nerdapproved.com: Behold the fabulous-ness that is CumberSmaug! I’m looking forward to seeing Benedict Cumberbatch as the majestic dragon. These photos of him in the motion capture stage however, are slightly less than majestic. The actor is clearly embracing the power of the character and committing to making him awesome. Also, it’s photos of Cumberbatch and they always brighten any day.
10 comments:
Motion capture is both the funniest and the coolest technology. What Benedict Cumberbatch is doing in the pictures is moving those little dots around (with his face, of course), and when they make the dragon, they will pinpoint pieces of the face to the dots on Cumberbatch's face, and then when Cumberbatch moves his face, the dragon will to. That kind of technology is what they use to make people look like they're flying, or to morph them into other characters and such. Also, this dragon will be the coolest dragon of all time. Just saying.
OH MY GOD CUMBERBATCH IS SMAUG I DID NOT REALIZE THIS. Ok now that thats over, after reading this article i think back to the behind the scenes filming of avatar where everyone was filmed in the motion capture suits with individually mounted cameras to capture facial expressions and James Cameron was able to walk around with a monitor that would allow him to view the renderings in real time.
Motion capture is a great technology because it allows for that element of realism in cgi that can be lost when something is 100% computer generated. That being said, as is evident in the pictures, the motion capture actors have to exaggerate their facial movements so that they translate well into cgi. One of my favorite uses of motion capture is in the game LA Noir where all the main characters faces were motion captured when the voice actors read their lines so that the facial expressions would feel real and it was easier to sync up the audio to their mouths
This is hilarious. And still so cool. Benedict Cumberbatch is also very attractive in a quirky way so this just adds to it! Ha ha! Besides swooning over Benedict (yes, we go by first names *wink*), I find that the process of motion capturing is really cool. The fact that they can make an animated object (like the dragon) actually move more realistically by using the human face! Technology never seizes to amaze me. This is kind of like the movie Avatar how they motion detected the action of each character.
This is quite an interesting use of motion capture technology. Although it may seem a little absurd to use an actor like Benedict Cumberbatch to portray a enormous CG dragon, it really will, as Hunter said, add an element of realism to help sell the dragon as an actual creature. However, especially after having just come from the practical effects article, I must say I wish that the dragon was an animatronic effect that would allow more realism in the reactions of the rest of the cast, but I suppose that those days may be gone forever.
I love Benedict Cumberbatch, he is a hilarious and kind person and a fantastic actor. I was so excited when I found out he was going to be portraying Smaug in The Hobbit trilogy, and these picture continue to make me feel he is right for the role. I adore how he dedicates himself to a role and puts his all into it, no matter how ridiculous he looks doing it.
This makes me so much more excited for the next hobbit movie to come out. I've always been intrigued with motion capture technology. It is one of the most important advance in digital animation because it is what makes the animations realistic and relatable. Word only go so far. Part of our understanding of any character is latched onto our understanding of facial cues. By recording the expressions of Benedict Cumberbatch and using it to create expressions in Smaug, the dragon with have some human characteristics that we can latch onto when determine our opinion of the character.
On a side note, I find it quite lovely how in characters Cumberbatch is in these photos, I'm intrigued to see the finished product.
The lord of the ring films and now the hobbit films are known for using amazing cutting edge technology to tell some of the best looking timeless stories. This newest film is no exception. Motion capture is a powerful tool that can be used to bring non human characters to life in a way no other technology is able to at this time. Like all tools if used in the wrong ways the results of Motion Capture will not be very good. I've seen Motion Capture kill many otherwise passable films. From what I've seen of this teams work and Benedict Cumberbatch's acting I have no fears that this film will flop.
I think it's interesting how the behind the scene story is able to be a fun comedic story all by it's self. Pretty meta... I'd love to see some video of Benedict acting with tiny dots on his face.
I'm going to be really interested to see if the theatre industry starts to use technology like motion capture more and more, as it becomes more widespread and available. Media has come so far in theatre in the past 10 years, and there are already a lot of media designers using video game technology to make actors' movements on stage affect the media. These pictures are a little silly (and really cool), but I can absolutely see this technology having uses onstage for certain productions.
I find it interesting that they are using human motions to create the movements for a dragon. I feel that our movements would be very different than anything that resembles a reptile, but, nonetheless, the technology behind this is fascinating and makes movies and video games so much more realistic. Also, I think Benedict Cumberbatch is an amazing actor and it is wonderful to see him doing something so different than the role of Sherlock that I love so much. This also makes me excited for the next season of Sherlock!
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