Re: Most disappointing films.

On Wed, 19 Mar 2025 14:18:52 +0000, Robert Carnegie
<rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote:

On 08/03/2025 16:54, Paul S Person wrote:

<snippo Serkis doing fine as someone other than Gollum>

My understanding at time it came out and this was discussed in another
newgroup was that Gollum was /entirely/ CGI, using Serkis' acting only
as a series of reference points to be matched.
 
So, for Gollum, we are seeing Serkis' acting -- but not Serkis
himself.
 
But that could, I suppose, be wrong.

>
I'd say that differently - that Gollum was
a CGI costume which Andy Serkis performed in.
However, this article calls it more complicated.
<https://www.polygon.com/lord-of-the-rings/22811800/gollum-lord-of-the-rings-actor-andy-serkis-weta-digital>
"The hands, feet, and, most importantly,
facial expressions of Gollum were all
animated later, using Serkis' performance
as reference footage.  At times, the animators
revised Serkis' performance, altering the
physicality or even the facial expressions,
to better suit Jackson’s needs.  Serkis
additionally dropped by Weta's offices to
help the animators, modeling gestures or
facial expressions they were struggling
to realize."
>
Also, the scenes were filmed with Andy Serkis
acting with the other cast, again with
Andy Serkis not in shot, and finally as
Andy Serkis doing the motion capture
acting on his own.  Evidently, the second
and third versions were used to compose
the film as seen.

I should probably have added "and his voice". Unless someone else read
the lines.

And thanks for the clarification/expanded view of how it was done.

I have seen several "making-of" DVD documentaries of animated films,
and using physical actors for reference is an old, old technique.
Indeed, the DVD of Disney's animated /Alice in Wonderland/ has film of
the actors themselves doing the Tea Party live on stage while the
animators sit around drawing them as rapidly as possible. Using
motion-capture simply updates the technique.

Films are like sausages: one may like them without actually wanting to
know how they are made.

Andy Serkis wrote a book about it, apparently.
<https://www.lifeisstory.com/nonfiction/gollum-how-we-made-movie-magic-andy-serkis/>

--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"