Peter Chung on Vimeo

https://vimeo.com/user44930142/videos/sort:plays/format:thumbnail

Wow, that Firebreather video makes me wish the final product had been in 2D animation instead of 3D. It looks amazing! That 1 minute video makes it seem like the fight scenes could have been much more intense and electrifying, though I understand that doing really good 2D animation can be much more tedious and expensive. It's just that I find 3D generally feels more frigid than 2D, which is counter to the whole point of animation being intended to create the illusion of life. Still, Firebreather turned out really well. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed it. It reminded me of Evangelion (probably my favorite anime).

It was an eye-opening experience for me to show Firebreather to friends and acquaintances, including my parents' friends. EVERYONE, across the board, who was not normally an animation fan, was:
1. able to watch the whole 70-minute movie from start to end (not happening if it was 2D).

2. expressed relief once the 2D prologue was over, that they weren't going to have to look at drawings for an entire movie.

For a director, working in 3D is a far more organic and liberating process. The only reason, I think, that 2D animation ever was used was because computers didn't exist at the time. No sane person would choose to do 2D animation if CG were an option from the beginning. Because it's had a chance to flourish historically, 2D today has its own charms and unique values as a medium. For which I'm glad. My current project is planned for 2D, but out of logistical necessity.

And thanks for giving Firebreather a fair chance. It's a film I'm quite pleased with and it presented many storytelling challenges. It doesn't seem obvious in the final result-- which is why I feel I succeeded.

Many fans of my previous work- animation fans or animators I've worked with- don't see past the animation technique. A lot of animators with decades of experience are still enamored of the animation process. Whereas I've only cared about the process as a means of delivering something compelling enough to render the process invisible or irrelevant.

That's certainly an interesting approach for an animator to have. Becoming so invested, skilled and/or knowledgeable in the craft must lead to most animators/enthusiasts seeing animation from a primarily "style over substance" perspective, or maybe "style as substance".

On a visual level, no 3D wok has really affected me quite to the extent that the best 2D animation has. It's also because AFAIK the best 3D stories do not have the level of depth that the best 2D stories have (not to say that Firebreather's story was not good. In fact, I felt it was the strongest part of the film). Then again, my exposure to 3D has not been extensive. But I am very interested in seeing the capabilities of the 3D medium expand as it is refined over time like 2D was over the course of a century.

By the way, I really hope that production on that new project goes well. Can you give us any info on it?

What do you think about hybrid 2D/3D animation such as that used for Paperman?

https://zerply.com/pkchung/public

Online portfolio with some updates.

Happy to see you're doing work for CN!