Frank said there was something about that video that made him uneasy, and I completely understand what he means. The makers went way too over-board with the macabre stuff at the end of the clip and it definitely crossed over from entertaining to just a bit too unsettling. Which is a real shame, because I think it ended up ruining what could've been a really interesting and funny clip.
I can't stand it when people go and spoil the potential of something with all that 'shock value' stuff. It's like they don't trust their ideas will reach people unless they find a way to slap us in the face with it. This got me thinking about all the movies I've seen that started off with so much potential, only to be ruined by bad taste in the end.
One that always comes to mind is Jim Carrey's 'A Christmas Carol'. Dicken's classic is a fantastic ghost story which is pretty eerie at times, but this is balanced out perfectly with a healthy dose of wholesome festive charm. However there were parts of Jim Carrey's Christmas Carol that I found down-right terrifying and completely uncalled for, like the door-knocker ghost laughing so hard his jaw comes unhinged and starts flapping madly, or the gradual decay of the ghost of Christmas present (see below- crappy quality video, but it makes my point).
I'm all for a good scare, and think it adds a lot to any adventure story.. but seriously?? That's just tasteless.. and it stripped away whatever charm the movie might have set out to achieve.
Aaaanyway, this takes me to the second part of this post, and to a discovery I've been meaning to blog about for a while now- the 'Uncanny Valley'. And this is something I think that we especially as animators all need to be aware of. Basically the Uncanny Valley is a theory of the robotics professor Masahiro Mori, which states that artificial replication of real human features (such as through robotics and 3D animation) increases steadily in audience appeal as it gets more and more realistic. However there is a massive drop-off in this appeal as the realistic nature of it is just about to reach the real thing itself- and this is where it falls into the zone of the Uncanny Valley. When something becomes so uncannily real- and yet you know it isn't- that instead of inspiring attraction in its audience, it triggers a deep sense of repulsion.
Some excellent examples of 3D animation gone too far are (of course) 'A Christmas Carol', 'The Polar Express', and in my opinion the new 'Tin Tin' movie. Animators have tried so hard to get that perfect look of reality in their models, but we as humans can instantly sense it's unreal and it unsettles us.
I think we need to keep this in mind when considering the appeal of our characters, as it could either make or break them. However the Uncanny Valley can be just as much of a help as a hindrance. Just think- if you have a character that you want to be so hideously repulsive that it makes your audience's skin crawl... mess it up a bit, then make it look as real as possible. Why else do we think zombies are so grotesque? They fit so neatly into the Uncanny Valley..
I even have a chart to demonstrate my point! And here is a link to the Wikipedia entry if you want to know more- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncanny_valley
So in conclusion to this massive rant of a blog post; shock tactics should be used sparingly and with careful consideration, and DON'T VENTURE INTO THE UNCANNY VALLEY!! Unless you really want to give someone the wibbly jibblies... :-S
Newspaper headlines often ruin a well written report. The appetite for sensationalism that lacks intelligence or wit are the gate posts to distaste. They can only pop a paper bag once. Everyone who does it after, even with bigger paperbags and extra hot air fail to re-achieve the initial ingredient of surprise.
ReplyDeletePhotorealism disturbs the viewer's subconcious.Don't prod the sleeping bear. If we conciously see a character design that is purposely grotesque or exaggerated in appeal, our subconcious allows a recognition of the attempt and lack or realism to respond with acceptance. How that character moves may be something to trigger the subconcious, amd as animators we want to control amy empathy generated.
I always wondered where zombies commuted from but I can't find Uncanny valley on the Citytrain map.
Great blog post Lydia.