Anime + Violins = Suck
Someone answer me this: Stringed instruments seem to find their way into Anime all the damn time (Sailor Moon, Ef, The Place Promised in Our Early Days, &c &c). Yet, for how often they appear no one has apparently figured out how to animate the damn thing so it looks like someone is actually playing it instead of waving a bow around above the strings. If you can sync lips, then why is it shouldn't be so damn hard to sync the animation with the movements of the bow -- particularly since you could just video record the musician playing the instrument and use that as a source.
As a violinist I cringe every time I see a character appear with a violin because I know that I'm going to be subjected to the atrocity that is animators attempts at showing string instruments. The audio will never match the bowing and fingering that the characters are using. If no one on your staff can animate a stringed instrument -- then why not pick an easier instrument? Like a recorder, or a piano (then again, if you can't even bother to understand that the bow needs to be moving in order for there to be sound how can I expect you to understand that they keys need to be hit in order for sound to emanate from the piano?).
Well, that's my pet peeve -- and I think I'm justified, it strikes me of laziness and poor planning on the part of the directors and staff to not either learn how to draw the silly thing or find a work around so that you never have to . . . it isn't like every character under the sun needs to be a violin-wielding maniac anyways.
As a violinist I cringe every time I see a character appear with a violin because I know that I'm going to be subjected to the atrocity that is animators attempts at showing string instruments. The audio will never match the bowing and fingering that the characters are using. If no one on your staff can animate a stringed instrument -- then why not pick an easier instrument? Like a recorder, or a piano (then again, if you can't even bother to understand that the bow needs to be moving in order for there to be sound how can I expect you to understand that they keys need to be hit in order for sound to emanate from the piano?).
Well, that's my pet peeve -- and I think I'm justified, it strikes me of laziness and poor planning on the part of the directors and staff to not either learn how to draw the silly thing or find a work around so that you never have to . . . it isn't like every character under the sun needs to be a violin-wielding maniac anyways.