Word: cg
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That's no small proposition. Lifelike skin and hair are notoriously tough to manage on computers; even Spielberg once said he'd never attempt to create CG humans. Now about 200 animators and artists, some of whom have been at it for more than two years, are laboring in near secrecy under creator and director Hironobu Sakaguchi. Veterans of Titanic and The Matrix have been drafted alongside video-game gurus from Japan...
...result of all this jiggery-pokery? It's not quite indistinguishable from reality--as with the dinosaurs and toys, there's a little too much artful puppetry in the actors' facial movements. And as the animators admit, CG lighting is still too harsh, too unnatural to reflect properly in eyes and on skin. But these are nitpicks. Fantasy isn't that far off the real thing. It's close enough to make you believe that in a couple more decades, our screens will be stuffed with synthetic thespians...
...since no miniatures were used, "for a very wide shot," says ILM's associate effects supervisor Doug Smythe, "the boat would be computer-generated as well." At times, so were the actors. During a sequence in which Clooney climbs an outrigger to cut loose a flailing stabilizer, a CG double was created for certain camera angles. (Basically, when you're not seeing Clooney's face, you're seeing a digital dummy...
...What collegiate teams are you looking to beat? CG: Well, our biggest rival is Princeton. The past year or two, their lightweight program has improved drastically and they actually won nationals last year, so they're our biggest competitor. But also Villanova and Wisconsin, George Washington and Brown also have teams...
...What are you personally looking forward to in the Head? This will be your last regatta. CG: Yeah, it's hard to believe. I think just getting out there and being able to race in front of the crowd. I mean, it's our one race that we race right by Harvard, coming by the stretch with the Weeks footbridge and past our boathouse. Most of our other races are down by MIT. And it's so loud and there are so many people watching and yelling and it's just great. My family is coming to watch...