week 1 - Vfx and the trend of the lens lecture
We started off the lesson by watching an episode from a documentary called Age of the Image on BBC4. The documentary shows the presenter James Foxx discussing how images have really transformed the world around us today . When people go to look at the Mona Lisa they don't look at it directly but rather look at it through a phone or take selfies with it . The documentary then answers why people do this and states how people are getting more addicted to images , taking photos etc. The last 100 years have seen big technological advancements in image making like using cgi in Jurassic park to make the dinosaurs and using projectors to view images.
Citation : 'Clip from Age of the Image: A New Reality', Age of the Image, A New Reality, 03:00 06/03/2020, BBC4, 60 mins. 00:00:00-00:05:42. https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ondemand/index.php/clip/178567?bcast=131408235 (Accessed 10 Oct 2020)
How the photographic capture of fast movements evolved from the work of these artists:
Eadward Muybridge was an english photographer and did pioneering work in motion picture projection. 1872 is when his work started on photographing motion. One of his well known works is a horse trotting and capturing it in different motions. 1877 is when he developed a special shutter and around that time he made the zoopraxiscope. This was a lantern that palced images quickly on a screen .
Harold Edgerton known for his high speed photography skills. In 1962 he started to work with flash tubes and these would give out bursts of light. This was also known as a stroboscope, allowing him to photograph actions such as milk dropping on surfaces.
Jon Gaetas bullet time and beyond - Jon Gaeta was an animation director who made the matrix bullet scene.
Blog post 1 - Relationship between vfx and the lens :
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The relationship of VFX and the lens is that there is a trend of more people taking pictures, manipulating them. This manipulation has come from apps such as Instagram and other technological advancements such as digital photography. Within the documentary (The age of the image, 2020) episode 1 James fox states that “the selfie has become a global phenomenon. Ellen de generes took a selfie with the most famous people. She then posted the image online and it was reposted three million times”. As a result of this, this shows the trend of consumption that more people are taking pictures privately and then making them available to the public to see and use. Scientist Charles Falco and Artist David Hockney came up with the theory called Tyranny of the lens and mention that photography dominates image making, and the history of art has the same history as the lens. This was known as the tyranny of the lens. Tyranny means power and ruling over something so in this theory the photography dominates image making. Although there is a relationship of VFX and the lens, other believe that using projections from lenses to give an image is almost cheating. Painters used lenses as a guide to trace when painting for example and experts saw this as cheating. To conclude, cameras are classed as the modern tyranny of looking and even though new technology is coming along the lens is still within our field of view.
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'Age of the image' (2020) A new reality , series 1 episode 1 . BBC 4 : Available at BBC iplayer ( Accessed: 18 October 2020)
Week 2: The Photographic Truth Claim: Can we believe what we see?
In the last 10 years images have become more like reality and vice versa. The broadcast shows how artists use deception on the public and that we can’t pictures anymore. As the world is being turned into an image as a whole, we cant trust pictures anymore and we cant always tell the difference between image and reality. Episode4 on bbc 4 called of the series the age of the image: a new reality fake views explores this .
Blog post 2 : What you think is meant by the theory photographic truth claim? :
The photographic truth claim implies the method of the imprint of reality by photographs and that they somehow accurately show the real world within them. This comes from the photographic index. The photographic index is which is also known as indexicality is how a photograph has a connection with the object. “examples of indices are the footprint, the bullet hole, the sundial, the weathervane, and photographs” (Gunning, 2007, p. 30). A shadow from an object is a photographic index as it tells someone that a cat is real and is there and in front of us so we can believe what we see. In addition to this, the photographic truth claim is shown in other types of such as paintings and drawings. For example, there are three pictures of the houses of parliament a painting, a photograph and computer-generated image of it. From these three images we raise the question “which image is a true representation of the houses of parliament?”. The public would say the real-life photograph. I also think that the photographic truth claim gives the question can we believe what we see? And we can believe what we see if it is not just solely photographs used to make an image. This is because Lev Manovich (2001 , pg. 2) what is digital cinema article under the cinema of the art index section says that “But what happens to cinema's indexical identity if it is now possible to generate photorealistic scenes entirely in a computer using 3-D computer animation”. His statement reveals how you can still make out reality from the 3d animated objects.
