History Main / MediumBlending

* A UK beer commercial featured a stop-motion character, a string puppet, a hand-drawn character and a real human being all performing the same simplistic dance with the slogan "only ever four steps".

* ''KillBill'' Vol. 1 featured an animated segment depicting O-Ren Ishii's backstory.

->"It seems that Homer has stumbled into... the third dimension!"

* ''{{The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest}}'' has the main characters venturing into "Quest World", a place where their traditionally 2D animated selves became 3D.

** Though that's because the actual narrative was cut. There's a Director's Cut version where you can see the Live Action section in all its melodramatic glory. Apparently, Asuka lives with Toji, Rei is a normal Office Girl who's possibly sleeping with her Boss, and so on.

* ''PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' is done almost entirely in ThickLineAnimation, but when the MonsterOfTheWeek blows up, the show cuts to a blatantly obvious live action model on an equally obvious city set. Then explodes it (the monster, not the set.)

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* It's common in ''{{Vocaloid}}'' fan art to include both normal and SuperDeformed characters in the same picture.
[[/folder]]

* The [[{{Film/Kick-ass}} Kick-Ass movie]] referenced [[{{Kick-Ass}} its origins]] by integrating some comic book aesthetics. There are occasional caption boxes on the screen saying stuff like "Meanwhile..." and Macready's backstory is told entirely in drawings, which is framed as a character reading a comic book adaptation of the tale.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* The {{Gorillaz}} video clips makes heavy use of Medium Blending from the very beginning.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRealAdventuresOfJonnyQuest'' has the main characters venturing into "Quest World," a place where their traditionally 2D animated selves became 3D.

* Robert Mandell was a pioneer of this back in the early and mid 1980's, mixing CGI in with cel animation in both ''Thunderbirds 2086'' and GalaxyRangers. The CGI was justified by having it be on computer terminals and as the avatar of AI units.

* ''{{The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest}}'' has the main characters venturing into "Quest World," a place where their traditionally 2D animated selves became 3D.

* ''Super MeatBoy'' has a stark contrast between somewhat realistic in-game environment, cartoonish style in menus and cutscenes and in-game pixellated characters.

* ''Painkiller'' makes use of a graphic novel-style intro.

See also RogerRabbitEffect, SuddenVideogameMoment. Compare ConspicuousCG.

* Also of note, in ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' Season 10 episode "200", the segment re-imagining the show with marionettes.

* ''DrawnTogether'' had an inversion of the typical "live action show enters magical cartoon kingdom" thing, with Wooldor finding a cow in "The Live-Action Forest." The cow then proceeds to wreak havoc all over the cartoon worldeventually getting into a "[[TakeOurWordForIt fight]]" with the "Live-Action Squirrel with Big Balls".

** While ''South Park'' uses real photographs of people every now and again (like Saddam), one could argue it's still in the same pseudo paper cut-out technique as the rest of the show; but it is of note that a picture of a real cow was used and referred to as "Live Action Cow".
** Wasn't the Live Action Cow a character from ''DrawnTogether''?

* ''DrawnTogether'' had an inversion of the typical "live action show enters magical cartoon kingdom" thing, with Wooldor finding a cow in "The Live-Action Forest." The cow then proceeds to wreak havoc all over the cartoon world. Oh, and did we mention the "Live-Action Squirrel with Big Balls"?

** Later clips have the characters more and more often in 3D, including for "live" performances. The MTV European Music Awards 2005 in Lisbon had the three-dimensional Gorillaz ''on stage'', thanks to an updated version of the old Victorian parlour trick named "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepper's_Ghost Pepper's Ghost]]". Repeated for the Grammy Awards 2006 in Los Angeles, this time alongside {{Madonna}} as guest-star.

** The first one, "Tomorrow Comes Today", use real backgrounds behind the 2D characters.
** Later clips, starting with "Clint Eastwood", mix traditional animation with many CG elements. In "19-2000", even the Gorillaz themselves are in 3D for wide shots, though still 2D for close-ups.

** Later clips have the characters more and more often in 3D, including for "live" performance. In the latest phase, the clip for "Stylo" is almost entirely live-action with just three of the Gorillaz in quasi-realistic 3D [[spoiler:(and BruceWillis as the antagonist)]].

* ''[=~Pete's Dragon~=]'' has the Dragon animated while the rest of the movie was live-action.

* A rare ''live-action'' example is "Zilla" (AKA [[InNameOnly "GINO"]]) who was officially put into {{Godzilla}} canon in ''Godzilla: Final Wars'', faithfully rendered in ''full'' CGI unlike the other monsters. The sheer cost of rendering him might explain why it's also one of the shortest battles in the series, though cynical fans loved the idea of [[TakeThat/{{Film}} Godzilla taking him down within a minute]].

* In the film of the musical for ReeferMadness, there was an animated sequence where Jimmy sings about how special his brownie is.

* The famous "Homer[[superscript:3]]" segment on ''TheSimpsons'' HalloweenEpisode "Treehouse of Horrors VI", where Homer winds up in the "third dimension" where he's animated differently in 3D [=CGI=] (pictured). The episode ended in Homer getting teleported to the real world, while still being computer-animated.

