Uncanny Valley, which someone mentioned above.
Oh. Now I remember - it didn't ring a bell when I read JZ's post....
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Uncanny Valley, which someone mentioned above.
Oh. Now I remember - it didn't ring a bell when I read JZ's post....
Motion-capture has the capacity to make things look extremely creepy, if you use it as anything more than a rough guide. It lends a sort of Gentlemen-esque glide-y-ness to everyone's movements, especially walking and hand gestures.
I wasn't creeped out by the animation in Final Fantasy, but the fact that they put the voices of well-known actors on different bodies bugged me.
I wasn't creeped out by Final Fantasy either, but I did experience a lot of something akin to cognitive dissonance, as some scenes did look totally real to me and some (most) did not. I had this weird sensation of the reality of the movie flip-flopping between animation and live-action.
I thought the animation in FF was incredible, and easy to watch (even though there were still problems with hand movements and lip movements). Somehow, whatever they did for FF, they did NOT do for PE.
And now I'm thinking about a Polar Express that could have worked -- a half-hour TV special, no padding added to the book, and Sky Captain's technique, with real actors weaving their way through fuzzy-edged nostalgic/futuristic computer-generated sets with a muted watercolor glow that perfectly echoes Van Allsburg's illustrations. That could have worked, beautifully, dammit. Zemeckis, you bastard, you bastard, Zemeckis.
but I did experience a lot of something akin to cognitive dissonance, as some scenes did look totally real to me and some (most) did not.
I actually had some of that during Incredibles. Not the characters, but the backgrounds -- there were several bits where I momentarily forgot it was animated because the water was so bloody fantastic.
Not the characters, but the backgrounds -- there were several bits where I momentarily forgot it was animated because the water was so bloody fantastic.
They really upped the bar on some digital elements that were previously hard to get right.
I think Final Fantasy benefited in that it was ramping up themes of gloom and alienation, so the visceral uneasiness brought about by the Uncanny Valley figures in it fit the mood. Also, freaky-looking alien creatures handy for tranferrence of the creepiness actually being generated by the human figures.
If someone wants to make an animated horror movie, they need to go to the Polar Express people for tips about animation technique.
If someone wants to make an animated horror movie, they need to go to the Polar Express people for tips about animation technique.
Or ask the ILM folks about Jar Jar.