Most of us will remember 1995, when Pixar Animation Studios blew us away with the first feature length fully computer Generated film, Toy Story. The film was an instant success and took in more than $354 million worldwide.
This success soon fell into the ears of producers and companies all over Hollywood. Between 1995 and 2000 people were queuing to see the next computer generated film by Pixar, each one becoming more detailed and realistic than the last. These included A Bugs Life (1998) and Toy Story 2 (1999). Pixar was and still is the leading film production company specializing in computer generated movies each time amazing us with their ability to create realistic fur or lifelike water.
Other companies soon joined the bandwagon (as they always do in Hollywood) Pixar's parent company Disney was the first to give CGI a go with their 2000 film Dinosaur, unfortunately it could not garner the same success as Pixar.
The second company to produce a successful CG film was DreamWorks Animations' Shrek in (2001) making more than $260 million in the USA alone. The film was so successful it has produced two successful sequels, a 4-D short and a Christmas special short with a fourth feature in the pipeline as well as a spin off.
It seemed that any company could prove to be successful in this medium.
20th century Fox (being ones never to be left out) decided to join in and produced the prehistoric film Ice Age earning more than $170 million dollars in the USA making a clear profit on its $59 million budget. It was also followed by a sequel with another announced.
Other attempts came along from DreamWorks (Shark Tale, Madagascar, Over the Hedge) and Fox (Robots) always competing alongside a Pixar (Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles)
However as more and more companies' movie into feature computer animation, the less it becomes special. These days it's hard to find a film that has no computer effects present even if they're in the credits. And so it's time for a new path to be made, for a new experiment in the art of film. Motion Capture.
Motion capture is in a nutshell CGI, but it goes a little more than just creating a character on a computer. With motion capture it's possible to create photo realistic faces on people with lifelike movement. In this case you can use the movements of professional actors and yet put them in the most outrageous of situations, making the viewer believe they are there.
The first film to use this technique was a fairly unknown under the radar film. Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists with the voices of Brendan Fraser and Leonard Nimoy. However the film used the motion capture to gain lifelike movement rather than realistic features.
Robert Zemeckis is considered to be the first to use motion capture to its full potential. In 2004 he used it in The Polar Express. By using this method Tom Hanks was able to play the parts of five different characters including a train Conductor, a young boy and Santa Claus. Hanks were able to act out each part separately and then the animators and designers could adjust his image and place the characters in the same scene.
Unfortunately the film opened very poorly and was criticised for its use of motion capture, the audience feeling the characters looked “creepy” or “eerie”. The Polar Express suffered from “dead eye syndrome” where the eyes of the characters are unable to move and so they appear deadened and “soulless”. Luckily though the film picked up toward the end of the year and shocked critics by making a total worldwide gross of more than $302 million. The film was also released in IMAX 3D which proved even more successful.
Zemeckis followed The Polar Express with Beowulf based on the Old English epic poem of the same name. Released in 2007 this was once again motion captured in 3D. 3D is now more accessible to the public due to multiplex's providing the equipment.
Beowulf was again successful generating more than $180 million worldwide. They had also improved upon the technology and detail. People were now twice as realistic, with the “dead eye syndrome” removed allowing the characters to look more alive. Ray Winstone was cast in the lead role and was digitally toned to suit the character.
Zemeckis is planning on continuing to use motion capture with his next film A Christmas Carol starring Jim Carrey as Scrooge and each of the three ghosts that visit him that night.
So now that CGI is old news, will motion capture take off as successfully? Only time will tell, but if it does will there no longer be a demand for actors. With motion capture why hire five actors when you need only one?
