Digital Technology Development - Essay Example

Over the last ten to fifteen years there has been a revolution in special effects in movies and television. The use of computer generated imagery tocreate characters and environments has become the standard. This seems to be both a bad thing and a good thing. Some directors seem to prefer to use digital technology only when it's appropriate and needed. Others seem to rely on digital technology a little too much, using it when other proven methods could have been considered. The biggest advocate for the use of digital effects in the movie industry has been George Lucas. With his Star Wars prequel trilogy and his special effects company Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) he has pounded the movie industry over the head with an abundance (in some cases an overabundance) of digital effects. Nearly every shot in each of the three movies contains some kind of digital effect. The volume of work that was produced might lead people to expect a diminished quality of the work since there is so much that was being attempted. But the truth is that the art form of digital effects was improved by leaps and bounds. Beginning with Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the animation and rendering of skin and texture on digital characters and environments was a huge leap. The techniques that were developed in that movie seem to have inspired many filmmakers since to use similar methods. Suddenly, things that were thought to have been impossible to do in a movie were now possible. Filmmaker Peter Jackson realized this, which was one of the reasons why he decided to make The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Digital effects aided him immensely in making his own trilogy. Another way that the methods of George Lucas aided Peter Jackson's team was in previsualization. Previz, as it is usually called, allows a director and effects team to see what shots in the movie will look like before actual shooting begins. Previz used to only consist of storyboards, hand drawn pictures of the shots that didn't move. But Lucas invited Jackson and his team to Skywalker Ranch to have a look at their previz department, which was using computer aided storyboards. They were crude computer models, lesser versions of what would appear on screen, but they allowed for moving pictures instead of the still photos that drawn storyboards are. Based on this one could conclude that The Lord of the Rings movies almost couldn't have been created without the pioneering of George Lucas. This is true, but only in some ways. The work begun by ILM did enable Weta to have a beginning point but they did not simply slavishly copy the techniques. Peter Jackson encouraged Weta to develop their own techniques that built upon the ones achieved by ILM. The main difference between the techniques of both effects houses is the creation of their digital characters. Both effects houses were faced with the daunting tasks of creating digital characters that were important parts of the story and had to give actual performances. ILM had to create Jar Jar Binks and later Yoda while Weta had to create Gollum and Treebeard. But while ILM mainly stuck with the process of key frame animation for creating their characters (with the exception of using the actor Ahmed Best for some motion capture and on set work), Weta used a variety of techniques to bring their characters to life. They used Andy Serkis as an on set actor while filming to give the animators a reference for what Gollum would be like as a character and how he would move around. This also helped with the interaction between the digital character and the actors on set. After filming was completed Andy was put into a motion capture suit to record his movements for the computer. This helped immensely with the animation because every movement did not have to be controlled and created by the animators. It already existed from Andy Serkis' performance. Another method they used was to scan Serkis' face and use it as a model to design the face of the character. Since Gollum retained Serkis' facial characteristics the facial animation was easier to match with his performance. Though they didn't use Serkis for everything. There was still a heavy amount of key-frame animation that was done to help with things that Serkis was simply not physically able to do, such as scale vertically down a cliff face or fall backwards head first off of a rock. But since a variety of different methods were combined to create the character animation the result is outstanding. Compared with Jar Jar and Yoda from the Star Wars prequels Gollum has a certain edge to him in terms of animation. There are movements that he does that seem much more natural and real when compared to the movements of Jar Jar or Yoda. However, that doesn't take away from the animation of those characters because the work of the ILM animators is also successful and impressive. Much time and care was taken in making sure that the digital Yoda seemed alive and matched the Yoda puppet from the original Star Wars trilogy. The digital Yoda also had to deliver a good dramatic performance. His facial expressions in Episode 2: Attack of the Clones were very good but it's in Episode III: Revenge of the Sith that his animation is the most impressive. At times he rivals the facial work of Gollum in that movie. But there are times when the physical animation in the rest of the body seems either stiff and unnatural or way to frenetic. There is a quality about their movements that almost subliminally tells the viewer that they were animated almost completely by hand through key-frame animation and without any reference to actual physical performances from an actor. That doesn't seem to show up in the way Gollum moves and that is due to Weta's approach to creating the character. The creation of the character Treebeard was another task that Weta improvised on. During filming a large