Why James Cameron waited to create Avatar

James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster hit, Avatar stepped over boundaries that had not been crossed in the cinema and CGI world ever before. Nominated for 9 Academy Awards, and winning 3, Avatar is also the #1 All Time Domestic movie ever, and the #1 All Time Worldwide movie. But what made this movie so different than any other, and why was it not done sooner? As a matter of fact, James Cameron wanted to release the movie in 1999 because he had the story complete, but did not have the proper technology to complete it until it was released in 2009. What convinced him that CGI effects had progressed enough is when he saw the motion-capture CGI animation that was done to Gollum in The Lord of the Rings. The movie is more than half CGI, and each frame of the CHI scenes took an average of 47 hours to render. When I was in London this past fall semester, I worked on a Sci-Fi list documentary where I was able to help find extensive facts about the movies that we were given and able to contact people to interview for the documentary. I researched Avatar extensively and was able to find out this amazing information plus so much more, and was astonished by the achievements and advancements that were made throughout the process and production of this movie. Here's a few of the videos I watched to learn more about Avatar. 

Updates on Technology

So I know this doesn't really have to do with this class but I came across this video the other day on Facebook and I found it interesting and I wanted to share it with you all. As we all probably know, Apple came out with their new iPhone the other day and everyone is freaking out about it. I honestly can't tell you why, it looks like every other iPhone they have come out with. I'm apparently not the only one that thinks that because Jimmy Kimmel decided to prank people and go out into the streets of Hollywood and tell them that the first ever iPhone is the newest one and people believed him. Take a look:

In the video the reporter asks them what they like about it and a lot of them said that it works faster and that the display is more clear. Now I don't know if they were just scrambling for answers or if they truly thought that. Either way, does technology really improve so much that we need to spend hundreds of dollars on the new fad? If everyday people are ignorant enough to think that this is the new iPhone, does it really make a difference? Like with Adobe for example, they come out with a new update every few months and what's the point? It's not like anything is different. I know the answer to this and it's all about money and marketers know that people will eat it all up. It's silly but true. I know I'm one of them!

Don't Hug Me I'm Scared... But Actually

The Don't Hug Me I'm Scared series, created by Becky Sloan and Joseph Pelling, started in 2011 with the first episode. It just came out with the fourth episode on Tuesday and will be coming out with more soon. It starts off imitating a children's show through the use of singing and talking puppets, but the themes quickly become dark and absurd through psychedelic content and disturbing images.

I love the juxtaposition of the simple, seemingly innocent intros with puppets and song with the uncomfortable and scary ending that makes you question pretty much everything in life.

(These videos are not for the faint of heart.)

The first episode focuses on creativity and prepares you for feelings you will be getting for the next ones:

The second episode focuses on time and is my personal favorite:

The third episode is about love:

And here is the newest one, centering about technology/computers:

Becky and Joseph have won three awards, attended 12 festivals, and many talks for their great work and impact they've had on viewers. 

OptiTrack Mo-Cap Technology

For all of the video game enthusiasts out there, we've all heard of the famous Oculus Rift. But what if motion capture technology could be utilized to promote the growth and sale of other products? Renowned Outdoor & Casual Footwear and Clothing Store, Merrell, decided to take the challenge into their own hands. For its most recent launch of its new Capra hiking boot, the company took the next step in connecting their customers with the true-hiking experience; from within the retail store. Hill Holliday, Merrell's advertising agency, partnered with Framestore's new Immersive Content Studio in order to create the first "walk around" commercial, using the Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headsets and OptiTrack's motion capture technology.

This pristine combination of motion capture and Oculus Rift headset technology provides Merell footwear fans with the opportunity to virtually walk across the Dolomite Mountains in Italy, making it feel as though he or she is experiencing all of the potential risks of a high altitude hike. The experience also includes physical elements such as a rock wall, wood suspension bridge, and high-powered fans to simulate wind gusts.

