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| Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures |
In the words of Joey Tribbiani, finally now "we know, we know, we know!"
In a recent LA Times article film director Jon Favreau, who directed this year's The Lion King adaptation starring Donald Glover and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, revealed that although the summer Disney film was made using and composed of computer-generated imagery (CGI) - utilizing VR and live-action technology and techniques, of course - the director did put one real-live action shot in the film "just to see if anybody would be able to pick it up."
Naturally, in the nature of the Internet, thousands dared to take guesses, but Favreau ultimately ended up revealing on Friday the one real shot he used in The Lion King, revealing it to be "the first shot of the movie that begins The Circle of Life."
As Favreau elaborated on social media, The Lion King was composed of "1490 rendered shots created by animators and CG artists. I slipped in one single shot that we actually photographed in Africa to see if anyone would notice." And boy did Favreau with just one comment make moviegoers and lovers re-analyze every frame of the film!
It isn't surprising that Jon Favreau's 2019 Lion King adaptation of the 1994 beloved animated Disney classic of the same name caused confusion among many moviegoers as to whether or not the film was live-action and should the film be defined as live-action, as Favreau himself shared that although the film "use[d] animation techniques, we wanted it to appear live-action."
"Every single shot, every performance, is key-frame animated. There's no motion capture...It's artists hand-animating everything," Favreau told the LA Times of the film, which he hoped to make feel "like an entirely new medium."
Utilizing a clever combination of elements from live-action filmmaking like having actors performing on a blue screen stage, utilizing VR technology that included virtually creating the Lion King world from rendered material and that the production could walk through in real time, these technologies and techniques taken from both traditional animation and live-action filmmaking - including an innovative usage of VR technology - worked together to create a final photorealistic computer-animated film that stands as a great example of achievement in visual effects innovation, and makes me excited for what more we can accomplish through filmmaking.
Did you try to guess what was the real live-action shot that Favreau had sneaked into The Lion King adaptation before he revealed it today? If so, what were some of your guesses? I, for my part, was too busy being amazed and asking myself if the animal characters and environments I was seeing onscreen were real even though I knew they weren't while watching the film...that and singing along with Timon and Pumbaa.
Sincerely, Dora Goto
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