The Idea of an Essay, Volume 3

Research Writing 195 fighting one another. This is useful because it allows the directors to populate scenes without paying for extras and equipping them with all of the necessary costumes and props (Smith, Digital 2). Digital actors are also being utilized in the stunt departments of major movies. Many notable blockbusters have used virtual humans to perform stunts that are too dangerous for humans to attempt. A couple of examples are The Matrix and Mission: Impossible II. Near the end of The Matrix, there is a scene in which the main character jumps into a moving helicopter from the top of a skyscraper (Bath 1). Due to the difficulty and danger of the stunt, the director decided that the stunt would be done by a digital actor. In Mission: Impossible II, many different stunts were turned over to virtual actors, including falling from large heights and taking bullets (Smith, Reality 2). In somemovies, audiences even see themaincharacters replaced by virtual actors. Some of the most famous examples of replacing an actor entirely includeThe Strange Case of Benjamin Button and Tron: Legacy. In The Strange Case of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt played a person who aged in reverse. In order to achieve the effect of an older version of the actor, the director used a virtual human to replay the actor’s motions on the digitally aged copy (Perry 3). In Tron: Legacy, a radically younger duplication of actor Jeff Bridges needed to be onscreen with his current self. First, the director tried a traditional approach using makeup and recording two takes of the scene. This resulted in an unrealistic performance, so the director ended up using a digital actor instead (Smith, Reality 3). As more movies use this technology, it will improve in both how easy it is to use and how cheaply it can be deployed. Even though many people stress that virtual actors are almost perfect, there are those that disagree.They say that using virtual actors has severe consequences that are liable to get worse. Currently, people can start to see the results of replacing stunt actors with digital ones. Stunt actors are slowly losing their jobs as virtual actors are becoming cheaper to use and can do things humans cannot (Perry 4). If digital actors replace humans entirely, other jobs in the movie industry will be at risk as well. Jobs such as makeup artists and costume designers will become redundant without a real person to prepare. The concerns about virtual actors taking over Hollywood jobs seem small at the moment, but digital actors are getting smarter.