The OptiTrack Motion Capture Technology installation installation debuted at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival in Utah and is continuing to make impressions on consumers today.

                                       Video Representation = https://vimeo.com/120426581

South Park First Episode

South Park, the third longest running animated television program will be entering its 19th season this fall. The show has come a long way with it's animation and graphics. Interestingly, the first episode entitled, "Cartman Gets An Anal Probe", was created using stop motion cut out animation. The budget Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the creators) were given was $300,000 and it was an incredibly labor intensive process. In fact, the first episode took roughly 3 months to make, where as episodes of today are made in less than a week. It's amazing to see how far this show has come in regards to animation. Technology continues to allow us to push our ideas even further, and South Park continues to take advantage of it.

Below is a short clip from the first episode.

Source Filmmaking

Technology is constantly trying to reach new heights in every aspect of filmmaking; that includes animation. I decided to do some research to see what I could find. The most interesting article I came across, described a new animation tool from Valve called the Source Filmmaker (SFM). This is a program that allows you to make films by using the world of a video game. The video below does a great job on describing this technology, but what I thought was the most interesting was that SFM allows the animator to create scenes from action, camera, to lights, instead of the typical order, lights, camera, then action. Even after they have created the whole film, they can pause a scene and play with lighting, camera angle and even change facial features in order to tell a different story. The facial feature aspect was the most impressive, since the technology allows for subtle nuances. 

Though I can't see this technology becoming a huge hit in the professional world of animation right now, I think it offers a lot of opportunities to viewers, especially since new audiences are starting to lean towards stories and environments they can influence. Look at how many reality shows rely on audience tweets or participation to determine the outcome of the participants (ex: Opposite Worlds). They have already done this with some chapter books. At the end of the chapter, the reader can decide which action the character should take and will be told which chapter is the next one to read based on that action. There are even websites that allow you to create shorts where the audience can decide what will happen to the characters. All of these are in the beginning stages, but just think what this could mean for the cinema experience. Instead of being drawn into a story, we can decide how the story should end, which defeats the whole purpose of watching a story unfold in my opinion. I'm not saying that this is what SFM is trying to do, it's just the concept of always being able to manipulate a story in anyway that is growing. I think SFM is actually very interesting and can't wait to see where it takes the industry, although I think most animators will stick with traditional methods for now. 

Here is a link to the SFM website for more information. Here is the article I first used as a reference.

By Amber Capogrossi

Animation: Past, Present, and Future

This semester I am taking New Telecommunication Technology. It is a course that looks at how technology is influencing our lives today, and where it may be leading us in the future. The exponential growth we have seen, even in our basic everyday lives (i.e. phones, stoves, music, feature films, just to name a few), is overwhelming. I think back to when I was six until I was about thirteen, (I chose six, because that is the age I still have real memories from), when I didn't have a computer, a phone, or an iPod. I played outside until the sun set in the summers, and built snowmen and played "school" in my room in the winter. It wasn't even until I was ten or eleven that I was given a transportable CD player, and it was the coolest thing I ever had. I would carry around my massive case of CDs and the player everywhere. That was ten years ago. Look where we are now, and even where we are going with technology. The speed with which our world is changing due to new inventions is incredible. So, it would be naive of us to not acknowledge the impressive change technology has made in the animation world.

Looking back, my favorite movie was Disney's Beauty and the Beast. I would literally watch it five times in a row over the course of three days. Beauty and the Beast came out in 1991, and was a HUGE hit for it's time, and a real turning point for animation. Considering they had been trying to create this story for decades, the accomplishment was very exciting. It is not an easy fairytale to transform into a cohesive storyline, let alone a motion picture. The first published version was released in 1740, but the most well-known version was written and published in 1756 by Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de Beaumont of France. What draws me into this story, whether it is the written fairytale or Disney's animation, is the dedication, passion, and determination of the character of Belle (or Beauty, as she is also known). Now that I'm older, there is truly something different in the animation of Belle that her predecessors did not have (i.e. Snow White, Ariel from The Little Mermaid). It is an emotion in the eyes, a real connection between the character and the world around her. This is even emphasized in the development of motion capture. The power of being able to use an actor's eyes, brings a whole new life to the performance of a digital character. Eye's are the window to the soul, and the success with this in 2D animation in Beauty and the Beast makes it even more incredible. Here is a video on the creation of Beauty and the Beast:

