Uncanny Vallery graphVFX in Films

• A Space Odyssey
• Stanley Kubrick

The film is noted for its scientifically accurate depiction of space flight, pioneering special effects, and ambiguous imagery. It didn’t involve any CGI and combined a series of visuals to create very realistic scenes.

• The Abyss 1989
• James Cameron

The Abyss sees a civilian oil rig crew tapped to investigate the disappearance of a nuclear submarine. The special visual effects work was divided up among seven FX divisions with motion control work, computer graphics and opticals.

• Jason and the Argonauts 1963
• Don Chaffey

Famous for bringing Greek mythology to life through the Visual Effects. The film is also popular for its skeleton sword battle.

• Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl 2003
• Gore Verbinski.

• Luxo Jr. 1981
• John Lasseter

this is an American computer-animated short film produced and released by Pixar. This short film has claimed to change film as it sparked computer anmation.

• Tron 1982
• Steven Lisberger

• A Trip to the Moon 1902
• Georges Méliès

• King Kong 1933
• Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B

King Kong is seen as groundbreaking for its SFX/VFX in creating a giant ape-like beast and its matte painting of the city.

• The Lord of the Rings
• Peter Jackson

This film has connected many audiences as it’s based of the famous novel series of Lord of the Rings. It’s detailed  mythical creatures appeal to many.

• An American Werewolf in London 1981
• John Landis

• TRON: Legcay 2010
• Joseph Kosinski

• Terminator 2 1998
• James Cameron

This film is famous for its trippy and eerie visual effects that create a feeling of thrill for the audience.

• Young Sherlock Holmes 1985
• Barry Levinson

• Total Recall 1991
• Paul Verhoewen

• Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Arc
• Steven Spelberg

• Interstellar 2014
• Christopher Nolan

• Nosferetu 1933
• F.W. Manua

• Starship Troopers 1997
• Paul Verhoeven

• The Four Troublesome Heads 1898
• Paul Verhoeven

• Godzilla 1954
• Ishiro Honda

This film was ahead of its time for, like King King, creating a huge beast that would shock and appeal to the audience.

My Fav Eg. of VFX

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – First Year’s Boat Ride Scene: I admire the matte painting and the colour theory of this scene.

My Fav Egs. of SFX

Jennifer Lawrence in X-Men – makeup and prosthetics.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets – the basilisk’s head and neck was made by the Creature Shop.

Guardians of the Galaxy – green screening was used to edit in the background and the creatures skin.

Ender’s Game – green screen used to edit in a full, lit-up stadium.

Through the Looking Glass Philosophical Toys and Digital Visual Effects Summary:

This article explores the way visual effects expand with science. By understanding the science behind features of the real world, visual effects can manipulate these features into the real world. The article explores the works of ILM: a post production company. The company wanted to replicate the movements of water for the film ‘The Abyss’. It was crucial to study the movement/vorticity of water as the water was supposed to move in a way that water wouldn’t naturally make. By gaining the approval of scientists, it ensured that the element of realism still strongly remained when creating a world that’s completely imaginary. The scene ended up being groundbreaking as this type of manipulation of water was never seen before in visual effects.

This article explores the way Visual effects creates a perpetual realism. Visual effects draws parallels between the real world and the imaginary world of a film/ another text. This is to create a stronger sense of perceptual realism as the viewers identify certain effects through their knowledge of their real world. For example, the skin of an animals (such as a bear) may be used to create a beast. A bear is associated with danger and destruction in the real world. Therefore it’d be easy to use this concept as the viewers will quickly perceive the beast in the way filmmakers would want it to be perceived due to their understanding of a bear. If a beast was made up of feathered that have no/little associations to danger in the real world then the viewers would find a it harder to identify the beast as dangerous and destructive as their sense of perceptual realism would be weaker. So perceptual realism in visual effects uses objects and features of the real world to build up an imaginary world.

Key differences between ‘invisible’ and ‘specular’ VFX: 

The difference between Spectacular VFX and invisible VFX is the type of realism created through the effects. Spectacular VFX is obviously fiction and is made for the audience to escape into a world that is beyond their own. However, invisible VFX is created to give the illusion that the fictional world depicted is in the same dimension as their own.  

Here are two shots from two different films/shows. The one on the left (Lord of the Rings) is obviously fiction and the audience will be reaching for the pleasure of escaping into a world of fiction. However, the one on the right (Euphoria) is also fiction but the audience will feel that they’re engaging with a real-life experience. 

Lord of the Rings is an epic fantasy adventure whereas Euphoria is a young-adult drama. LOTR uses VFX by adapting and innovating the real world into a made-up dimension; whereas Euphoria uses VFX to focus on intensifying real-life experiences with emotive imagination.  

Invisible VFX usually tries to create a strong sense of surface realism. For example, the shot of Euphoria shows a teenager tearing up at a party and this is a likely scenario of the real world and therefore the VFX in this shot (such as the colouring) appears realistic, even though it is completely made up. On the other hand, LOTR tries to create a strong sense of generic verisimilitude to keep the VFX as ‘spectacular’. The shot shows a beast in a completely fictional world.  

