One of the points raised was around the idea that the actor who was wearing the digital makeup (basically, you cast someone with the same build as the original actor and put a digital mask on them) was playing the character in the same way that an actor playing a historical person (the example given was Winston Churchill) does. What is the difference between using a digital face to, say, using prosthetics to achieve a similar appearance? I guess at the end of the day, none, if you don’t pass off the final result as the original actor. The only difference I can see is that digital makeup will become more and more realistic.

It’s a tricky one, as the deceased actor hadn’t personally agreed to be in that film (his estate agreed to it), but had an actor died mid-production, it could be said that he or she had agreed to be in it, so a digital recreation, or other unused edits, would be easier to deploy in those situations.

The segment was more about the ethics behind using an actor’s likeness than the technology being used. From what I saw, it seems that the industry is struggling to solve this conundrum. In the meantime, actors are rushing to ensure their wishes are firmly nailed down.

FWIW, Michael Beihn got a massive payoff for his non-appearence in Alien 3. The prop of Hicks was something he hadn’t been told about, he got wind of it, and demanded it be not used or he got a fee.

You’ll note that Peter Cushing wasn’t credited as Moff Tarkin in the film, but he DID get a special mention at the end of the cast list.

Thank you

That didn't take Disney long:
Disney reported to be negotiating with Carrie Fisher's estate for rights to her digital image

Lucasfilm: Carrie Fisher won't be digitally recreated
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38621524

“No plans” is not a saying “we won’t” - we all know that could change.

I still think the quesiton of digital recreations floats aorund a couple of areas:

1 - Are you recreating the actor? By that I mean, are you saying that Peter Cushing played Moff Tarkin on Rogue One? Are you saying that the performance is him?

2 - Are you representing the character? For example, take an actor who looks similar to Cushing or Fisher, and apply physical makeup & prosthetics to make the new actor look almost indistinguishable from the original character’s appearance. Are you then doing anything better/worse than using digital techniques to achieve the same end? The performance of Tarkin was the actor who “wore” the digital makeup and the costume. Not Peter Cushing.

3 - How do you deal with stylised representations of the character. Tarkin appeared in The Clone Wars. Younger, stylised, but still clearly influenced by Cushing’s features. Is that a recreation of Cushing, or a representation of the character? Robin Williams has ensured that Disney can’t pull out his old recordings for Aladdin, and I believe that because the genie is based on him, that they may have difficulties using that in anything new too.

Oh, you want to see what Adobe are doing with voices. They can make you say something digitally now. It won”t be long before you can take a voice recording of an actor and use that to make that actor say new things.

Fun fact: Peter Cushing hated the boots he had to wear when shooting Star Wars, so much so that he refused to wear them. So you never get to see his feet - they were either obscured by props, or they used closer shots. So when they were doing the digital recreation, there was no archival footage to show what he would be like moving in the full costume to work with.

Mark

Crankin’ ’em out....

One film a year for the next six years.

Mark

I recommend the Star Wars exhibition at the 02. Very good

Rogue Origins: New ‘Star Wars’ Novel To Delve Into Backstory For Jyn Erso
http://sciencefiction.com/2017/01/27/ro ... -jyn-erso/

SPOILERS

Who, just WHO, builds an archive that’s a tall tower and stores sensitive data in it, and the put the controls for the main transmission disk at the END of an exposed platform at the top of said tower?

I know the whole “exhaust portal” this was explained, but I don’t buy it given some of the other incompetent architectural designs made by the Empire that I’ve seen recently.

Bloody ridiculous.

I gather it's star wars day today.

Prosper and live long, you must!

ISWYDT

Has anyone said it's too commercialised yet? Lol