Look closely at this animation process. It is all drawn by hand, with pencil and paper. The speed at which these animators can produce completed drawings blows me away. My brother used to make 2D flip books when we were growing up, but it would take him 2 or 3 weeks to finish one. I'm sure the amount of time spent on the drawings for this film was enormous, but just watching them in this clip we can see how fast they really are moving. And can we notice for a minute that there is no "Undo" button?? They can probably erase any mistakes, but it all takes TIME. That was the beauty of that era. Every product produced was something to be proud of because of the amount of time and effort spent on each and every detail to bring this character to life was immense. 

Now a look at Disney's newest hit, Frozen:

First thing I noticed was that there was an entire team of people sitting in a room watching the animation process, whereas in the previous video it was a single person working on the project. The second thing I noticed was the fact that the animator could make immediate changes and then everyone could watch it again in under three minutes. If that is not wild enough, notice that there are no pencils and paper here. It is all being done on the computer or tablet with a stylus. Right down to the facial expressions on the characters. Little adjustments and tweaks can be made along the way, without having to start from the beginning again. Animators can even move through 3D space in the world they have created in realtime. The characters now are much clearer than they ever were or could be in Beauty and the Beast. Not that creating Frozen was easy by any means. I'm positive it took a lot of time and dedication to create it. The point is the leaps and bounds animation has made over the last 25 years or so because of technology. It will be interesting to see what animation looks like in another 25 years, but I would encourage you not to forget the beauty, inspiration, and talent of those animators of the beginning. Soon, animation will really be a "tale as old as time," and people may start to forget the incredible talent, skill, and life that went into animation before technology influenced the art form. 

by Amber Capogrossi  

Eh, I've Seen Better

There's something mesmerizing about early CGI. Somewhere right at the beginning of the takeover of complete computer animation. We take it for granted now, but it was a big deal back then for any sort of character or object to appear on screen that wasn't really there. Nowadays we don't even blink an eye at visual marvels like Transformers or Avatar. It might pique our interest for the time being while watching it, but it's easily forgotten an hour after the film is over. We've become spoiled, in a sense, with the incredible advancement in technology over the past 20-30 years. We always want more, we're never satisfied. Things we make fun of now because they "look like shit", we marveled at in their heyday.

Maybe I feel this way because of nostalgia. It seems to be a big thing in society nowadays (or at least in my general age group) to reflect upon things of the past (Buzzfeed feeds this problem like none other). For my age group, it's 90's Cartoon Network/Nickelodeon shows, Playstation/N64 games, and Pokemon. Maybe it's because we long to go back to a time when things still made us feel something. We still had a sense of awe back then. We just don't get that same euphoria anymore. As I said earlier, we've been desensitized by how much we have now. I can play a PS4 game and marvel at the graphics and gameplay a bit, but it's soon forgotten. I remember when my first cell phone had 3 shades of green as far as graphics capabilities, Snake and Brick Break. It was the coolest thing ever! Now even with the endless possibilities of my iPhone, I feel nothing. As I'm writing this post, I'm playing N64. It brings me back to when this made me marvel, and I felt a sense of awe.

The same applies to animation. When the dancing baby animation to Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Suede came out, my mom screamed to me from the other room to come and see, and we watched it over and over. It made us so happy! Maybe we felt a sense of accomplishment as a human race to have seemingly perfected the art of digital animation. Of course, now, it's much better. We've progressed so much in the field of technology. I can go on for years about how many marvels there are that exist today. It's truly breathtaking and captivating.

But I just don't care.

