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I wonder if in the future a new face will be created for every character in film or TV. New generations will think it strange that we had characters in differen

I wonder if in the future a new face will be created for every character in film or TV. New generations will think it strange that we had characters in different shows looking exactly the same because they were played by the same actor. And they'll never have to kill off a character because the actor quit.

toxik 5y ago
That would be too bad IMO, even with animated comics like Archer, I really enjoy this kind voice cameos and just recognizing voices from other VO work or even reality - e.g. the characters Malory Archer and Len Trexler.
londons_explore 5y ago
When compute becomes cheap, they may do that for every viewer of every show. For example, game of thrones might have it's whole cast replaced with people like locals from your hometown. None of them will be using the same brand of car as you - they'll all use whichever brand wants your custom most.
- lordnacho 5y ago
  The story itself will be made to suit you as well. They already do this with the news, so why not with fantasy universes? If you're the cynical type who things large orgs are all messed up, you get a story where the protagonist looks like you and gets stuck in the same BS that you got stuck in.
- Lio 5y ago
  ...I guess pushing that idea further, they could also replace all the product placement after a few years. For a quality show like The Sopranos, where people are still rewatching it and new generations discovering it that could be a good new source of revenue. Change all the vintage Fords to similar vintage GMs. Change Coke to Pepsi. The novelty of this happening the first time would probably get people watching by itself.
  - glandium 5y ago
    I remember seeing promotion for a system that places localized ads in real time in sports broadcast. Isn't that or something like it used nowadays?
    - dwighttk 5y ago
      Yeah nhl is using the ice to show cg ads the localization I noticed was a wataburgur ad on the ice in MN during a Dallas Stars game, but I was in NC so the localization wasn’t tailored to my location, just to average stars fan location.
    - londons_explore 5y ago
      Most football on live TV has ads superimposed onto the locations in the stadium where ads would normally appear, so that people in different countries/regions can see different ads.
      - FractalParadigm 5y ago
        I noticed this in MLB as well. Having been to the Rogers Centre/SkyDome many times in my life, it's really jarring to see them throw ads in places they've never been. Add to that the inconsistencies, and it's just a weird experience. One moment the black-cloth-covered-out camera section of the stadium is just that, the camera pans slightly and all of a sudden a large part of the 200 section is an ad for insert advertiser here. Other times you'll see what looks like on-deck circles but their location, size, and content seem to change every time that section of field is on-screen.
        londons_explore 5y ago
        Thats just badly done... The good ones use very accurate angle sensors in the camera mountings so the ads are always placed correctly, even when partially offscreen.
- bsenftner 5y ago
  I did a startup for this specific purpose. I wrote an acquired a global patent on automated actor replacement in filmed media, which included replacing actors, set pieces, backgrounds, audio elements, and pretty much anything that could be modified with personally relevant replacements. I wrote the patent in 2004, and with great personal expense it was global by 2008. My team was the VFX Academy Award winning team behind the film "Babe" (the talking pig), and our system worked. But we launch in 2008, right as the financial crisis hit, nobody believed our demonstrations of inserting their own people into video right before their eyes, but they wanted to pursue pornography. I refused to pursue phonography. Three times I managed to put together angel investment teams only to have them group-wide choose to pursue porn. I was not going to be "that guy" who ends up hated by every female alive, after a public fantasy sex site allowing anyone to Deep-Porn-Fake anyone they want goes public. So, anyway, I spent far too long pursuing the idea, went personally bankrupt, and switched to working in facial recognition. At least there nobody wants to do porn.
