring everyone’s favourite Oscar winner, Leonardo DiCaprio, The Great Gatsby is a perfect example of how 3D animation fuses perfectly with the real world. With more mansions, cityscapes, and piers than you can shake a golden stick at, it features some of the most complex and subtle 3D animation in blockbuster history.
The Wolf of Wall Street
In yet another of Leo’s masterpieces, The Wolf of Wall Street has a dizzying blend of VFX work and 3D animation. If superimposing a lion into a bustling office isn’t enough, just look at the number of animated elements which make up that prison tennis court scene. Who knew?
Boardwalk Empire
We’re going to put our hands up for this one – we admit it isn’t a film, but the background animation work is worthy of gracing the blockbuster lists. Boardwalk Empire, HBO’s prohibition era drama, features some beautifully historic cityscapes and scenes to rival even the most stylish of period pieces.
The Theory of Everything
Carrying on the theme of understated animation, the Steven Hawking biopic ‘The Theory of Everything’ features a gentle blend of 3D and VFX. Whether it’s adding human texture to the film, animating equipment or crafting space age animations of scientific proportions, the work is so realistic, it’s easy to miss.
Deadpool
To finish off our top five, lets end with everyone’s favourite neighbourhood anti-hero, Deadpool. Whilst there are some scenes which scream of fantastic (and pretty gory) animation, there are others which you might not have clocked. Turns out Ryan Reynolds didn’t dangle his legs precariously over a flyover bridge.