Is performance capture as we know it dead? - Blu-ray Forum

duggie walker · 03-15-2011, 06:34 PM

I don't know about anyone else but I certainly hadn't heard much about MARS NEEDS MOMS before it opened. I haven't seen any trailers and I didn't know until now that it was made with performance capture. So bad marketing's played its part.

Personally, I don't like it because it seems like a premature technology. It's attempting to be photo-real and we're a long way off from achieving that still. Were it used in a more abstract way it might be more successful but it does beg the question: why bother? Either animate or use real people. It seems the only major benefits are logistical, in production, and that it also converts simply to IMAX 3-D.

I do see the point of it in LOTR and AVATAR, though even the latter looked really phoney to me. The litmus test will be what Spielberg and Jackson do with the TINTIN movies, though I agree with the above poster that Hollywood's unlikely to dump a technology on the basis of one film. It'll certainly take it back up again if TINTIN's a success (which is unpredictable).

As a technique, it's here to stay. But if we never saw another Zemeckis-style feature-long effort, I wouldn't cry salty tears.

03-15-2011, 06:34 PM	#5
duggie walker Blu-ray Guru Member since:Feb 2011 Location:London, UK	I don't know about anyone else but I certainly hadn't heard much about MARS NEEDS MOMS before it opened. I haven't seen any trailers and I didn't know until now that it was made with performance capture. So bad marketing's played its part. Personally, I don't like it because it seems like a premature technology. It's attempting to be photo-real and we're a long way off from achieving that still. Were it used in a more abstract way it might be more successful but it does beg the question: why bother? Either animate or use real people. It seems the only major benefits are logistical, in production, and that it also converts simply to IMAX 3-D. I do see the point of it in LOTR and AVATAR, though even the latter looked really phoney to me. The litmus test will be what Spielberg and Jackson do with the TINTIN movies, though I agree with the above poster that Hollywood's unlikely to dump a technology on the basis of one film. It'll certainly take it back up again if TINTIN's a success (which is unpredictable). As a technique, it's here to stay. But if we never saw another Zemeckis-style feature-long effort, I wouldn't cry salty tears.

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