Using Science in Art

"Professor Fletcher's invention of the CellScope, which is a Nokia device with a microscope attachment, was the inspiration for a teeny-tiny film created by Sumo Science at Aardman. It stars a 9mm girl called Dot as she struggles through a microscopic world. All the minuscule detail was shot using CellScope technology and a Nokia N8, with its 12 megapixel camera and Carl Zeiss optics."


This technology can be used for Medical Doctor's everywhere, but also gives a new opportunity for art. The Cellscope technology can take almost any smartphone and turn it into a portable high powered microscope. Super cool stuff!

2D Animation as told by Paperman

With technology growing and improving so rapidly, sometimes we forget about the beauty of a simple product.  There is always something so natural and easy about taking old techniques to create a modern piece or media.  In this case, I am talking about taking a few steps backwards from the new and accepted forms of animation and motion graphics that are done on computers.  When animation first became known, it was created through hand drawings.  You had to pick up a pencil and draw your animation line by line.

I came across this video on YouTube about the creation and production of Paperman.  If you have not seen Paperman, I definitely recommend you check it out.  It's a simple love story about two busy city-goers who experience that magical "love-at-first-sight" feeling, with a piece of paper being used to connect them.

What I found interesting is how the creators of Paperman combined old and modern techniques of animation.  It is said in the beginning of the video that there is nothing like hand drawn animation.  Hand drawn characters have a certain details that are hard to put into words.  The hand drawn story can tell such great emotion with such simplicity that director John Kahrs admires so much.  He wanted to get those drawings on top of the CG.  He wanted to keep the beautiful hand drawn sketches.  So, that's exactly what they did.  Paperman started as sketches of hand-drawn figures, just like some of the earliest classical Disney movies.

But what was so lovely and unique is how they took these hand-sketched characters and brought them to life with more modern day animating software and techniques.  They put these drawings into programs and played with the rigging, shading, modeling, vector renderings, and much more to really bring these animated characters to life.

I really recommend that you take a look at this video.  It goes through some of the really cool software and program effects that helped create the characters to look a certain way.  Who would have thought that even with all of the technology we have, Paperman started out on paper....

The Dissolution of Communication

This video is an interesting application of clean, consistent design to express in an "infographic" way the theme of how social media creates the illusion of communication without actually achieving it, and in fact, most likely, creating in us a feeling of loneliness that grows as we collect more "friends" 

 You can probably figure out by now most of the techniques used in this piece, but the most interesting aspect is the use of color, composition and simple shapes to convey a powerful idea.

 

fake iPhone concept

Obviously this video is quite old but I still thought it was worthy to post here due to some of the effects used in the video. My favorite part of the video was the keyboard segment because it was one of the better fake features. Aside from the concept, the video's effects are nice as they were well made enough to mimc reality. When I initially saw this video, I was impressed with how realistic the edge to edge display looked. This video is a perfect example of how some simple effects can create a nice sequence, and make for an entertaining video without going overboard.

Chromatte

     After our work in class on green screen I thought that I would do some research on a new technology in the keying world.  The base of the new technology is a new fabric that is made up of thousands of small glass balls, that are coated in aluminum, called Chromatte.  This creates a retro-reflective material that reflects light in the same plane that it receives light.  The second part of the technology is an LED ring that goes around the lens of a camera.  This green or blue light ring hits the fabric with colored light that is then reflected back into the lens, creating green screen effect.   The LED's do not cast colored light onto the subject however because they are not strong enough.  This technology allows for a really clean key with no spill or issues with reflected light and shadows, and the subject can be close to the wall.  Another benefit is that you can light the subject  in any way without needing to worry about getting the background light even and flat.  The fabric is expensive, but it creates a lot of opportunities for creativity that were previously impossible.
 

John Maeda

John Maeda is the president of the Rhode Island School of design. He is dedicated to linking design and technology. He is influenced by the work of Paul Rand, who's logos were often very simple and elegant. Here is a video of Maeda speaking at the Ted Conference about simplicity and elegance.