Investigative study

 

Week 1 – 29/09/25

“CGI IS FOR LOSERS!”

Christopher waltz in a panel for Frankenstein replied to a question from the audience that “CGI is for losers”

Why did he say this?

I think there could be a few reasons for Christopher Walz saying “CGI is for losers”. My thought on Waltz’s take is that CGI is commonly perceived to be something that isn’t good looking, a cheap way of making movies. I think that CGI is misunderstood and falsely given a bad reputation.

Why I think CGI is misunderstood?

A lot of films being released are sequels or superhero films. Blockbusters that often have supernatural aspects. These films use CGI to show things that wouldn’t usually be possible on set. The CGI used in these films aren’t always good looking due to short deadlines made by corporate decisions so that the films can come out earlier. Also the scenes that are usually made by CGI are obviously not real. The audience knows that the effects aren’t real resulting in realism being taken away from the scenes.

I think CGI is often linked to these superhero films. With their spectacles and fight scenes. CGI is much more complex than just making cool fights, CGI is a great tool. There are many examples of the tool where audiences aren’t even aware of its presence. Because audiences aren’t aware of good CGI people often think of the bad and obvious moments in films, such as these blockbuster/superhero films. The result of audiences linking CGI to superhero movie spectacles could make the tool feel cheap, adding a false belief to the craft of CGI

 

Investigative study Module project

Topics that interest me in visual effects that I could talk about:

  • VFX jobs (how hard it is to get jobs in the industry)
  • Digitalising actors
  • visual effects is falsely perceived
  • Practical effects vs digital effects
  • The future of AI in visual effects

 

 

 

 

My title?

How will Ai affect Visual effects?

 

Research:

 

AI and ML technologies are already beginning to transform the VFX industry. Here are some of the areas where they are currently being applied:

One of the biggest advantages of AI in VFX is automation. Which reduces the need for repetitive and time-consuming manual labor. Runway ML covers some of these common visual effects tasks:

  • Rotoscoping: Traditionally, rotoscoping, the process of manually isolating objects or characters from a background, is labor-intensive. AI-powered software can now perform rotoscoping with remarkable accuracy and speed, using deep learning to track and separate subjects from moving backgrounds. Tools like Adobe After Effects‘ Roto Brush 2 or Runway ML’s AI models are examples of this application.

  • Object Tracking: AI can significantly enhance motion tracking, where it can analyze footage and apply digital elements to moving objects in real-time. This includes enhancing or replacing elements in live-action shots, such as adding explosions or environmental effects like smoke and fire.

  • Facial Motion Capture and Deepfake Technology: AI is enabling highly accurate facial capture and performance replication. Deepfake can create hyper realistic digital avatars or perform face-swapping, as seen in films like The Irishman (de-aging of Robert De Niro).

These tasks performed by ai will cut costs, create efficiency and better results.

Runway | Tools for human imagination.

 

 

 

 

 

Polemic: The Camera Never Lies

Deepfake Queen: 2020 Alternative Christmas Message

  • Write a brief description – what is a deepfake?

Deep fakes is technology manipulating a video or a camera and placing someone else’s face over another persons face in a believable way. Deep fake can be done in real real time.

  • How does it work? How is it believable?

Deep fake uses AI to create deceptive images/videos. The technology relies on two components. The generator and the discriminator. The generator creates the fake content that will go over the subjects face. While the discriminator decides if the information from the generator is real or fake.

  • List some examples with images.

  • List keywords associated with the topic.

identity theft, fake news, deep learning, AI, photorealistic

 

Is it okay to replace actors faces using deepfakes technology?

I wouldn’t say yes, however I wouldn’t say no either. I think it depends on the use of the content with the deepfake. Anything sexual, political or anything that would be misleading is a big NO. Along with taking a dead or live persons likeness without the families permission is also no. Anything light hearted and amateurish is fine. Content that is obviously fake.

 

Unreal: The VFX Revolution

Task: Listen to the podcast and write a quick annotation summarizing what the programme was about

 

Notes:

Paul Franklin is the narrator who has a history of working in visual effects.