* ''Your Friend The Rat'', from the ''{{Ratatouille}}'' DVD, has CGI for the framing scenes of Remy and Emile and traditional animation for the rest, with a stop-motion scene and a couple of live-action StockFootage shots.

** Though that's because the actual narrative was cut. There's a Director's Cut version where you can see the Live Action section in all it's melodramatic glory. Apparently, Asuka lives with Toji, Rei is a normal Office Girl who's possibly sleeping with her Boss, and so on.

* ''{{The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack}}'' has the same production company as ''{{Chowder}}'' and follows it's example with a lot of stop-motion segments. There's one in the opening credits, even!

* ''{{Revolver}}'', from Guy Ritchie of ''{{Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels}}'' and ''{{Snatch}}'' fame, has [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment one scene]] in which the events and aftermath of a heist are shown in cartoon form, on a TV, ''during the heist!''

* In ''[[{{Film/ptitlegvx5tm34k7kq}} The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}'' movie, this happens during the Improbability Drive shift, ending in Claymation.

* The ''[=~The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy~=]'' movie has a part where everything was animated in stop-motion yarn.

* In ''[[{{Film/ptitlegvx5tm34k7kq}} The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}'' movie, this happens during the Improbability Drive shift, ending in Claymation.

* A weird example in the French movie ''[[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064146/ The Brain]]'' (''Le Cerveau'', 1969). The eponymous Brain (played by David Niven) is exposing to his henchmen his plan for a future train heist... with the projection of a short animated film, [[MarySue starring himself]]. The real heist go much less smoothly that the one shown in animation, of course.

** What about the Peasant's Quest Movie Trailer?

*** Don't forget the shift to SouthPark-style cutouts when Amarao gets a haircut!

* ''Series/DesertPunk'' has a bizarre live-action opening wherein some guy cosplaying as the titular character cavorts about a sandy landscape with apparent glee.

* Practically a SignatureStyle of StudioShaft. ''SayonaraZetsubouSensei'' has several live-action pictures in the background, and ''{{Bakemonogatari}}'' has both this as well as ConspicuousCGI

* ''HortonHearsAWho!'' shifts from CGI to Dr. Seuss-style cel animation when Horton imagines the people living on the speck, and then to {{Animesque}} (or, more accurately, ''TeenTitans''-esque) when Horton imagines that he's a heroic ninja.

* ''{{Bedknobs and Broomsticks}}'' involved the lead witch character transporting the main characters into a cartoon fantasy world where they were still live-action. The effects in this film won the Oscar that year for Special Visial Effects.
* ''The Happiness of the Katakuris'' is a live action film that switches to claymation during at least one action sequence.
* ''{{Revolver}}'', from Guy Ritchie of {{Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels}} and {{Snatch}} fame, has [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment one scene]] in which the events and aftermath of a heist are shown in cartoon form, on a TV, ''during the heist!''

* ''JamesAndTheGiantPeach'' mingles live-action and stop-motion in the end, and also has a dream sequence done in cut-out animation.

* In NineToFive, LilyTomlin, JaneFonda and DollyParton get stoned and fantasize about killing their boss. All three fit this trope, as the fantasies are filmed in distinctly different styles from the rest of the movie, but Lily Tomlin's especially as it features adorable animated wildlife surrounding her in the office kitchen as she poisons his coffee.

* Puppet ''{{Angel}}'', anyone?

* ''{{Moonlighting}}'' also had a claymation sequence.

* ''CommandAndConquer'' is famous for sticking with using [[FullMotionVideo live-action cutscenes]] when [[GrandfatherClause other companies gave up on it years ago]].

**What about the Peasant's Quest Movie Trailer?

* ''TheRealAdventuresOfJonnyQuest'' had the main characters venturing into "Quest World," a place where their traditionally 2D animated selves became 3D.

** Wasn't the Live Action Cow a character from DrawnTogether?

* The main gimmick of ''The Jimmy Timmy Power Hour'' and its sequels: Given that ''TheFairlyOddParents'' uses ThickLineAnimation and ''TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutron'' is CGI, characters are Medium Blended when crossing into the "other" show's universe. This is [[LampshadeHanging referenced]] through Timmy's usage of the adjective "bulgy" in Jimmy's world (itself a ShoutOut to the above-mentionned "Homer[[superscript:3]]") and Jimmy and Sheen falling like carboard pop-ups upon arriving in the ''FOP'' world.

* Each episode ''Popetown'' has a live-action introduction featuring some catholic school class before the animated part. Theoritically tied-in with the episode content, but rather pointless.
* The cartoon version of {{Paddington Bear}} had the title character animated using a stop motion puppet, the other characters were coloured paper dolls, and the backgrounds were black and white static drawings.

** ''Your Friend The Rat'', from the ''{{Ratatouille}}'' DVD, has CGI for the framing scenes of Remy and Emile and traditional animation for the rest, with a stop-motion scene and a couple of live-action StockFootage shots.