Lecture 2 'Can You Tell What It Is Yet?'

This lecture was about realism and how it has evolved as technology has improved; from artists impressions of the world, to photography and now to computer graphics and robots.

Over the weekend i watched 'Avatar' which made me think about the idea of realism and whether i thought Avatar was realistic. I know that there is no planet called Pandora and no Na'vi people and because i know that its a fictional story and know that it was created on a computer i can see that it is not real and i notice the CGI effects. But i thought if a complete outsider watched Avatar, who didn't know what CGI looked like and didn't know that it was a fictional story, would they believe that it was real, would they be fooled by the hyper-realistic graphics.



Neytiri, Avatar screenshot, http://www.fanpop.com/spots/james-camerons-avatar/images/9473020/title/neytiri-photo

Because you have to admit it pretty damn realistic, especially in a still from the film like the one shown above. The shadows on her skin and the wispy bits of hair escaping from her braids are just right, and when you watch the film the movement of the characters is perfect, at no point is the illusion broken by jerky or unnatural movement.

I also watched the film 'Coraline' which creates the illusion of realism in a completely different way. Instead of aiming to create a replica of the real world as in Avatar, Coraline's world is obviously an invention.



Coraline screenshot, http://www.andywhiteley.com/blog/category/styles/stop-motion/

It is purposely made to look unreal; the proportions of the characters are wrong and they're movement is unnatural. The plot of the film is also fanciful; Coraline travels to this other world through a portal in her house into this alternate universe where nightmarish events occur, this is again opposite to Avatar where the story (although perhaps a bit extreme) is believable.

And this made me think that if Coraline had been done in the style of Avatar, hyper-realistic characters and setting but kept the same bizarre plot line, how this would change the effect of the film on the viewer. The film is meant for children so nothing that nasty happens or at least the scenes are not made to be frightening. But if it was made to look like reality, i think the whole genre of the film would change from being a quirky kids film to something verging on horror.



Coraline screenshot, http://www.cinemasquid.com/blu-ray/movies/screenshots/coraline?movieid=8685



Model of 'Other Mother' final form, http://paulpapedesigns.typepad.com/nougat/2009/03/other-mother-final-form.html

 The 'Other Mother' shown above is a demon who abducts children, cuts out their eyes and locks them away to die. Her final form has a cracked skeletal face, her body is high up and bulbous like a spiders abdomen and her hands are enlarged and made from lots of sewing needles. The 'Other Father' also shown above, is a creation by the demon and there is a point in the film where it looks as if he is partly melted (its hard to explain, i'm annoyed i couldn't find a better picture) and becomes a zombie character that wants to capture Coraline. Its sounds a bit silly, you kinda have to see the film but i think that this is a fairly terrifying concept and if it were made into a film as realistic and believable as Avatar i think i would have problems watching it.

I find the most realistic horror films the scariest, 'The Ring' for example; a lot of people i've talked to did not find 'The Ring' at all scary because you don't see a lot of the monster. To me this film is really disturbing because it isn't silly monsters under the bed it's everyday life and everyday objects which you can't just tell yourself aren't real. I now have issues with TV's and static which i'm not sure will ever go away, i'm really glad video is dead.