Weschler Review

      I found Weschler's article on Why is this man smiling? fairly interesting. It was pretty cool reading it and learning about this new type of technology in entertainment. I haven't seen Final Fantasy, but I can't even imagine working on it. One thing that really stood out to me was how how much thought was put into each part of the human face. Their job was to make a creature look as realistic as they can with their computer software. The author stated that in some circumstances in the past, artists have had to stop adding more details because the creature looked too realistic and creepy. It amazes me how much time and effort was put into each character. I also loved this idea of how the author quoted a famous acting coach and compared what he said to their processes. Here's what Hook, the acting coach had to say; "When I'm coaching an actor and he asks me, 'Should I raise my eyebrow here?' my reply is likely to be, 'I dunno. Don't think about your eyebrow. Think about the emotion you're trying to convey, and the eyebrow will take care of itself.' But with an animator, it's the exact opposite. You're building from the outside in. Bits don't experience emotions, and emotions get conveyed exclusively through such things as a raised eyebrow, which itself has to be precisely calibrated. Raised, OK, but by how much? And what happens to the chin when the eyebrow gets raised? To the ear? To the other ear? And so forth" (Ed Hooks). That was very interesting to me. I feel I can take that into consideration when creating artwork. It's cool to switch up the point of view and might add more depth to artwork. I have a feeling since this class is computer based, this type of idea might come in handy during class.

     I didn't really find too many objections to this article as it was more informational based. I did agree with some who got into the topic of trying to create "real life" computer human beings. I think it would freak me out if my creature looked too realistic. I don't think it's natural or the way it's supposed to be. I don't know too much about that stuff though, but it seem to affect a lot of artists and their beliefs but in a very respectable way. No harm anywhere and it hasn't really gotten to that problem yet, so we shall see if it ever becomes one.