Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1585
February 2009 14 Realistic Digital Characters I s it possible to have expressive digital characters that are sincere, intense, and subtle? And, why would you care? e term "realistic digitally created movie" (also called 3D or CG) appeared on the scene a few years back with the release of Final Fantasy–e Spirits Within. Since then, however, the concept largely has been ignored, like the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the room. e arrival of digital movies is a momentous develop- ment in the art of cinema that is practically going unnoticed. Yes, there is a buzz among the people who work in the field, but the general public is pretty much unaware of their existence and to- tally confused about the nature of the medium. e digital movie is much more than a technical curiosity; it is the birth of a totally new medium. It's not animation. It's not con- ventional cinema. It's not just slick special effects or weird mon- sters. It is a whole new ball game. A Personal Foray Coming from conventional movies, I've spent the last few years ex- ploring the possibilities of this new mode of expression. I found the experience to be nothing less than total freedom. e progress in motion pictures through its century of existence was about control- ling what the spectator sees and hears, and using that control to bet- ter communicate what the authors want to express. From Griffith, Gance, and Eisenstein, through Welles and Kurosawa, to Spielberg, Lucas, Scott, Jackson, and Cameron, artists and technicians have contributed advances to the control of film's various aspects: staging, camera work, editing, makeup and costume, sets, special effects, and sound. ese were giant steps in the right direction, but now there is a new kid on the block: realistic digitally created movies. With digital movies, you control absolutely everything, and can do absolutely anything. You actually reconstruct reality from your own imagination. For a director, this is terrifying, and unbelievably exciting. Only a few brave souls have tried their hands at this so far. For their courage, Hironobu Sakaguchi and Robert Zemeckis deserve our unmitigated admiration, and so do their producers. But more directors and producers need to get into the game. More films need to be made and more commercial successes achieved for the public to really take notice of this new medium. We've only started to exploit the infinite possibilities of digital movies. Yes, it has brought dinosaurs back to life. Yes, it has cre- ated dream worlds and weird creatures. Yes, it has realized slick and impossible special effects. But we are only scratching the surface. We need great scripts (this goes without saying). We need original de- sign and concepts. But more important, we need better, more com- plex, more subtle, and more compelling virtual characters. When we learn to create real human beings, the medium will explode. I created a short demo (prototype) called Kyra, aiming to prove CGI By JeAn LAFLeur Jean Lafleur has worked in the film industry, both in Canada and in the US, for quite some time, starting out as a film editor on commercials, documentaries, and features, before moving on to directing features and specialized VFX projects. Jean Lafleur created the digital character Kyra as a test, to push her emotional limits.