Beyond Spectacle:

This article explores how sfx/Vfx is used instead of narration for world building in film. Story telling has been replaced as visual effects/special effects can serve purpose to a spectacle, instead of narration. The article also acknowledges that visual effects can also take away from story telling as the viewers focus is mainly on aesthetics.

The argument is that visual effects are not only used for aesthetic purposes and actually create codes and conventions that viewers can use to build up a narrative. The visual effects used to create a narrative are usually more subtle as they give our hints to the viewers about the story.

Visual effects is also used to enhance the perforce of character and scenes in film. James Cameron attached visual effects of love performance with motion capture to create groundbreaking scenes. Real life is enhanced in visual effects to keep sensationalism in film. The sfx and environments on set are also codes and conventions that set out the narration of the story. For example, a gloomy and eerie environment shows that the film could be a thriller and features like the props and lighting can hint to this. This lessens the questions and ridicules that viewers would have about the realism of the location.

George Méliès:

Georges Méliès was a French illusionist and film director. He was ahead of his time and advanced technical and narrative developments during the earliest days of cinema. Méliès took great measures with special effects, bringing forward methods like substitution splices, multiple exposures, time-lapse photography, dissolves, and hand-painted colour.

George Melies discovered Stop Motion Trickery: his first filmic special effects technique. He discovered this technique accidentally through an incident when shooting one of his life scenes in the Place de l’Opera in Paris. The camera jammed for only a minute. When the film was being screened, Méliès saw a bus suddenly turn into a hearse; people in the scene suddenly appeared or disappeared – Stop Motion Trickery.

On December 28, 1895, he was one of the first audience to see the Lumiere brothers’ Cinematographe. His most famous films were A Trip to the Moon (1902) and An Impossible Voyage (1904) – both films involve strange surreal journeys that use unique and tickery special effects. His films are considered among the most important early science fiction films.

The Cinema of Attractions: Early Film. Its Spectator and the Avant-Garde
Tom Gunning

Gunning explains for the attraction of cinema have changed. How traditional cinema focused on the narrative and the realism of film. Some argue that narratives films have been erased due to visual attractions. However Gunning argues that this is not in fact true and that visuals actually unites with narrative to create a reality in film that is out of reach in real-life. This is what ends up attracting people to cinema as they can indulge into an imaginary world and ‘believe’ in the unseen.

The way the camera is placed and the illusion it brings to the viewers is what draws them in. Gunning talks about erotic films. In ‘The Bride Retires (1902)’ Gunning refers to how the bride undressed herself while her new husband is supposedly peering at her. However through the camera positioning and as she winks at the viewer; the viewer would feel a sense of thrilling tension from watching the film as they feel they’ve had a secret direct communication with the lady on screen. These effects on viewers is what is referred to as ‘Cinema of Attractions’.

In conclusion I think that the change in Cinema overtime is necessary to keep films relative and sensational in todays time. illusions used in cinema, films can provide a more thoughtful way of providing a narrative and viewpoint. The camera is used to provide a perspective that only viewers are seemingly seeing (narrative). Gunning refers to how the comedian would smirk at the camera and this puts the viewer in a position where they feel direct communication between what’s on the screen and their own thoughts. Camera tricks, special effects and visual become codes and conventions for viewers to pick up on to build a narrative – in my understanding, the ‘cinema of attractions’ is the way this narrative component draws in viewers.

What is Digital Cinema? Lev Manovich

Manovich states that ‘Digital Cinema is a particular case of animation which uses live action footage as one of its many elements.’ Manovich explores how digital cinema has take over the traditional principles of filmmaking. Cinematography, sets, models, costume designing and even actors have been taken over by digital cinema. Filmmaking principles have now changed due to digitalisation.

I’ve summaries the principles in these points:

• 3D computer animation is used to create an imaginary world instead of filling in a physical reality.
• Once live action footage becomes digitalised it remains to be no different than other graphic images. It’s significance has therefore become lower and films now use live action footages as a base to create an entirely made up image through substitution, alteration etc. Manovich states that filmmakers refer to this as ‘elastic reality’.
• Editing and special effects used to be separate activities but now they have merged as one as images can be manipulated via paint programmes or other processes. The computer has simplified special effects and the need for an individual special effects specialist no longer remains.
• Manovich orders the process of digital filmmaking as Digital film= live action material + painting + image processing + compositing + 2D computer animation + 3D computer animation

Manovich argues that digital cinema has fused animation and reality together. The viewers are aware that what they are watching is a made-up digital world. However now digital cinema uses real-life footage that’s manipulated and edited; the viewers can suspend their disbelief and take what they’re seeing as real. Manovich gives the opening shot of Forest Grump as an example: a short where a real feather was used to create a king and intricate shot of the feather flying. As a real-life object was manipulated the viewers can easily believe that this really happens when it actually didn’t. This artificial form of storytelling has transformed almost every part of filmmaking as digital. As technology has transformed it’s not just Hollywood studios that can engage in digital cinema but rather anyone can create images online as it’s become more and more affordable and easy. From creating a certain shade of light to adding grass or water to a scene: digital cinema uses real-life elements to create imaginary and spectacular scenes.