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    Ooh... So it expires in 2024? Thats when all this will start!
    - bsenftner 5y ago
      Due to filing the preliminary early, the expiration was 2017. Interesting about that date: the day after the patent expired Facebook announced their AR kit/library. https://patents.justia.com/assignee/flixor-inc https://patents.justia.com/assignee/flixor-inc
gambiting 5y ago
I think it will be the opposite, like in the movie "Congress" - where a popular actress sells the rights to her likeness, voice and behaviour to a movie studio, she gets fully scanned and then they proceed to make movies with "her" in it using CGI. I think people like seeing specific actors, after all that's why celebrities are a thing.
- joshspankit 5y ago
  I feel like both will happen. I can even easily imagine a world where generated actors are the norm, and there are a handful of celebrities who bring enough of a crowd to license their likeness (and emotional characteristics) to big movies that people flock to see.
- bogwog 5y ago
  AI would need to learn acting before it replaces human performers, but I think having a unique face for characters played by the same actor would be interesting. We kind of see that today with voice actors for animated characters. Audiences still recognize the person behind the character by the voice and manner of speaking, but a different “face” doesn’t diminish the experience. If anything, it enhances it.
bryanrasmussen 5y ago
>I wonder if in the future a new face will be created for every character in film or TV. New generations will think it strange that we had characters in different shows looking exactly the same because they were played by the same actor so, in the future media universe there would be no doppelgangers? Seems unnatural.
parenthesis 5y ago
There are a lot of long-running TV shows where the same guest actor appears in more than one episode playing different characters. Murder, She Wrote is a good example of this. "Now, where have I seen that actor before? ... Oh, in a previous episode of this same show." Seeing through the illusion often enhances my enjoyment, actually.
- mbg721 5y ago
  That seems to be a feature in mystery shows; Columbo did the same thing. Some actors played three or four different murderers, but also more out of the spotlight, there were recurring bit-players.
  - joshspankit 5y ago
    There are also a bunch in Star Trek, and even a few that hardcore fans miss!
    - parenthesis 5y ago
      Of course, in Star Trek different make-up can make it harder to spot. For example, James Sloyan ( https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/James_Sloyan https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/James_Sloyan ), who also appears in multiple Murder, She Wrote episodes, both as different characters and as the same recurring character!
      - thaumasiotes 5y ago
        There's one particularly galling one: Marc Alaimo has a major role as the primary villain of Deep Space Nine, Gul Dukat, appearing in 20% of the episodes. He also appears in various capacities as random single-episode characters in The Next Generation. This is mostly fine. But one of those random characters is a Cardassian Gul. (Gul Macet.) This takes place before DS9 starts airing. But it's incredibly jarring if you've already seen DS9.
        5y ago

