There has been huge buzz around the Oscar chances around Avatar. So all the talk are around, the motion capture, 3D technology, and the misses of Zoe Saldana for her performance in the films. Now Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson are hard at work on the next film Adventures of Tintin. This film will also employ some of the technology used on Avatar.
Spielberg also loads of things to say about the anger of Hollywood Actors as more filmmakers embrace performance capture technology. Spielberg had this to say about it. It was based on my respect for the art of Herge and wanting to get us close to that art as I could Herge is the man responsible for creating the comic series, which follows a young intrepid Belgian reporter and his canine sidekick Snowy, mostly taking place in pre World War II Europe.
The performance capture technique makes the world of Tintin more accessible:
“Herge wrote about fictional people in a real world, not in a fantasy universe,” Spielberg said. “It was the real universe he was working with, and he used National Geographic to research his adventure stories. It just seemed that live action would be too stylized for an audience to relate to. You’d have to have costumes that are a little outrageous when you see actors wearing them. The costumes seem to fit better when the medium chosen is a digital one.
There is also chance for other comics of the same nature to get similar treatments. But there is going to be a growing trend to get into the meat of the technology so to speak. People are getting more accustomed to seeing imaginary characters on screen. It almost feels like a means of escape for them. But Robert Zemeckis seems to have lost out on the technology all together. People are going to shy away from the form if he builds on this.
For Spielberg it was sheer magic to see many of the actors performances coming alive. He had this to say about the whole experience:
“I just adored it. It made me more like a painter than ever before. I got a chance to do so many jobs that I don’t often do as a director. You get to paint with this device that puts you into a virtual world, and allows you to make your shots and block all the actors with a small hand-held device only three times as large as an XBOX game controller. When Captain Haddock runs across the volume [the name for the motion capture stage], the cameras capture all the information of his physical and emotional moves. So as Andy Serkis runs across the stage, there’s Captain Haddock on the monitor, in full anime, running along the streets of Belgium. Not only are the actors represented in real time, they enter into a three-dimensional world.”
But the signs seem to be encouraging for 3D worker who are expecting lots more advancements in the near future. I think there needs to be a small study on the motion capture techniques in the near future. Spielberg finally adds on a somber note: it will be Jamie Bell’s complete physical and emotional performance. If Tintin makes you feel something, it’s Jamie Bell’s soul your sensing.”
The film is expected to come out in December 23rd 2011. There is still a long way to go when we see even a trailer for this. But the expectations are almost sky high for this one.
