The Creepy Express
Hollywood is aware of the potential for the near human to alienate audiences. After working as a lead animator on The Polar Express, a movie criticized for its characters’ high creep quotient, Kenn McDonald and his colleagues at Sony Pictures Imageworks watched the film about five times and, in subsequent projects, decided to animate the rapid, small eye movements called saccades. “If you get the eyes right, everything else is icing on the cake,” McDonald says. Without invoking roboticist Masahiro Mori’s uncanny valley specifically when designing characters, Pixar Animation Studios does not stray far from Mori’s advice. “If your goal is to create realistic humans,” says Pixar production designer Ralph Eggleston, “you run the risk of the audience being distracted when things aren’t just right, instead of having people pay attention to the story.”
Note: This article was originally published with the title, "Into the Uncanny Valley".
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7 Comments
Add Comment...missing the point. uncanny valley has nothing to do with beauty or the lack there of, nor of scary grotesque horror. It's that creepy feeling when you see something that looks like it should behave like a human...but for some strange reason it just doesn't...something you can't quite put your finger on. Now THATS creepy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this...missing the point. uncanny valley has nothing to do with beauty or the lack there of, nor of scary grotesque horror. It's that creepy feeling when you see something that looks like it should behave like a human...but for some strange reason it just doesn't...something you can't quite put your finger on. Now THATS creepy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWell, I certainly would be more comfortable with a iRobot style robot that had the advantages of being human-like in motion capabilities, but clearly not human. Also I think a successful general purpose robot that was smaller than average human would appear less threatening. Naturally there will be a market for very realistic robots, but I think it will remain specialized.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOkay, here's how see it. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The "Data" character from the star trek series was a fan favorite, because he WAS very much human. In "Lost in Space" the robot looked very machine-like, but was accepted as a member of the crew or the family, because it sounded like a human or had human traits. We also seem to love animals that perform human behaviors. I believe humans do not like things that slither or crawl upon the floors or walls, much like bugs or snakes would. Think of "Robocop" or even "Terminator" The terminator was a bad guy but you liked it. In the old Jonny Quest cartoon series, They had a giant robot spider thing with one cycloptic eye, making for an unacceptable figure. It was evil because it didn't look human. You have to go back to early stories and early films to see other examples of what would be acceptable or unacceptable. In "The Day the Earth Stood Still" we are creeped out by Klatu, because he is formless. A straight flat body and head with no discerning characteritstics. He had no nose, eyes or mouth. No ears, hair, or knees. He was 'void' of any human features, therefore he was frightening. We need to study this subject more, dig deeper into what makes humans afraid of things that don't look like them, and why we love and trust things that do.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnything which is just "slightly wrong" is inclined to induce unease. That isn't limited to appearance or behaviour of human analogues. The reason behind this is an obvious evolutionary advantageous trait too. eg becoming alert when a predator camoflague just fails to be indisguishiable to the background.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisUsing hollywood footage is not an answer to me. We must remember that those people were payed to act in a certain way. Even if the robot creeps you out, a laugh track might tell you to feel other wise. I believe our inability to read the motives, especially in facially muscles and or body language causes some warning signal, and puts us on guard. Our genes say to kind to those of like and wary of those unlike. Robots don't wear jeans now thats creepy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't think using hollywood footage is the answer. People in film are paid to portray an image regardless of their true feelings. A laugh track can tell you to accept some very creepy stuff. I think that the inability to determine motive through facial expression and body language are a big part of the creep factor.
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