For the first hour of the Benjamin Button movie, Brad Pitt does not appear in the flesh. His aged face is entirely a computer animation.
Here, Ed Ulbrich of Digital Domain is showing how Brad’s facial gestures trigger the animation of the old Brad head.
The video of Ed’s talk just went online, and is full of visual examples of the process of creating a digital human.
“We also had to create an articulating tongue that allowed him to enunciate his words… We had one person devoted to the tongue for 9 months.
He was very popular.”
Below, I’ll post the face maquette that was scanned in for old Brad.
After the talk, when asked if the studio could now have Brad say or do anything, Ed insisted that it required the real Brad to guide the facial gesticulations for them to look authentic, but I’m betting that’s what they had to say to put the actor at ease… and I bet they have not tested the system with a good Brad Pitt impersonator driving the animation… If we see Brad starring in 30 movies next year, then we’ll know.
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