The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

Research Writing 193 Virtual Actors, Help or Hindrance Ryan Gordon Ryan Gordon is a computer engineering student attending Cedarville University. He enjoys writing technical papers about subjects that he is studying. Ryan’s other hobbies include reading about military and science fiction and also contributing to the field of engineering through programming. Many of the actors moviegoers see in films are nothing more than digital deception. Virtual actors are replacing human actors. As described in AI Magazine’s article “Towards Virtual Humans,” virtual actors are “software artifacts that look like, act like, and interact with humans but exist in virtual environments” (Swartout et al. 1). Experts in this field use the phrases “virtual actor” and “digital actor” interchangeably to describe the same thing (Smith Reality 1). This essay explores the discussion surrounding the development of virtual actors in the movie industry and explains common arguments for and against their development. The idea of virtual actors has been around ever since computers were able to help with movie production. The first attempt at making a digital human was in the 1986 filmYoung Sherlock Holmes. In this film, a digitally animated knight crashes through a glass window. Even though the knight’s part was small, it proved that digital actors could be integrated into movies (Bath 1). From that point on, digital actors have been a fascination of Hollywood directors. Virtual actors have evolved alongside computers in their role in movies. As digital actors were used in notable films such as Terminator 2: Judgment Day andThe Crow, the technology advanced even further. In Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the main antagonist of the film, a shape shifting terminator, was played by an actor, but every time it shape shifted, a virtual actor filled in (Bath 1). This is the first time a virtual actor switched places with a real actor during a scene.