http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Rotoscoping

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Rotoscoping is the process of drawing animation over live-action film.

Max and Dave Fleischer invented the process in 1915 to animate Koko the Clown of their Out of the Inkwell series, and later used it to animate Cab Calloway's dancing in three Betty Boop shorts, but the most famous Fleischer rotoscoping was done in the studio's Superman Theatrical Cartoons.

Disney Studios had used rotoscoping from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (explaining the slightly different art style of said characters) all the way to 101 Dalmatians.

Rotoscoping has been used lightly (to create realistic movements for otherwise stylized characters) and heavily (nearly tracing an entire actor's movements, form, and facial expressions). The downside of heavy rotoscoping is that the animated actors tend to teeter on the edge of the Uncanny Valley.

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More recently, computer technology has created new life for rotoscoping as a medium, allowing for much greater detail and smoother movement. Fully computer-generated characters are Serkis Folk, much like fully animated characters give it the Roger Rabbit Effect.

However, rotoscoping has a bad reputation among the animation community, including men such as Richard Williams, Milt Kahl, Shamus Culhane and John Kricfalusi, being perceived as a lifeless, poor substitute for character animation. Even Ralph Bakshi, a frequent user of it in his feature films, admits that he loathed using it and that it was only used due to his low budgets and inexperienced younger artists. In fact, Max Fleischer himself came to realize the limitations of the very device he created early on, opting for more creative use of character animation instead (although he did make some exceptions).

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Compare Motion Capture, which is how computers do it these days.

Examples:

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The Talk to Chuck ads for Charles Schwab, directed by Bob Sabiston, the developer of the Rotoshop software used on Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly, etc.

ads for Charles Schwab, directed by Bob Sabiston, the developer of the Rotoshop software used on Waking Life, A Scanner Darkly, etc. A series of bumpers for Nickelodeon that was produced by Buck.

This unsettling PSA from Safety on the Move's Drinking and Driving Wrecks Lives campaign. A man's haunting, ghostly face stares right into your soul, and recounts how his "great bloke" Mark killed the parents of two children in a drunk driving accident on Christmas.

Anime

Films  Animation

Films  Live-Action

The lightsaber effects in the original Star Wars trilogy. Rotoscoping is still the word you would use to describe the prequel trilogy's lightsabers, but it's the modern computer-aided version. The sequel trilogy (as shown in some behind the scenes photos of The Force Awakens) used prop glowing sticks (similar in look to the Force FX lightsaber toys), with some digital enhancements to it.

Used in Return to Oz to make the ruby slippers sparkle.

Used as a transitional device in The Charge of the Light Brigade between the animated sequences created by Richard Williams and the live action shots. The animated sequences themselves, despite the hyper-detailed designs, used no rotoscoping.

The seagulls flying over the burning gas station on The Birds were actually shot at a Cliffside in Spain. Rotoscoping was used to mask out the sea and cliff, leaving only the birds.

The book the Library Ghost is reading in Ghostbusters. When the effects team optically processed her into the filmed footage, the optical-printing also processed her book, which, being a real object, had to be a harder image than the ghost. It's done so well that the pages seem to have a little bit of telltale grain.

Live-Action TV

Doctor Who: Animation has been used to restore some of the missing episodes for DVD release. The animators sometimes use rotoscoping to remain faithful to the few short bits of footage that survive, with the regeneration scene from part four of "The Tenth Planet" being a good example. The first reanimation project, The Invasion, does this with footage of one of the animators running through their offices in a baggy coat, for shots of the Second Doctor running in long shot. "Day of the Daleks: Special Edition" and a few other special-edition titles make use of rotoscoping when certain effects have to be replaced.

In The Invaders rotoscoping was used to add the red glow over dying and incinerating aliens.

Music Videos

Video Games

Visual Novels

Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and its sequel, Last Window. Actors and actresses are brought in, and they are filmed performing various movements. The most essential "frames" of their movements are then drawn over and spliced together to create the grainy, film-noir novel style. You can watch the "behind the scenes" video here .

Western Animation