Who needs human actors? As digital characters become more real, advances in technology threaten to make actual people obsolete in Hollywood.

AuthorKehr, Dave
PositionArts - Brief Article

Thanks to digital technology, seeing is no longer believing in movies, even to the tiny degree it once was.

Not-really-there computer-generated characters are popping up more and more. Films this spring will feature a new crop, including the crime-fighting cartoon dog of Scooby-Doo, the swinging stunt double in Spider-Man, and the much-hated Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars: Episode--II Attack of the Clones.

Filmmakers may soon be faced with their own version of the cloning debate. When computer graphics imaging (CGI) becomes detailed enough, and when voice synthesis software becomes smooth enough, the next crop of such characters could look and sound more realistic, maybe even passably human. But is it right to create humans out of pixels?

A new film is expected to confront the issue of cyberstars. Titled Simone and set for release later this year, it's the story of a down-and-out movie producer, played by Al Pacino, who creates a digital replacement when a temperamental actress walks out in the middle of filming. The replacement--named Simone, or Sim(ulation) One--becomes an overnight sensation, requiring Pacino's character to maintain the fiction that she is real--something that will certainly pose a problem at press conferences and awards banquets.

It is telling,, however, that Simone will reportedly be played by an unknown actress rather than a character from digital scratch, though the studio, New Line Cinema, is keeping plans under wraps. Existing technology can present a semi-plausible human figure, like Dr. Aki Ross, the heroine with skin pores and split ends from last year's all-CGI movie Final Fantasy. But it is not yet advanced enough to simulate the indescribable energy that passes from an actor on the screen to a viewer in a movie theater. For the moment, if a filmmaker wants a spectator to identify with a character, it's safer to begin with organic matter than a cloud of numbers.

CARTOON WORLDS VS. REALITY

CGI has so far been at its best when rendering monsters, dinosaurs, and cartoon-like people. The completely digital Shrek was one of the biggest hits of 2001. The more realistically styled Final Fantasy bombed, as the digital humans contributed to the cold, sterile feel of the film.

Maybe the ogre Shrek was more accepted than Dr. Aki Ross because today's CGI processes are nothing more than technologically advanced versions of traditional animation techniques, with the computer replacing the drawing board.

CGI animations have also...

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