animatronic puppet was created so that the actors playing the hobbits could interact with it. It was highly detailed and realistic looking except the face did not move. After filming was completed the face of the puppet was digitally replaced by an animated version of the face. For wide shots a completely digital version of the character was created. The effect was seamless. If George Lucas had to create the same character he probably wouldn't have used a puppet to help the actors interact with the character. For most of his digital creations he simply lets his actors use their imaginations, such as in the scenes on Geonosis in Episode II: Attack of the Clones. For those scenes absolutely nothing was there for the actors to interact with except for the ground of the set, which was dressed to look like the ground on Geonosis. The rest of the set was made up of blue screens on which the environment and all of the digital creatures were digitally added in later on. Effect is not as convincing, not because the digital characters did not look good, but because the actors didn't seem to interact with them and the environment very well. Something seemed slightly out of place because of this. It is a common problem throughout the Star Wars prequels that doesn't seem to show up in The Lord of the Rings movies. Although there are times when the methods of both filmmakers were similar. Jackson filmed part the Pelennor fields sequence in The Return of the King in much the same way that Lucas filmed his Geonosis sequence, on a stage with the floor dressed as the ground would look with blue/green screens all around. The difference between what Jackson did and what Lucas did is that Jackson filmed his scene that way out of necessity. There was no other way he could accomplish that particular scene because the environment was way too large and fantastic to create as a set. When he filmed the scene with the character of Sam fighting Shelob the giant spider there was nothing for Sam to react to in terms of the giant spider, but at least he had the environment to look at. There was a set built that looked like what the environment was supposed to be. But Lucas filmed most of his scenes with a minimum of sets throughout his whole Star Wars prequel trilogy, whether there was an alternative way of doing it or not. There are major differences between how the two directors choose to create environments, with some similarities. For the planet of Coruscant and many other planets in the prequel trilogy Lucas decided to have ILM construct every aspect of the planet digitally. Jackson most likely would not have gone that route. Again, he and his team are known for using a variety of techniques not only for creating his digital characters but also for creating his environments. Jackson loves to use miniatures whenever he can to create buildings and structures that are impractical to build in real life. The Weta team built miniatures that were actually pretty large. They did this in order to create depth and detail in the models so that they would look real in both wide shots and close-ups. This added to the realism of the structures because there was something real and physical that the viewer was looking at rather than something that could have been built in a computer. Lucas also used miniatures in a variety of his shots. Models of buildings and ships were created and photographed but not really to the level of detail that the ones used in The Lord of the Rings trilogy were created at. They were also primarily used in wide shots. The camera never came very close to the objects themselves. Weta also used matte paintings to create backgrounds in the environments. Matte paintings are paintings that are created specifically for backgrounds on either a large scale or a small scale. They traditionally have been painted for real and used during filming they sometimes are painted within a computer and inserted into the background of shots. Using a combination of matte paintings, miniatures, and full scale sets can create a convincing three dimensional feel to many shots that require the creation of environments that don't exist. For the creation of the Pelennor fields and the surrounding mountains, sky and clouds in The Return of the King, Weta opted for something different than simple matte paintings. They needed to have many different angles of the environment that they could use as the backgrounds for the large battle that they were attempting to create. So they traveled around New Zealand and took many pictures of plains, mountain ranges, skies, clouds, sunsets and sunrises. They loaded all of the pictures into the computer and stitched them together. This created a 360 degree three dimensional environment of the Pelennor fields that they used as an actual little world that they could create the battle in. The use of photography of real landscapes added to the depth and realism of the environment, as opposed to simply constructing it digitally as Lucas did primarily with Coruscant and other environments in his trilogy. The way that skin texture comes across in terms of animation has evolved during the last few years. In Episode I: The Phantom Menace the character of Jar Jar, as well as other characters, look very convincing. However, there are some shots, such as when Jar Jar is following the two Jedi in the woods on the planet Naboo, that don't look as good. The quality of skin texture doesn't look realistic. It makes the character look almost cartoon-like. It looks like if one of the real actors had tried to put their hand on him the hand would pass right through as if he wasn't even there. This occurs with some of the other digital characters as well. In Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the skin texture of digital characters was improved, but not by much. In fact, in some scenes it looks like it actually had become worse. Yoda for example, looks incredibly real in some scenes and much more cartoon-like