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Gunning, T. (2007) ‘Moving Away from the Index: Cinema and the Impression of Reality’. pp. 31-52 Available at : https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Moving-Away-from-the-Index%3A-Cinema-and-the-of-Gunning/04f74f7537bc7afb9331c3cba77642b1706d60a (Accessed : 14 October 2020)
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Manovich, L. (2001) 'Cinema, the Art of the Index', The Language of New Media. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, page2
Week 3: Faking photographs , Image manipulation and computer collage
Blog post 3: Write a definition of vfx composting and how does it work? :
I believe Vfx Compositing to be combining images together to form an whole image. When compositing an image, methods such as retouching , cutting , pasting and scaling are involved. The manipulation of cinematic scenes has been going on since the 1980s. Compositing is essentially a trend of making illusions within visual effects. (Casseti 2011 ) argues that “faced with an image on a screen, we no longer know if the image testifies to the existence of that which it depicts or if it simply constructs a world that has no independent existence”. This shows that he is implying that digital manipulation destroys the relationship between a photograph and reality. In the Game of thrones series a lot of the locations and buildings used green screen as well as in the film Life Of Pie. I will now explore more of the history of compositing and how it works. (Mitchell) stated that “(vfx compositing started off as photomontage (combination of parts of images to produce new compositions)”. For example in the collection of James Nasmyths fake lunar photographs from 1874, the models of the moon were passed off as real images. Early uses of Vfx compositing was a method such as combination printing in 1901 by Henry Peach Robinson. Photoshop was eventually introduced in the late 90s and this influenced photographic retouching forever. An artist called David Hockney explores the use of photographs and collages very well. Within his collages u can always see the vanishing point in his artwork, giving really good illusions to the eye.
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Casetti, F. (2011) 'Sutured Reality: Film, from Photographic to Digital.' October, Volume 138, p. 95
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Mitchell, W. J. (1998) The Reconfigured Eye. Cambridge: MIT Press, p. 24.
Blog post 4: Writing a blog post on photorealism
Photorealism is the art of remaking an image within photos by using different mediums. In the context of VFX, photorealism is making realistic CGI. This is because in the new media critical introduction book (lister et al 2009) states that " the effect must be sophisticated and photorealistic enough to persuade the audience". For example, in the film Jurassic World, with the gyro sphere rolling down the hill, it makes you believe a real experience of being enclosed in a glass ball moving around. This composited scene blends in with the CGI moving grass and realistic animatronics on the dinosaurs making it very realistic. The Disney lion king 2019 film is very photorealistic, as every blade of glass is made by CGI. (Yehl 2019) said that “Lion king was being directed by using VR tools in a virtual environment. The director Favreau also used a mixture of animal and AI driven animation and character animation (rather than mocap)”. As a result of this, the definition of photorealism includes photorealistic virtual filmmaking. The lion king faced criticism as people say it’s too real giving of a feeling of the uncanny. Within the object CGI making programme Maya, the light lens and geometry all play a role in producing the photorealistic image. Analogue artefacts are digital characteristics in films such as dust, noise and lens flare in films helping add to the photorealistic effect. By adding analogue artefacts, it helps the viewers orientation of a scene more, and allows the composite to be more seamless and convincing to the eye.
Lister, M. et al., 2009. New Media: a critical introduction. 2nd Edition ed. s.l.:Routledge​ pg137
Yehl, J. (2019) How Jon Favreau Directed The Lion King Inside a Video Game. Available at: https://www.ign.com/articles/2019/05/30/how-jon-favreau-directed-the-lion-king-inside-a-video-game (20th September 2020).
Week 5: A digital Index : Bringing truth into VFX via the capture of movement
Blog post 5 : Comparing motion capture to key frame animation
Motion capture uses data to produce movement and Key frame animation uses drawings to produce movement to something. Drawing take lots of time to do so key frame animation can be very time consuming and motion capture is done with a motion capture apparatus. Results can be produced very quickly using this apparatus. when using key frame animation live action frames are traced quite closely making the characters lose their real life characteristic , giving a sense of the uncanny valley . In comparison to key frame animation, for example in the jungle book (2019) set extensions were used and the facial recognition in the motion capture was almost human like to the animal. By doing so, motion capture brings authenticity in the film as it references the real world. In the lion king (2019) live action film Rafiki the mandrill looks like a real-life mandrill and moves like it does in the wild, unlike the key frame animated version. With the key frame animated version of the Jungle Book (1967) and lion king (1994), you can see the 2D colours more than in the live action, where the 2D colours don’t come through much therefore, the live action characters lose expressiveness and form.
