Spielberg, Jackson, Tintin Movie and the Ligne Claire Style

Tintin movie news has gone quiet with filming on the first Tintin movie due to start in September. One of he biggest reasons for many Tintin fans arguing that a Tintin movie should not be made is that they believe it is impossible for anyone even great storytellers like Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg to capture the look and feel of the Tintin albums on the big screen.

There is a beauty and clarity to the Tintin albums of Herge who pioneered a style of drawing called “ligne claire”. This is French for “clear line” and is a style of drawing which uses clear strong lines which have the same thickness and importance, rather than being used to emphasize certain objects or be used for shading (for this reason it is sometime also called the democracy of lines). Ligne Claire is also noted for the use of strong colours and a combination of cartoonish characters against a realistic background. The uses of shadows are sparse and all elements of a panel are delineated with clear black lines.

Herge started off with a much looser style of drawing as he was influenced by the famous American comic strip artists of the late 1920’s and 1930’s. It was only after the Second World War that he developed the Ligne Claire style. The ethos of simplicity though not only stopped at the look of the cartoons but also in to the story lines as they too had to be straight forward.

I believe however that the fact tat Spielberg is involved in the Tintin movie trilogy project can only be good for true Tintin fans. Spielberg himself is a fan and now feels that the look of the albums with the ligne claire illustrations can now be translated to the big screen. This is where Peter Jackson will come in providing valuable technological expertise. Jackson along with his partners as the Weta Workshop will use technology developed for Lord of the Rings. The character Gollum was created by Weta using motion capture techniques on actor Andy Serkis then using key frame animation and subsurface scattering rendering techniques enabled the first completely convincing portrayal of an animated humanoid in a feature film. This technology will bring a realistic portrayal of Tintin to the big screen. Jackson said “We’re making the character look photorealistic – the fibres of their clothing, the pores of their skin and each individual hair. It is possible that the work, certainly the first one will start next year”.

The people at Weta devoted one whole year to make sure the look of the Tintin albums were translated to the screen and the 20 minute demo they produced wowed the backers of the Tintin Movie trilogy. It is this dedication to detail and the story telling ability of these two titans of film (Spielberg and Jackson) that should ensure a Tintin movie is made that will please devoted Tintin fans and movie goers in equal measure.

Here at Le Tintin Movie our poll has shown that most people who visited the site were in favour of the film being made with 90% approving of the project. I myself am looking forward to the project and believe the resulting Tintin movies will open up the world of Tintin to a whole new audience and will lead to Tintin being enjoyed by many more people who will look to the original Tintin albums and find pleasure in the simple yet most enjoyable stories.

These are just my own opinions and I would love to hear what other people think. Please contact me or leave a comment and the best opinions will be posted here for everyone to consider.

I aim to still bring you all the best in Tintin movie news and also add a little Tintin information along the way. Have a good weekend.

Thanks

John Helios

Tags: tintin movie, tintin, ligne claire, tintin movie news, steven spielberg, peter jackson