May 21, 2012

It’s Alive!: The Best in Performance Capture

by Kyle Rupprecht | Published December 21, 2011

Andy Serkis as Gollum in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)

Performance capture: It’s the wave of the future. This fascinating computer technology allows ordinary human actors to transform themselves into creatures or otherworldly characters that, just 15 years ago, would have been impossible to imagine. Performance capture is related to motion capture, in which actors wear specially designed suits that record actions and movements. This information is then utilized to animate a digital character. For performance capture, facial and finger movements, as well as subtle expressions, are recorded.

The results can be amazingly realistic and relatable, thanks to the skillful actors portraying these imaginary creations. Unlike most characters created entirely from CGI, performance capture allows the actor to inject a dollop of humanity and real emotion into their performance. Which is trickier than it looks, since most motion capture performances take place in an isolated green room, with the actor having to imagine the scene he or she is taking part in.

With the latest performance capture film, Steven Spielberg’s much-anticipated 3-D epic The Adventures of Tintin, hitting theaters today, MM thought it a perfect time to take a look back at our six favorite performances achieved through this ever-evolving technology.

Andy Serkis (Gollum) in The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-2003)
directed by Peter Jackson
Peter Jackson’s epic Lord of the Rings films featured many amazing, groundbreaking CGI effects, but none more so than the devious Gollum, voiced and performed by Andy Serkis. It’s hard to watch the film and not believe Gollum is an actual living, breathing creature. While he doesn’t have the most noble intentions (mainly, possessing his ever-precious magical ring at all costs), it’s hard not to feel a certain amount of sympathy for this lonely, mentally unstable creature—a true credit to Serkis’ nuanced, emotional performance. (While the film’s technical team received much Oscar love, some say Serkis should’ve received a nomination himself.) And the actor isn’t finished with Gollum yet—he returns as the ghoulish creature in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, due out next December.

Bill Nighy (Davy Jones) in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End (2006, 2007)
directed by Gore Verbinski
With his squid-like features, Davy Jones won’t be winning a beauty contest any time soon, though he makes for a perfect villain for the second and third movies in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. As the captain of the Flying Dutchman (based upon a ghost ship of nautical lore), Davy Jones roams the seas as a tyrant, forcing his crew to serve 100 years aboard his ship. Needless to say, Davy ultimately gets his just desserts. This uniquely original, highly detailed character received much praise, with Entertainment Weekly naming Davy the second most convincing computer-generated character in cinema history. Thanks in part to the stunning work done to bring Davy Jones to life, Dead Man’s Chest won the 2007 Oscar for Best Visual Effects.

Crispin Glover (Grendel) in Beowulf (2007)
directed by Robert Zemeckis
Much like Gollum, the troll-like Grendel (played by the ever-eccentric Crispin Glover) is something of a tragic monster—he’s an abhorred creature who doesn’t quite realize his own destructiveness. Inspired by the classic Old English epic poem, Zemeckis’ Beowulf is an ambitious fantasy adventure created entirely through the motion capture process Zemeckis had previously utilized in The Polar Express. With its epic battle scenes between brave warrior Beowulf (Ray Winstone) and Grendel and his mother (Angelina Jolie), the film provides much action for adrenaline buffs, though it also manages to conjure up a fair amount of sympathy for the ugly and destructive—yet naïve and vulnerable—Grendel.