George Lucas coming off his success in American Graffiti would help change the handheld camera aesthetic in Hollywood. Inspired to make a fantasy movie, George Lucas wanted to use new camera techniques and show off stunning visual effects. John Dykstra was hired to be head of the visual effects in star wars. Dykstra was focused on new camera effects that could create motion blur and push the boundaries of visual effects.

 

Dykstra’s Camera Effects: The Dykstraflex

What it did:

  • Allowed for precise, repeatable camera movements – very important for compositing multiple elements such as backgrounds, crowds, models in a single convincing vfx shot.
  • Effects at this time were limited to still or clunky movement to maintain a decent looking shot. The Dyxtraflex gave scenes fluid motion and creative freedom to the director in what kind of shot they wanted.
  • The Dyxtraflex enabled the illusion of fast moving spacecrafts through multi layered shots. This was thought to be impossible at the time

 

Doug Trumbull started a company with paramount that would make technological developments in cinema. Steven Spielberg had just finished Jaws which was a huge success. He was given freedom for his next project and wanted to attempt a film in Sc-fi. He was interested in using visual effects for his next film idea. However he was told the technology wasn’t there yet. Although he was convinced by Doug Trumbull that they could use parts of the technology in visual effects for digital motion control of the cameras. Here they’d be able to composite scenes with a huge amount of people or include a UFO in a scene where the cameras were moving. Which was revolutionary at the time.

Robert Black was one of john Dykstra’s earliest recruits. He was known for his experimental film and optical effects making him a great candidate for using Dykstra’s motion control system. This would be later known as Compositing.

 

06/10/25 week 2

Ai was used in a photography competition. A German photographer thought it would start an interesting debate if he produced and won a photography competition with an Ai created image. He in fact did win and admitted to have used Ai to win, ultimately rejecting the competition.

What are the debates that this situation starts?

  • Should anti-Ai steps be put in place for these creative competitions
  • Is it considered a photo?
  • Should Ai have its own category
  • The photo still needed an artist to keep changing the photo

 

Is Ai a challenge or an advantage for visual effects?

I think its both. Definitely a tool that can enhance work by being more efficiency and more accurate. I think it could also risk replacing a lot of the industry.

 

My Investigative study

I’m still focused on the idea of talking about ai but I don’t know what angle I should take. I’ve got a few ideas on how I should tackle this subject.

  • Trying to predict what the next 5 years or nearer future could look like
  • What jobs could change or be at risk in VFX

Week 3 13/10/25

My Investigative study review with Florian 

Going in to todays lesson I wasn’t too confident in sharing my research template on AI. My topics are broad and the things I mention don’t match well with one another. I explain how I want to talk about many topics within AI which I think made me feel lost about how I wanted to tell my essay.

When Florian reviewed my work we agreed that I should focus on a smaller section of AI. Specifically focusing on AI roto. This was one of the first things that came to my attention when researching VFX AI. Roto is a task that is tedious and not creative. I think this is the perfect conditions for AI to take over. There is no creative freedom for the Artificial Intelligence to take over.

I can also talk about how Junior roles work could change with Ai roto scope taking over. The junior compositors do this tedious work while learning comp and building their portfolio. What work would they do instead.

Florian helped give me the idea of using AI roto as my topic, as well as including my own primary research. 2 primary research examples and a secondary research.

 

Primary research 1

Have an AI tool use roto on an image that I have also roto scoped. Compare the time and how accurate the two pieces of work are.

Primary research 2

Ask industry experts thought out questions to do with AI roto work.

Secondary research

(can be anything about Ai roto work…)

 

Overall thoughts on the review

I feel a lot more confident with my essay now. I have a thought out plan with my own primary research to talk about. It’s something that I’m interested in and something that will most likely affect me in the VFX industry. I’m very pleased with the outcome of having my investigative study spreadsheet reviewed.

 

Re-do of my Investigative study – this time about AI Roto