Week 6 : Digital Index: Reality capture ( LIDAR) and Vfx
Blog post 6 : Writing a post on reality capture
Scan Lab projects is a studio that uses massive scanning equipment on environments and architecture. The film called “Lost treasures of maya” on channel 4 , national geographic explain how the Scan Lab studio did work on 3d scanning a place called Tikal in Guatemala. The 3D scanning of this place revealed hidden surrounding buildings in Tikal. This is all essentially reality capture which is using light patterns and photographs to make 3d models at different angles. It is important the studio keeps the perspective space in their work, so they get the right geometry of the subject they are scanning. Moreover, within an interview with ScanLab different equipment is spoke about to capture their work, such as a terrestrial 3D laser scanner. Co-founder for Scan Lab William Trossel explains in the interview, written down by (Hobson 2014) that “One of the machines we use to capture reality is a terrestrial laser scanner. It has an infrared laser on board and a series of mirrors and that's how it senses the world. The amazing thing is it's doing those measurements at about million times per second. So, the digital model that it's able to produce, the 'point cloud' as we call it, is incredibly dense."
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ScanLab ,Lost treasures of the Maya Available at :https://scanlabprojects.co.uk/work/lost-treasures-of-maya/ (Accessed : 17 November 2020)
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Trosell,w. (2014) interviewed by B.Hobson for Scan-Lab 18 July. Available at : https://www.dezeen.com/2014/07/18/movie-william-trossell-scanlab-3d-scanning-virtual-model-cities/ ( Accessed: 16 November 2020)
Assignment 2: Presentation and Essay
Essay presentation:
Essay:
By using visual effects, the question does visual effects manipulate the realism of the photographic image? comes to a thought. The photographic truth claim means photographs provide evidence that something exists. This concept is linked to visual effects because the visual effect in a film, needs to look real and convincing to the audience. This essay will be exploring three different articles. These are ‘Sutured reality film, from photographic to digital’ by (Casseti 2011), ‘Lion King, hand-drawn Animation, and the problem with photo-realism’ by (Delta 2019) and ‘How photorealism redefined the idea of character animation on Jon Favreaus ‘the lion King’ by (Desowitz 2019). The work of Frank Hurley as faking images will be looked upon. David Hockneys still life blue guitar and pearl blossom highway will also be discussed. The Matrix film within the YouTube video What did Baudrillard think about the Matrix? will be looked at in detail also, to explore the manipulation of visual effects.
The article ‘What’s the point of the index? or faking photographs’ explains how photographs should accurately present objects as (Gunning 2013, page 40) states that “the indexicality of the photograph depends on a physical relation between the object photographed”. When referring to the term indexicality, Sadowski (2011) says that “the represented object is imprinted by light, chemical and electronic process on the image, creating a visual likeness that possesses a degree of accuracy unattainable in purely iconic signs such as painting”. Faking photographs are also said to be beneficial as (Gunning 2013 page 48) explains “if we are to deal with illusions it seems to me that the play with photographic imagery that the digital revolution allows may provide the perfect playground for a greater understanding of a fascination”.
Firstly, In the article sutured reality, film, from photographic to digital (Casetti 2011 pg 95) stated that “faced with an image on screen we no longer know if the image testifies to the existence of that which it depicts”. This means that visual effects do affect cinemas reality. This is because by using visual effects, scenes can be setup however they want for films, making new and unreal environments. Also, this quote gives the idea of fake news. For example, within the media, political leaders are often made to seem like they said certain things which are not true, so again their ‘image’ is often manipulated. Another quote in the same article by (Casetti 2011 pg 96) also stated “that scholars have argued that cinema can’t be reduced to indexicality”. Indexicality means in relation and to have a connection with something. This quote implies that visual effects manipulates realism, as cinema cannot be classed as indexical because, films always involve manipulation and changes.
In comparison to this, (Casetti 2011 pg. 97) revealed that the “impression of reality is also extended to the cinematic representations of dreams and fantasies, to the point where reality and presentation become equated on scene”. This quote also implies that visual effects keeps the realism of the photographic image because continuously seeing dream like images on screen, gives the impression that it is true and real.A final example of an argument against is the use of compositing in the work of Frank Hurley, a famous photographer. The visual effects that he uses portrays realism, which can be seen in one of his works called the battle of Zonnebeke in 1918. The war scene looks very realistic because the planes in the background and soldiers in the forefront of the image are displayed well in the collage, therefore keeping its realistic nature. An artist called David Hockney also produces realistic composites of the real world.
