# Death Note Live Action Film: Animation Technique?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-note-live-action-film-animation-technique/443258>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 30, 2008, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-note-live-action-film-animation-technique/443258 "2008-03-30T06:47:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-note-live-action-film-animation-technique/443258/1 "2008-03-30T06:47:02Z")

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I saw parts of the Death Note live action movie (the second, actually) at an anime convention, and I was really impressed at the shinigami effects.

What did the filmmakers use to animate them? Is it all CGI? If so, it looks quite different to me than any previous CGI character in an otherwise live action film.

Anyone know?

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**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-note-live-action-film-animation-technique/443258/2 "2008-03-30T07:19:32Z")

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It occurs to me that samples might be in order. [Here’s one,](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bGiawI6JsQ&feature=related) although obviously it doesn’t look as good as it did first hand on a proper TV.

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**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-note-live-action-film-animation-technique/443258/3 "2008-03-30T15:54:10Z")

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Crap, he looks great. Well, not _great_, but you know what I mean. Impressively animated. I can’t tell what technique is being used, but I can’t really see all that much difference - other than being pretty good quality.

Out of interest - is Light Shuya from Battle Royale?

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**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-note-live-action-film-animation-technique/443258/4 "2008-03-30T16:09:07Z")

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[QUOTE=Leaper]  
I saw parts of the Death Note live action movie (the second, actually) at an anime convention, and I was really impressed at the shinigami effects.

What did the filmmakers use to animate them? Is it all CGI? If so, it looks quite different to me than any previous CGI character in an otherwise live action film.

Anyone know?  
[/QUOTE]

It looks like quite standard CGI, and frankly not at all impressive. It really shows up the limitations of anime techniques when mixed with live action. For instance, this character seems to be unable to close his mouth and has extremely limited eye and jaw movement.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being Gollum, this is a 1.

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**Author:** ![freekalette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/50afbb/32.png) [@freekalette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/freekalette)\
**Post date:** [March 30, 2008, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-note-live-action-film-animation-technique/443258/5 "2008-03-30T20:44:26Z")

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Yes, Light is the same kid that was in Battle Royale. Forget his name…_too lazy to Google_