Fortunately, the answer is yes, of course, this is not the credit of Vayette alone. Just look at the production team of "Rise of the Apes": Weta Digital's post-production visual effects, Andy Serkis (Andy Serkis) the chimpanzee Caesar, and San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge live action capture—— These three items alone are enough to make "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" have the potential to break the "sequel curse", on a par with one of Hollywood's most successful prequels, "Batman: Dark Knight." Of course, the story itself must not be ignored, but to talk about the greatest charm of "Rise of the Apes", we must start with Weta digital and real-scene motion capture technology.
Weta Digital is the post-production visual effects production company of "Lord of the Rings", "Avatar" and "King Kong" and has won five Oscars for best visual effects. Since the innovative 3D motion capture technology of "Avatar" in 2009, Weta Digital has been at the forefront of the field of motion capture. "Rise of the Apes" follows the expression capture technology of "Avatar". In addition to wearing special tights and capturing its dynamic information from multiple fixed cameras in all directions and multiple angles, the actors who play the orangutans also need to focus on the main facial expressions. A green dot symbol is dotted on the muscle group, and a special hat is worn at the same time. A miniature camera set up on the hat records in detail all the subtle changes in facial expressions during the performance. This technology can transmit up to 95% of the actors' physical performance and facial expression information, with sophisticated post-production, to achieve extremely realistic imaging effects, making it impossible for the audience to distinguish the interaction between real and virtual characters.
In "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", the core virtual character is Andy Sekis, a high IQ chimpanzee raised by humans, Caesar. Sekis is the actor of "Guru" in "The Lord of the Rings" and King Kong in "King Kong". His role in "Rise of the Apes" is definitely not to provide a rough model for post-production to rely on. On the contrary, his performance , His eyes, emotions, limbs and subtle facial muscle changes are the real soul of Caesar's image. In other words, although Sekis does not appear in the film as a character, he is the real protagonist of "Rise of the Apes". James Frank, who plays the scientist Will, is just playing Sekis. Just lay hands.
In order to capture the possible charm of the orangutan Caesar, Sekis not only made full use of his experience files when playing "King Kong", but also made strict preparations for Caesar's role from all angles, such as watching a large number of orangutan videos and going to Rwanda for special purposes. Study gorillas and observe the daily life of chimpanzees up close. Of course, the imitation of orangutans is just the starting point. After all, the chimpanzee Caesar has the equivalent of human intelligence. What Sekis needs to express is the series of emotional changes that Caesar has experienced during the complex growth process, from joy and curiosity to confusion, anger, Calmness, sorrow, and maturity, and this series of multi-level complex emotional evolution must be expressed in a way based on apes but beyond apes, and at the same time, it must not be too wise to become a "human" performance. To do all of this, apart from Sekis's own grip on performance, another very important aspect is his real-time interaction with other actors.
Before "Rise of the Apes", motion capture must be done in an indoor studio. For example, in "Avatar", the interaction between virtual characters and real people was not filmed on the same platform. The two teams worked independently, and the results had to rely on post-production stitching. This means that when performing, the actors must imagine the reaction of the other party based on the script. Random play or some subtle "inspirational" details cannot be introduced into the performance. In "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", Weta Digital’s technology has evolved beyond the limitations of the studio. Hand-held terminal cameras have enabled many scenes to be shot in real scenes, such as the San Bruno Primate Conservation Center in California, Redwood Forest Park in California (Muir Woods) and so on. In the section where the orangutans forcibly crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and fled north to Redwood Forest Park, the orangutan actors wearing motion capture tights and wearing facial expression miniature cameras together with Caesar of Sekis and the police, pedestrians and other characters in the play At the same time chasing and fighting on the real Golden Gate Bridge, all the reactions and performances are integrated. At this point, the motion capture actors have finally officially stepped onto the stage of film actors and no longer take the second place as "special effects staff". This is a historic progress.
Having said so many technical elements of "Rise of the Apes", but the technology left the plot and it is nothing more than a dry second-rate picture display. So is this remake story itself interesting and memorable?
The most memorable detail of the movie is that Will and his girlfriend took Caesar to Redwood Forest Park to play. The three-year-old Caesar was almost one person tall. He was wearing a half-old red T-shirt and a dog leash around his neck, which was held by Wilsson. NS. Caesar loves the towering and straight redwoods. The excitement of walking through the forest has not yet retreated, but on the way back, he saw tourists with dogs in the park. Caesar stared at the dog leash in the opponent's hand and the cheerful dog, looked down at the collar around his neck, the look in his eyes immediately disappeared, and his expression was full of confusion and anxiety.
In this simple scene, there is no fierce fighting of flesh and blood, and no moral debate, but the sharpness of the problem and the anticipation of contradictions have been expressed accurately. It is undeniable that in "Rise of the Apes" there are many faceted apes and characters, and there are also quite a few unreliable preaching and sensational. But as the soul of the movie, Caesar, his growth, confusion, sadness, and anger are all So real. This is an unusual character who doesn't have lines to express his heart, relying on his eyes and expressions. With him, the meaning of "Ape of the Apes" becomes possible. This is the success of Vita Digital and Sekis.
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