toxik 5y ago

That would be too bad IMO, even with animated comics like Archer, I really enjoy this kind voice cameos and just recognizing voices from other VO work or even reality - e.g. the characters Malory Archer and Len Trexler.

londons_explore 5y ago

When compute becomes cheap, they may do that for every viewer of every show. For example, game of thrones might have it's whole cast replaced with people like locals from your hometown. None of them will be using the same brand of car as you - they'll all use whichever brand wants your custom most.

lordnacho 5y ago
The story itself will be made to suit you as well. They already do this with the news, so why not with fantasy universes? If you're the cynical type who things large orgs are all messed up, you get a story where the protagonist looks like you and gets stuck in the same BS that you got stuck in.
Lio 5y ago
...I guess pushing that idea further, they could also replace all the product placement after a few years. For a quality show like The Sopranos, where people are still rewatching it and new generations discovering it that could be a good new source of revenue. Change all the vintage Fords to similar vintage GMs. Change Coke to Pepsi. The novelty of this happening the first time would probably get people watching by itself.
- glandium 5y ago
  I remember seeing promotion for a system that places localized ads in real time in sports broadcast. Isn't that or something like it used nowadays?
  - dwighttk 5y ago
    Yeah nhl is using the ice to show cg ads the localization I noticed was a wataburgur ad on the ice in MN during a Dallas Stars game, but I was in NC so the localization wasn’t tailored to my location, just to average stars fan location.
  - londons_explore 5y ago
    Most football on live TV has ads superimposed onto the locations in the stadium where ads would normally appear, so that people in different countries/regions can see different ads.
    - FractalParadigm 5y ago
      I noticed this in MLB as well. Having been to the Rogers Centre/SkyDome many times in my life, it's really jarring to see them throw ads in places they've never been. Add to that the inconsistencies, and it's just a weird experience. One moment the black-cloth-covered-out camera section of the stadium is just that, the camera pans slightly and all of a sudden a large part of the 200 section is an ad for insert advertiser here. Other times you'll see what looks like on-deck circles but their location, size, and content seem to change every time that section of field is on-screen.
      - londons_explore 5y ago
        Thats just badly done... The good ones use very accurate angle sensors in the camera mountings so the ads are always placed correctly, even when partially offscreen.
bsenftner 5y ago
I did a startup for this specific purpose. I wrote an acquired a global patent on automated actor replacement in filmed media, which included replacing actors, set pieces, backgrounds, audio elements, and pretty much anything that could be modified with personally relevant replacements. I wrote the patent in 2004, and with great personal expense it was global by 2008. My team was the VFX Academy Award winning team behind the film "Babe" (the talking pig), and our system worked. But we launch in 2008, right as the financial crisis hit, nobody believed our demonstrations of inserting their own people into video right before their eyes, but they wanted to pursue pornography. I refused to pursue phonography. Three times I managed to put together angel investment teams only to have them group-wide choose to pursue porn. I was not going to be "that guy" who ends up hated by every female alive, after a public fantasy sex site allowing anyone to Deep-Porn-Fake anyone they want goes public. So, anyway, I spent far too long pursuing the idea, went personally bankrupt, and switched to working in facial recognition. At least there nobody wants to do porn.
- londons_explore 5y ago
  Ooh... So it expires in 2024? Thats when all this will start!
  - bsenftner 5y ago
    Due to filing the preliminary early, the expiration was 2017. Interesting about that date: the day after the patent expired Facebook announced their AR kit/library. https://patents.justia.com/assignee/flixor-inc https://patents.justia.com/assignee/flixor-inc

gambiting 5y ago

I think it will be the opposite, like in the movie "Congress" - where a popular actress sells the rights to her likeness, voice and behaviour to a movie studio, she gets fully scanned and then they proceed to make movies with "her" in it using CGI. I think people like seeing specific actors, after all that's why celebrities are a thing.

joshspankit 5y ago
I feel like both will happen. I can even easily imagine a world where generated actors are the norm, and there are a handful of celebrities who bring enough of a crowd to license their likeness (and emotional characteristics) to big movies that people flock to see.
bogwog 5y ago
AI would need to learn acting before it replaces human performers, but I think having a unique face for characters played by the same actor would be interesting. We kind of see that today with voice actors for animated characters. Audiences still recognize the person behind the character by the voice and manner of speaking, but a different “face” doesn’t diminish the experience. If anything, it enhances it.

bryanrasmussen 5y ago

>I wonder if in the future a new face will be created for every character in film or TV. New generations will think it strange that we had characters in different shows looking exactly the same because they were played by the same actor so, in the future media universe there would be no doppelgangers? Seems unnatural.

parenthesis 5y ago

There are a lot of long-running TV shows where the same guest actor appears in more than one episode playing different characters. Murder, She Wrote is a good example of this. "Now, where have I seen that actor before? ... Oh, in a previous episode of this same show." Seeing through the illusion often enhances my enjoyment, actually.

mbg721 5y ago
That seems to be a feature in mystery shows; Columbo did the same thing. Some actors played three or four different murderers, but also more out of the spotlight, there were recurring bit-players.
- joshspankit 5y ago
  There are also a bunch in Star Trek, and even a few that hardcore fans miss!
  - parenthesis 5y ago
    Of course, in Star Trek different make-up can make it harder to spot. For example, James Sloyan ( https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/James_Sloyan https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/James_Sloyan ), who also appears in multiple Murder, She Wrote episodes, both as different characters and as the same recurring character!
    - thaumasiotes 5y ago
      There's one particularly galling one: Marc Alaimo has a major role as the primary villain of Deep Space Nine, Gul Dukat, appearing in 20% of the episodes. He also appears in various capacities as random single-episode characters in The Next Generation. This is mostly fine. But one of those random characters is a Cardassian Gul. (Gul Macet.) This takes place before DS9 starts airing. But it's incredibly jarring if you've already seen DS9.
      - 5y ago