Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within heralds a new age in cinema, the age of computer-generated films. There have, of course, already been many computer-generated cartoons, but Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within is unlike any that have come before. Toy Story was a pioneer of the art since it was completed computer-generated and even had people and animals in it, but they were rather plastic-looking. Titan A.E. incorporated traditional cel-animated characters into scenes that were otherwise entirely computer-generated. And now, Final Fantasy takes the final step and uses computers for everything, including the actors. I regard this with a mixture of astonishment at the technical achievement, and anxiety for the future of live acting.
There's nothing to worry about yet; Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within took four years to make and cost a great deal of money. Its human characters are far from photorealistic but there are moments when it is easy to forget that you are watching a scene that only ever existed as a set of points, textures and mathematical procedures in a computer's memory. The animators have modelled the characters down to the most minute detail; the lead character has individual strands of hair, eyelashes, and sweat pores. There are plenty of close-ups of the character's faces that demonstrate this attention to detail. I predict that within five years, we will be watching films in which the actors are completely convincing computer generated models. And that's why I worry. It's going to get better and cheaper, and one day it may be more cost-effective to make a computer model of an actor instead of hiring that actor. I hope this never happens.
While watching Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within I noticed an interesting sensation; an intense fascination combined with a great feeling of emptiness, of not really caring about the characters because I knew they were born of cold logic inside a heartless machine. Strangely enough, traditional animation does not give me the same feeling; I cared very much for Pinocchio and Totoro. Perhaps I just need time to adjust to this exciting new era.
Finally, to those who ask "what's the point, why not just use real actors?" I say this: what's the point of spending weeks painting a picture when you could just snap the scene with a camera? You know the answer.
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