Film Fans: The Artificial Humans Are Drawing Near

Movie stars like Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes may soon have something real to whine about: The inevitable march towards photo-perfect digital humans has taken a huge leap forward, thanks to the guy who invented Web-TV. He's come up with a process using glow-in-the-dark make-up to replace those stick-on sensors they've been using to enter data about human movement into a computer. Glowing make-up? It makes you wonder what they'll be able to do when someone comes up with something that's actually slick. Oh well. The history of special effects always includes some clumsy steps that still produce lasting art. Remember the stop-action clay models? Anyone who saw the Davey Jones character in the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, knows how far they've come from that. But the final breakthrough in movie-making will be capturing an actual human with computers. I suppose you could create a star from scratch, but the probable path will be to let an actor become a star and then buy the rights to use him or her digitally for a project. That would mean less leverage for the stars as the stockpile of digital options grows. Plus, actors would be available in their youngest, hottest forms forever. Of course, they couldn't go out and promote the films, but cyber-versions could appear on TV. Another side effect could be a lessoning of the constant barrage of celebrity tidbits - what Tom and Katie's baby looks like, for example. Somehow I think we could adjust to that. If you're sick of them now, just think: In 50 years we may still be seeing Tom and Katie in brand new movies, maybe even starring with their cyber-baby, their images locked away in the computer forever. If this technology had been around in the "Risky Business" days, Tom and Kate could even star together in a film, and actually be the same age.

Finally, Photo Realistic Artificial Humans - Movie News - Playfuls.com - Fun & Entertainment