This article is from WeChat public account: Big Data Digest (ID: BigDataDigest) author: Liu Junhuan, original title: “ flutter Street box office, so what? Li An created the “AI 易容术”, 甩 磨 磨 换 换 换 换 换 换 换 换 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 》 视觉 视觉 视觉

It’s been half a month since it’s released. Have you seen the “Gemini Killer” directed by Ang Lee?

This is Li Anji’s “School Fantasy Drifting” (2012) and “Billilin’s midfield battle” (2016), after the re-launch of the Hollywood film industry innovation.

But from the evaluation point of view, everyone is mixed with the “Gemini Killer”. Some people say that the story of the plot is simple, and there is also a manpower to make a new exploration of technology by Director Ang Lee.

In any case, the selling point of Gemini Killer is still the visual attempt of “120 frames + 4K + 3D + digital characters”, how the film approaches the reality, and how to use artificial intelligence to create a “young version” “The virtual character.”

In fact, Li An’s “fascination” with technology actually began with “The Pirates of Pioneer Pi”. The 3D technology has not yet matured, but Li An insisted on choosing the 3D method and got the 85th When Oscar was the best director, Li An said frankly about the hardships of the filming process. “Sometimes I can’t even shoot a shot for 12 hours in the evening.”

In the “Billilin’s midfield battle”, Li An was the first to present “120 frames + 4K + 3D” in front of the global audience, revolutionizing the visual language of the film.

“Gemini Killer” Li An once again took the lead in revolutionizing film technology. On the basis of “120 frames + 4K + 3D”, he directly created a digital character using AI technology!


How does ian integrate technology into narratives in the AI ​​era

In the “Gemini Killer” is not a story-attracting point of view, the Digest of the bacteria is small and spoiled!

In the movie, Will Smith is a two-pointer. He also starred in the 50-year-old agent Henry and the 23-year-old agent Junior, the “old version” himself and the “young version” himself.

Although it sounds no different from previous technical implementations, in other words, “Gemini Killer” fully realizes the full-scale digitization of real-star clones, is not a big one at once Woke up!

It is not difficult to imagine the difficulty of creating a digital character. This is not a dermabrasion, nor a “face replacement”. It is a 100% visual capture of the actors.

This technology is already in the industry’s famous Vita Studio (WETA WORKSHOP), those you call the name, The sci-fi movies, which are not named, may have had a leg with them.

Official website link: https://www.wetaworkshop.com/

Vita Studios has won 6 Oscar and 10 BAFTAS nominations, and the results are quite impressive!

When creating the digital characters of “Gemini Killer”, they mainly borrowed data processing and artificial intelligence technology, and through the facial recognition device and motion capture device, the young version of the character was completely generated by digital calculation, which greatly reduced the special effects. The workload of the division.

When shooting, Will Smith will bring a head mold, and the two cameras on the mold will record all his facial expression changes in the most detailed way.

The effector then calibrates all tracking points on the face through the mold.

Then calculate and convert on the computer to reconstruct the entire face and expression details of the avatar Junior.

The final rendering effect is as shown in the figure. The young version of Will Smith not only has a fake bag, but also has a natural and rich expression.

When the young version of Will Smith was created, Vita Studio also referred to his video in his 20s, not the video that was processed in any movie, but the most authentic face in his life. status.

Director Ang Lee himself said: “This new film with Will Smith is a very special and wonderful experience, because thanks to the latest technology, I can not only be with a Will Smith. But work with both.”

It is also through the realization of digital figures that the contradictions in the film of Li An are maximized, namely, reality and fiction, oppression and resistance, watching and being watched, etc., all of which are based on On the basis of 120 frames + 4K + 3D + digital characters, it can be said that “Gemini Killer” really incorporates technology into the narrative.

However, this is not the first time the technology has been used. “Iron Man”, “Terminator” and other movies have already let the audience see the technology. Recently, the technology was also used on a large scale in Martin Siccos’s new film “Irish”. The three actors and actresses returned to middle age and staged the New York gangster legend.

However, there are also comments that are sorry for this technology. Because technology can make their faces look younger, but they can’t make their look and posture return to the prime of life. The audience can still clearly see that when the “young” Al Pacino got up from the sofa, he was slow as an old man.


The pre-AI era, those magical “easy abilities”< /p>


Before using AI technology, it is not so simple to visually implement the “modification” of the actor, because it requires the actor’s own efforts. .

Christian Bell can be said to be a model of the industry, he used the “Machinist” (2004) weight loss 63 pounds (28.5 kg), followed by “Batman Prequel 1: The Mystery of the Shadows” ( 2005)Recovering a strong figure, the 2010 Fighter once again lost 30 pounds (13.6 kg).

The film directed by Johnnie To, “Big Big Wisdom” (2003), Andy Lau put on a muscle prop and turned into a big cockroach, had to Said, this dress up makes the audience a bit of a play.

As mentioned above, whether it is “one person in the same box”It’s not the first time that “two corners” or “movie rejuvenation” have appeared. So how did they achieve it before AI technology?


“Movie Rejuvenation”: Digital Domain’s “Expression Capture”


The 2008 film “Rejuvenation” must have been deeply impressed by everyone. This is not only one of the masterpieces of the famous director David Fincher, but also Brad Pitt’s nomination for Oscar’s best actor. He played young from the old age in this movie. “Rejuvenation” also won the 81st Oscar for Best Makeup and Best Visual Effects Award.

And Brad Pitt was able to “age” successfully, thanks to Digital Domain and VFX.

They first draw the characters of three different stages of life (60, 70, 80), and then they will play The shoulders and heads of different actors of the male lord are photographed and combined to adjust the different shapes of different life stages of the same character.

These design needs to be scanned again to be combined with Pete’s live performance.

Digital Domain took PittAbout 120 expressions were then processed into different 3D models, creating thousands of Pete models. Digital Domain manages this technology called “Expression Capture.”

Digital Domain used a lot of software tools to try to get the digital model moving. They compare the similarities and differences between Pete’s live performance and expression database one frame at a time, build a CG model, and then connect the model to the live performance. .

In China, this is not a rare thing. It’s just that domestic film special effects companies use two simple steps of “skinning + wrinkle”, and the effect is not so satisfactory. For example, Jackie Chan of (2019), although the production team deliberately referred to the early Jackie Chan starring film, combined with 2D and 3D. The technical means of rejuvenating Jackie Chan, but have to say that this makeup looks completely guilty.

One ​​person is decorated with two corners: motion capture technology to achieve innovation

There was no such thing as a movie in which the AI ​​was decorated with two corners.