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Figure 1. Still life blue guitar by Hockney in 1982.
Figure 1 by David Hockney is very well designed to maintain realism as it has only a few objects in his scene. Also, it is very well designed as the food is clearly seen on the table next to the mat. The plant pot is well collaged on the right-hand side. The detail of the guitar stands out as all its qualities are seen from a high angle.Having multiple pictures of the same object in one scene suggests that seeing is about having different perspectives and angles. Different points of view and perspectives are needed to see the world clearly. The Department head of the Getty Museum (The week, no date) stated that “By depicting multiple aspects of the same object, Hockney's photographic works encourage viewers to imagine moving through space to experience that object over a more extended period of time”.
Figure 2.Pearl Blossom highway by Hockney 1982
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Figure 2 shows the collage called pearl blossom highway by David Hockney. David Hockney made the pearl blossom highway to manipulate perspective (Getty Museum 2013, 1:23) as the viewer can look up and down from the roads. Hockney is also implying that the image makes the viewer feels apart of the scene giving a sense of realism. In addition to this, the highway composition also shows realism because due to the rocks and tree scenery, on the left side of the road it gives a passenger’s perspective. The signs on the right of the composite gives a drivers perspective. The Stop ahead sign is bigger than the green sign, so the composite is emphasising the different viewpoints to where a person maybe standing. As a result of this, realism is shown from this image as things will get bigger or smaller depending on where someone is standing.
Secondly, I will now explore if visual effects in films such as the Lion king (2019), Matrix (1994) and Star Wars return of the Jedi, manipulate the realism of the photographic image. The new live action Lion King film (2019) has very noticeable stunning visual effects, making it look very photorealistic. The rendering of the characters is very well done, as you can see amazing, detailed textures of the animal’s hairs, skin, and body. Realism is kept well using the visual effects in the Live action. An article called how Photo-Realism Redefined the Idea of Character Animation on Jon Favreau’s ‘The Lion King’ by (Desowitz 2019) explains how realism is kept within the live action film. The (Desowitz 2019) article explains how an MPC animation supervisor said:
“You come up to them in Africa and they’ll run off really fast like they’re scared, we tried to replicate that kind of movement”.
As a result of this, the MPC animator is explaining that realism is being kept in the live action film. This is because their behaviour of running around is natural within the wild, in the same way analogue artefacts create realism within the photographic image. Analogue artefacts are digital inputs of things such as a lens flare or dust to make scene more realistic.As real analogue artefacts are changed into computer generated ones, the film environment becomes more realistic and immersive.
On the contrary, within an article called The Lion King, hand-drawn Animation, and the problem with photo-realism by (Desta 2019) it states how the live action lion king film does in fact manipulate the realism of its scenes. (Desta 2019) stated that “photo-realism doesn’t offer artists that same signature; in the new Lion King, for example, Scar doesn’t look very different from any other lion.” This quote by Desta implies that although the live action Lion King (2019) film shows many photorealistic techniques, this makes the characters in the film lose their aesthetic as they look too real.This is because the main evil character, Scar in the live action Lion king, looks like all the other lions in the film. As a result of this, not much of his aggressive facial expressions can be seen, like in the original animated film (1994). The villainous nature of scar is manipulated because of this, making Scar lose his sense of his evil aesthetic.
Additionally, the matrix film can be explored to see if visual effects manipulates the photographic image at times. Within the YouTube video ‘What did Baudrillard think about the matrix’? The video talks about how simulation and simulacra is linked to the matrix. Simulacra means an image of something that has no original, whilst simulation means the feeling of being in a real-world environment. The Matrix film has a connection with realism because (CCk Philosophy, 2019,3:11) shows a scene of Neo the main character sleeping with the computer screen shining on his face. This depicts realism as Baudrillard believes how in modern society, that when people are being overloaded with information, they become passive and their energy is drained.Similarly (CCK Philosophy, 2019, 3:44) shows another scene of light constantly shining on his face. Baudrillard says the constant array of light touching a surface connects with real life and modern-day society. Baudrillard is saying that the constant array of light shining portrays how people in modern day society are always getting information screens like phones and tv’s. The scene of Neo getting a knock at his door after his computer screen displays “Knock Knock Neo” (CCk Philosophy, 2019, 4:14), shows how Baudrillard is revealing that codes in the Matrix determine events. Baudrillard is therefore implying that one of the aspects of society, is to use structures that determine things. For example, money determines value of an object in society. Realism of the photographic image by using Visual effects is shown here, as Jean Baudrillard is suggesting that the Matrix as well as real life, is about having a structure in society to determine events in life.
