Why did R. Linklater create “A Scanner Darkly” as an animation?

Meaning of roto scope

Although A Scanner Darkly is an animated film, it is made using a different process than what is commonly known as "animation."

This film is directed by Richard Linklater, known for such works as " Boyhood " (2014), and stars actors such as Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., and Winona Ryder, and is shot in a traditional live-action style. First, a live-action film is made. The finished film is used as the base material, and then colored, and then animated into a video.

This is a technique called "rotoscoping." Famous examples of past works that used rotoscoping include " The Lord of the Rings " (1978) directed by animation master Ralph Bakshi and " Mind The Game " (2004) directed by Masaaki Yuasa. The characteristic of this technique is that it adds "reality" to animation.

A Scanner Darkly © 2006, Package Design & Supplementary Material Compilation © 2007 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. Distributed by Warner Home Video. All right reserved.

Take the simple action of "walking" for example. In normal animation, the act of "walking" is expressed by repeating a series of movements in which the left and right feet move alternately. However, this appearance is simple and symbolic. When we actually walk, our stride length is always slightly different, and the direction that our toes point when we put our feet down is also slightly different each time. By tracing the way an actual person walks and animating it using rotoscoping, realism is added to the act of "walking," which tends to be symbolic.

In "A Scanner Darkly," the film uses the unrealistic expressions that animation is good at to depict the drug-induced mental disorders that cause people to turn into insects and have aphids crawling all over their bodies, while still portraying humans in a vivid and realistic manner using the same tone, seamlessly incorporating the "fiction" and "reality" of the film into a single screen.

In other words, A Scanner Darkly shows the world as seen by a drug addict whose mind has become chaotic and whose "fiction" and "reality" have become muddier.

What is a scramble suit?