In the Spring CQ, I took a closer look at the challenges an actor faces when playing a character and never appearing on screen. One specific example was Andy Serkis’ work as Caesar in War for The Planet of the Apes. It’s challenging to work with the suits, head gear and engage the imagination so thoroughly. It’s equally challenging for an actor like Neal Sethi of The Jungle Book to act opposite the animals of the story when they’re not there. So, we looked at acting with nothing…what about acting…nowhere?Nowadays, it seems like there’s only 50/50 chance that you’re going to get real locations in a big-budget movie. Indie films, dramas and comedies, yes, you’ll usually find the film crew holed up in a house, office or restaurant where the story takes place. Whether otherworldly or just ornate, when a studio makes a summer or holiday franchise action/adventure or sci-fi film, you can count on widespread use of green screen technology and CGI effects in the production design.
The first time I noticed how extensive and ingrained in every shot computer enhanced imagery had become in movies was in 2003’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. It was easy to see that Davy Jones’ undead henchmen with half a head was a computer effect, but a screening of this film I attended had the VFX team giving a post-screening lecture, and they detailed just how much CGI there was in the movie. I thought, for example, Davy Jones was Bill Nighy with computer-generated tentacles on his face.
Not true, Jones was head-to-toe computer generated. But you can spend a whole movie trying to figure out if a character is an actor or not and truthfully, it takes you away from the story. What flies by you without you questioning what you’re seeing, most of the time, are the enhancements to an already existing set. Dead Man’s Chest adds islands in a shot of the sea that weren’t there. It adds set dressing to a bridge that’s really there on location on the island of Dominica, but the CGI makes it more elaborate. And although the film built Captain Jack Sparrow’s ship, The Black Pearl, when you need it beached on the shore – computer it. Despite the huge advancements in realism in computer-generated characters, it’s these upgrades to set design added in post that blend more realistically, so it’s no surprise they’re used to the max.
Love it or hate it, this technology is here. So, where does this leave the actor? Once again, the imagination must be wildly employed to support the notion that there is a world around you…that isn’t there. And even though the effects to create this world are state-of-the-art, the acting is as old school as it gets and stems from when you were in acting class on a bare stage, conjuring up a set of circumstances you could believe in. Throw in a crew of forty, a dozen blazing lights, other actors here and there and a camera in your face and the ability to focus and churn out believable work the likes of Sandra Bullock in Gravity or Matt Damon in The Martian becomes even more impressive.
Look at this shot of Naomi Watts in 2005’s King Kong. There’s no jungle, there’s no ape hand, there’s no Kong, there’s no weather, and there’s a LOT of GREEN. And she’s asked to be emotional. Director Peter Jackson and the filmmakers work hard to ensure that you, the viewer, believe the unbelievable in terms of being transported to place and time with a scene like this to where you are probably underestimating the skill with which Watts has to deliver the performance - the cherry on top in terms of that final element to sell the whole experience.
The set decorator can look at a green screen location and relax. Their job has become easier ‘cause literally ANYTHING can be built from a blank slate. The actor is getting less and less help by their surroundings as the movies become more and more hi-tech. So, don’t get lazy, you need your skills to be on point.
Same skills, different application. Actors, don’t lose focus.
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