by Kalyani Kurup

Created on: September 21, 2008

Population of the world is increasing. So is the demand for job opportunities in every field. Film acting is a medium which has always employed a lot of people in movies' lead roles and also as extras.

But all of a sudden people, who had considered their histrionic talent as their main employable skill, seem pitted against a totally unforeseen challenger CGA or Computer Generated Actor.

The thrones of live actors had started shaking ever since Walt Disney's cartoon characters invaded the silver screen in a big way. Though Disney's animated characters did not pose any challenge to talented actors, they effectively conveyed the message that movies can be made without live actors as well. But over the years, the gentle shaking of the actors' thrones has turned into malarial shivering, as technology advanced in leaps and bounds, threatening to pull the rug from under the actors' feet.

The process of replacing live actors started evolving fast when robots came into being and started doing certain jobs better than humans. Close on the heels of it came the use of CGI or Computer Generated Imagery. CGI was used in The Abyss,' Terminator 2' etc. to a limited extent. But this form of digital art is encroaching into, and fast replacing much of the traditional ways of giving realistic effects. Side by side, it has started to replace live actors also, throwing them a virtual' challenge.

Hironobu Sakaguchi's movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within,' released in 2001, had a complete set of computer generated actors. Being a science fiction thriller, it had the advantage of being able to take some liberties with the appearance of characters. So the movie made live actors completely redundant. Well-known actors and actresses lent their voice for the characters, to give the movie a realistic touch. It took about 4 years for 200 digital artists to give life to the characters of the movie.

The film failed commercially which means that only a limited number of people watched it. Maybe because of that, the great breakthrough in digital technology that has been achieved in the film failed to be widely understood. It was a massive endeavor where every hair and nail of the characters was computer generated. The story was set in future, and the heroine of the movie, Dr. Aki Ross, spoke in the voice of actress Ming-Na.

Another movie which used a computer generated character in a big way was Simone', directed by Andrew Niccol. Here the heroine, Simone, that is, the Sim(ulated)one', was computer-generated

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>