in others, as opposed to the more subtle digital flubs seen in Episode I. Gollum's skin color and texture in The Lord of the Rings trilogy looks much more realistic. Right from the beginning of The Two Towers he looks absolutely convincing and real, with skin texture that seems to have actual layers to it. The actors actually touch him and interact with him, which always seems realistic. Weta achieved this by hiring a painter who specialized in statues and maquettes. He gave his input on how to create realistic skin color and texture and helped the animators at the computer to achieve it. This technique must have inspired ILM because in Episode III, which was released about three years after the initial achievement with Gollum, ILM seems to have perfected their ability to do skin texture. Every shot of Yoda in Episode III looks incredibly realistic, with his skin looking like actual matter within the space, as if the real actors could actually touch him and interact with him. He is physically in the scenes, just like Gollum. Even though Jackson and Weta seem to have won out in the special effects department on many levels, there are some instances in Jackson's movies where the quality of special effects is not up to par with the rest of the work in both Jackson's movies and Lucas' movies. In The Two Towers there is a scene where a pack of wolf-like animals called wargs attack a traveling band of people from Rohan. The battle that ensues features men on horseback slashing and hacking at the wargs. The wargs look very unrealistic and don't interact with the environment or their Rohan enemies very well. Jackson admits that the sequence was rushed because he had put it off and never really planned it out too well. On the day it was filmed he simply had the actors ride around on their horses and pretend to fight the wargs, which were added in later. Another flaw in the effects concerns the compositing of actors into scenes. To make the hobbits characters seem small on screen many techniques were used, compositing being one of them. It is when an actor is shot separately and inserted into the scene. In the scene where the hobbits Frodo and Sam have just been taken by Faramir's men and are unmasked in front of a small waterfall they aren't composited well at all. It is obvious that they are not physically in the scene. This can probably be forgiven because the waterfall behind them most likely made it tough to erase the matte lines around them. However, nearly the same thing occurs in the where the hobbits Merry and Pippen ride on top of Treebeard, the walking tree. They don't seem to be in the same space as the rest of the trees and the plants that are supposedly going by them as Treebeard walks. Compositing flaws don't really show up in Lucas' movies. Perhaps ILM is more efficient at compositing. Weta does have its faults but those faults don't diminish the rest of their accomplishments. Their blend of digital animation with practical effects creates images that stand up to the scrutiny of the eye in incredible ways. There is never an over reliance on digital creations such with ILM. Lucas tends to use digital effects for things that shouldn't even need effects of any kind, such as in the creation of the clone army that is featured in both Episode II and III. The army is essentially the same as the storm troopers from the original Star Wars trilogy except with a slightly different design of the costumes. Lucas decided to digitally create every single one of them. It is of course practical to create many of them digitally for crowd shots of the troopers, but even the troopers that are in close ups and that stand in frame with the actors are digital. This seems like excess rather than practicality. Lucas doesn't seem to want to let up on his quest to promote the new wave of digital effects. The only trouble is that the new wave is already here. Yes, the computer can allow for many more things to be done in film that weren't possible before but that doesn't mean that the old ways must be thrown away completely. Computer effects don't have to be used for everything, especially when no effects are needed at all. Lucas and ILM can learn a thing or two from Jackson and Weta. Lucas' penchant for digital technology was challenged when recently he visited the set of Jackson's new movie, a remake of King Kong. "Alex Funke, supervising director of visual effects photography, proudly showed off his miniatures department's handiwork, which was meticulously crafted down to the tiniest piece of plastic jungle foliage. George said, 'Of course, we could do all that digitally.' Funke said, 'Yes, of course could. So'" BIBLIOGRAPHY Cozzalio, Dennis. Alex Funke takes George down a notch. 2nd Dec. 2005. < http://sergioleoneifr.blogspot.com/2005/11/alex-funke-takes-george-down-notch.html>. Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Dir. George Lucas. Perf. Liam Neeson, Ewan McGregor, and Natalie Portman. 20th Century Fox, 1999. [video:DVD] Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. Dir. George Lucas. Perf. Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, and Natalie Portman. 20th Century Fox, 2002. [video:DVD] Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Dir. George Lucas. Perf. Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, and Natalie Portman. 20th Century Fox, 2005. [video:DVD] The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Extended Edition. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Elijah Wood, Ian Mckellen, and Viggo Mortensen. New Line Cinema 2002. [video:DVD] The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King Extended Edition. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Elijah Wood, Ian Mckellen, and Viggo Mortensen. New Line Cinema 2004. [video:DVD] The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Extended Edition. Dir. Peter Jackson. Perf. Elijah Wood, Ian Mckellen, and Viggo Mortensen. New Line Cinema 2003. [video:DVD] Read More