The Blog Subscribe

There has been quite a few occurrences lately where CGI characters who have been used in movies either because they are no longer with us or to tell a tale that could not adequately told by an actor in their present physical form.

You probably know where this comes from if you’ve seen a ‘recent movie’ and even though if creepy you can see why it had to be done. But not in every case is this a good idea when you see some of the executions.

A prominent example is ‘Terminator Genisys’ which as a time travel movie would obviously have to contain a reference to a younger Arnold Schwarzenegger which through the magic of CGI really did look impressive. It is just a shame that the movie it was used for was yet another poor episode in a dying franchise.

One of the most famous times that this technology has been used is in the reincarnation of dead recording artists most noticeably Tupac, Whitney Houston and the late Michael Jackson.

Even though there was a primarily CGI element used to add a digital face to an actor their performances were presented to a live audience using a technique that is far from being a recent innovation.

Although these performances were billed as being holograms they were far from it. It effect can be traced back over about 5 centuries. It’s actually a visual effect called ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ which has a moving image projected onto a transparent, slightly-slanted screen that covers the stage but is not obvious to the audience.

The issue is the moral dilemma that this raises. Is it right that dead performers can be brought back from the grave in the name of profit? Obviously there are some times where this may be required. The examples that come to to my mind is Brandon Lee in ‘The Crow’ who was tragically killed on set and Paul Walker in ‘Fast 7’ where his face was digitally overlaid to his brothers body and to give a suitable send off to the star.

Sometimes though it is just abused. Many moons ago Bruce Lee was digitally brought back to life to promote whiskey which is even more strange as he didn’t drink. And then in 2013 Audrey Hepburn rose from the grave to board a bus and promote chocolate.

One version that was hard-hitting and I can see why it was done was the commercial for prostate cancer by Bob Monkhouse 4 years after his death.

Whatever you think about this practice I am sure we will see it more and more no matter the protests of the morally offended and as the technology gets better it may just get just that bit more creepy.

Is this something you agree with?

Author

Paul Wright

Gold Subscriber : $20.00 USD - monthly Silver Subscriber : $10.00 USD - monthly Bronze Subscriber : $5.00 USD - monthly