Donkey Kong Country (television series): Difference between revisions

''Donkey Kong Country'' was the first full-length television series to be entirely primarily using motion capture, <ref>Ron Fischer, [http://www.motioncapturesociety.com/resources/industry-history The History and Current State of motion capture]. ''Motion Capture Society''. Retrieved October 8, 2015</ref> using [[Medialab]]'s proprietary technology which allowed the animators to see the performance play out in real time.<ref>Legrand, Fabienne (November 11, 2011). ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rcNu8rrLXg L'aventure Donkey Kong chez Medialab]''. YouTube. Retrieved January 25, 2016</ref> Due to this attribute, the company prefered to use the term "Performance Animation" to refer to the animation style of the show.<ref>''Computer Animation: A Whole New World'' (1998, Rockport Publishers). "''Medialab'' Donkey Kong Country". p. 88</ref> This caused controversy when the show was rejected for an {{wp|Emmy Award}} nomination, the reasoning being that the TV academy did not consider the then-new motion capture technique to be a form of animation.<ref>Solomon, Charles (June 1, 1999). [http://articles.latimes.com/1999/jun/01/entertainment/ca-42903 An Emmy Awards Debate: What Makes 'Donkey Kong' Run?]. ''L.A. Times. Retrieved January 25, 2015</ref>

After writers finalized the character's roles and personalities, artist Phil Mendez worked on the concept sketches, taking care to keep the character's appearance simple and geometric to make them easy to convert into three-dimensional models.<ref>''Computer Animation: A Whole New World'' (1998, Rockport Publishers). "''Medialab'' Donkey Kong Country". p. 89</ref> The 3D modellers grouped characters with similar bodies into "families" and used the Alias/Wavefront modeling software to build the digital skeletons, using the "families" as a base to create the individual model.<ref>''Computer Animation: A Whole New World'' (1998, Rockport Publishers). "''Medialab'' Donkey Kong Country". p. 91</ref> Characters' heads were modeled in clay and then digitzed. <ref>''Computer Animation: A Whole New World'' (1998, Rockport Publishers). "''Medialab'' Donkey Kong Country". p. 92</ref>

Though groundbreaking, the use of motion capture came with many challenges. As the models had to work for both live motion capture and traditional keyframe-based animation, Medialab had to optimize the models to keep the polygon count low.<ref>''Computer Animation: A Whole New World'' (1998, Rockport Publishers). "''Medialab'' Donkey Kong Country". p. 93`</ref> Writer Simon Racioppa explained that due to the format's limitation, the series bible heavily discouraged new locations and characters, and characters could not be animated picking up objects (although them holding objects was possible). Animating water was also considered "next to impossible".<ref>Matt Paprocki (June 5, 2020) [https://www.polygon.com/features/2020/6/5/21280650/nintendo-movies-based-on-mario-pokemon-donkey-kong-the-wizard-detective-pikachu Inside Nintendo’s weird attempts at making movies and TV shows]. ''Polygon''. Retrieved June 7, 2020.</ref> Speaking of the differences between ''Donkey Kong Country'' and ''{{wp|ReBoot}}'', a 3D animated series that did not employ motion capture, producer Maia Tubiana explained that making the models required "experimentation, discipline, and the ability to live with a few compromises", an example being having to shorten King K. Rool's cape to not interfere with the animation.<ref>''Computer Animation: A Whole New World'' (1998, Rockport Publishers). "''Medialab'' Donkey Kong Country". p. 89</ref>  

According to a post on a fan page by [[Nelvana]] writer [[Erika Strobel]], Medialab had originally obtained the rights to create an animated series from [[Nintendo]]. After thirteen episodes were written, Medialab asked Nelvana for assistance after firing the original writers (who, according to Strobel, had produced scripts "with racist/sexist jokes and just sooo bad for a kiddie show").<ref name="Retrojunk">[http://web.archive.org/web/20081227060342/http://www.retrojunk.com/details_tvshows/430-donkey-kong-country/ Retrojunk page for Donkey Kong Country] (August 5, 2008). Erika Strobel's comment is under the username "canuckgirl1966" (Retrieved April 24, 2016)</ref> As storyboards had already been produced for ten of the original scripts, Nelvana decided to write new stories around these storyboards to save money.<ref name="Retrojunk"/> The songs, however, were included at the request of Medialab; all of the show's songs, as well as the title theme, were written by Pure West Music.<ref name="Retrojunk"/><ref>[http://purewestmusic.com/ Pure West Music's website] (information is under the "Credits" tab). Retrieved April 24, 2016.</ref> Nelvana purchased the rights to the show after Medialab's license lapsed.<ref name="Retrojunk"/>