Change in SFX & VFX 

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 1971 V 2005

The change in Oompa Loompas is what stuck with me the most. The 1971 version uses individual dwarfs to shoot the scenes, whereas the 2005 version duplicated shots of Gurdeep Roy into one scene. From my understanding of the books, Dhal wanted the Oompa Loompas to be a separate species from ‘Loompa land’, so having one actor play all the Oompa Loompas is fitting because as humans, it’s often hard for us to distinguish individuality in species. Furthermore, using one actor for all the Oompa Loompas, a spectacular sense of slight uncanny is created. The costumes used for the 1971 film are obviously fake, with the face paint being very visible (hands don’t match the face); the plastered on white eyebrows and synthetic wig. The 2005 film on the other hand simply shows the Oompa Loompas in wetsuits which match the scene. The costume designing in the new film has the logo of Wonka fashioned on it which emphasises that they’ve been hired to work at the factory making the factory seem more like a revolutionary factory instead of a simple wonderland.

VFX has allowed the use of only one actor for the creation of Oompa Loompas instead of multiple people. This proves that VFX has indeed taken over filmmaking and what could’ve been the hiring of many dwarfs is no longer needed. This shows that the use of actors, particularly actors with special traits (people with particular height for this film) is no longer significant because of digital cinema.

George Lucas Discovers Computer Graphics 

Smith unfolds the events that took place for Lucas in developing Computer Graphics within the film industry. According to Smith, the collaborative work between George Lucas and Alvy Ray Smith were a collection of ‘accidental visionaries’.

The gap in the film industry for CGI was found when Lucas did not know how to achieve the spectacular effects proposed by the director of Star Trek II who wanted to use computer graphics – a fairly new technology of the time. Smith got the opportunity to create a 60 second demo for Star Trek II. He pieced the clip together with the help of other specialist; he got to experiment with particle systems, paint programs, 3D rendering. This lead to Smith being given the opportunity to create a 60 second clip to Lucas. Smith’s aim was to create a clip that showed that the VFX could never be created by a camera.

To ensure that the VFX were shown it’s full potential, Smith produced a clip of a spacecraft flying by a moon. A 6D spline was designed which could show a long spectrum of camera moves. The clip was presented to Lucas and Smith found himself in Lucas’ mercy film: Return of the Jedi. Smith and his team’s work lead to the widespread of CGI in the film industry.

The Uncanny Valley

For 50% likeness I chose Chucky. The concept of Chucky also adds to Uncanny Valley as Chucky is supposed to be a child but is made to be creepy and homicidal. So the CGI has to fit with this concept, so creating a child-like model with threatening and hardened facial expressions adds to the uncanny. I also chose Toy Story as the CGI is supposed to replicate real-life toys and toys are supposed to replicate real-life; a replication of the replication of real-life So the CGI in Toy Story is a replication of real-life toys and the toys are a replication of real-life. The baby shown in the image has a worn-out eye to replicate what tattered toys look like. As the CGI is of toys it doesn’t have realism as an objective.

For 100% likeness I chose Eve which is from a children’s show. Although it wasn’t completely CGI, it used invisible visual effects/CGI to make the actor seem more robot-like, such as for the eye/. The robot’s body parts are supposed to be detachable. This heavily plays up to the uncanny valley as body parts are shown on their own with metal parts/ wires shown where metal parts are where the bones are and wires where the veins are supposed to be. I also chose the model Shudu. She’s a CGI fashion model used by many clothing brands. The use of CGI received a lot of backlash as many thought that it it discredits from real-life models and doesn’t show real-life bodies.

The Uncanny Valley:

Mori’s article explores the way in which someone feels a sense of uncanny. He relates the feeling to a hiker and how feels as a hike gets deeper. The more human-like resemblance a robot would have, the more uneasy someone’s reaction would be to it.

Mori measures the uncanny reaction someone would have to a robot in a line graph. The graph shows that humans would not usually have an uncanny reaction to an industrial robot as an industrial robot is usually only used for technical skills instead of having an emotional purpose. A toy robot is further up the graph but still doesn’t reach the uncanny valley as toy robots are animated and facial features are simplified so a child can engage with the robot. The robots that reach the uncanny valley are the realistic, human-like looking robots. Mori’s advice to designers is to keep the robots looking as lifelike as possible. He used a prosthetic hand for example and explained that designers need to look at the veins and joints of real hands to replicate it onto a prosthetic hand. This will ensure that the hand doesn’t look off and it’s less likely that there’ll be an uncanny feel to it.

Mori doesn’t go into too much detail on why people react to human-like robots and such. I feel that people have this reaction as they feel a natural sense of threat, a similar way to how some humans are scared of animals – as they’re so life-like yet you cannot engage with them the way you can engage to a human. A sense of mystery and fear is created as your brain automatically recognises something as human but ur mind can recognise that there’s something off and this creates a slight sense of panic and alertness as your brain tries to figure out what’s wrong.