On the other hand, the matrix films visual effects do manipulate realism at times, affecting the imprint of reality. This can be seen when Morpheus tells Neo what the Matrix is all about (CCK philosophy, 2019, 10:11) then Morpheus states “The dessert of the Real”. The “Dessert of the real” reference often comes up in the book by Jean Baudrillard, simulation, and Simulacra. Referring to this quote Baudrillard implies that if things become simulated and hyperreal, reality rots away in its own wasteland getting left behind becoming a desert. Reality is no longer left because of this.
Similarly, the visual effects of Star Wars Return of the Jedi, showed realism.There is a scene of troops landing at an imperial docking bay at the death star (BBC iPlayer 2020 20:02) which was made by doing a matte painting. The gap in the matte painting was replaced with live action. This technique displays realism as seamless effects are being used here, so it looks as if people are coming out of the ship. When looking at the painting very closely it shows the sketchy characters in the background fading away (BBC iPlayer 2020 21:14). Consequently, matte paintings convince us of how we perceive the world. Vfx maintains the realism in this scene because the painting is integrated with live action. Therefore, this scene summarises how seamless effects/ visual effects in general play an important role in making a film look realistic.
To conclude, I think it is important to manipulate the realism of the photographic image by using visual effects. Visual effects keep the realism of the photographic image as the whole point of visual effects is to make fake views and fake imagery, so it can be seemed real to the audience. This is what James fox BBC documentary ‘Fake views’ (2020) Age of the image mentioned. Using visual effects allows you to create many seamless effects, that draw the audience in more and make it more exciting for the viewer. Visual effects should be pushed to the limits to manipulate realism in every way. The most successful films are the ones that use the most photorealistic visual effects.A measure of a successful visual effect within a film is the perceivable level of photorealism, such as the scenes in the film Inception. Visual effects connect with the viewer, so they believe that they are in a real world, although they are in a virtual world. Although I have not covered every topic, there is still lots more to discuss about if visual effects manipulate realism. Computer generated images are being used extensively, becoming a trend within the film industry. It becomes hard to find a tv show or film that has been produced, that does not use photographic manipulation. New trends of reality capture are leading us to less use of normal photographic techniques.
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Bibliography:
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Casetti, F. (2011) 'Sutured Reality: Film, from Photographic to Digital.' October, Volume 138, pp. 95-97
2. CCK philosophy (2019) What did Baudrillard think about the Matrix? 10 September Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bf9J35yzM3E&%3Bfeature=share (Accessed: 7 December 2020)
3. Desowitz, B (2019) How photorealism redefined the idea of character animation on Jon Favreaus ‘The lion King’ Available at: https://www.indiewire.com/2019/08/the-lion-king-jon-favreau-photorealism-character-animation-1202163979/ ( Accessed: 6 December 2020)
4. Desta, Y (2019) The Lion King , hand-drawn Animation, and the problem with photo-realism Available at : https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/07/lion-king-remake-disney-photorealism-animation (Acessed: 5 Decemeber 2020)
5. ‘Fake Views’ (2020) Age Of the image, Series 1, episode 4. BBC4. Available at: BBC iPlayer (Accessed: 11 December2020).
6. Getty Museum (2013) David Hockneys Pearlblossom highway. Available at: https://youtu.be/sD123svCFHQ (Accessed: 12 December 2020)
7. Gunning, T. (2013) ‘Whats the point of the index? Or faking photographs? Nordicom Review, 25(1) p.40
8. Sadowski, P. (2011) The iconic indexicality of photography. Available at: https://benjamins.com/catalog/ill.10.20sad#: (Accessed: 22 December 2020).
9. The Week (No Date) David Hockney’s Beautifully complicated relationship with photography. Available at: https://theweek.com/captured/708641/david-hockneys-beautifully-complicated-relationship-photography (Accessed: 12 December 2020).