The Internet Stole My Face: New Advances In Technology Could Make Everyone A Digital Video Puppet

"Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see." Edgar Alan Poe wrote those words over a century ago, yet if he were alive today he may opt for the darker: "Believe nothing you hear and nothing you see." Over the past decade, advances in graphics technology have provided visual effects artists the ability to create fantastical new worlds on film and to populate those worlds with people, all with an astounding amount of realism. Of particular interest in this post is the ability of this technology to create realistic digital replicas of actors that can be manipulated like puppets to deliver new cinematic performances without the need for any further input from the actor—such as when the late Peter Cushing was digitally recreated in order to reprise the character of Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.