Realism as it pertains to 3D and Film

Although the concept of realism is a many faceted and complex one which has been contemplated by philosophers and artists alike through the ages, I have chosen to for now look at one particular aspect which I feel both interests me and is well suited to a discussion of realism as it pertains to animation and film I am referring to the aptly named "uncanny vally"

Etymology

uncanny + valley, from Japanese 不気味 の 谷 (ぶきみ の たに, bukimi no tani), uncanny valley, first used in 1970 by roboticist Masahiro Mori

Noun

uncanny valley

A range of appearances, mannerisms, and/or behaviors subtly different from humanoid in an otherwise humanoid figure that may cause negative reactions, such as fear, discomfort, or revulsion.

References

1970: Masahiro Mori, The Uncanny Valley (Energy, 7(4), pp. 33–35)

So in this case, the appearance is quite human like, but the familiarity is negative. This is the uncanny valley.

2006: Sebastiano Bagnara, Gillian Crampton Smith, Theories and Practice in Interaction Design

However, when the robot is so similar that it may be momentarily mistaken for real, the transition has a local minimum characterized by a sudden decrease of familiarity, the "uncanny valley"—a dip of frustration due to unmet expectations.

2007: Jonathon Keats, Control + Alt + Delete: A Dictionary of Cyberslang

Almost human in appearance, yet not quite, the characters in 3-D computer animations are more disturbing than overt caricatures. The realm these creatures occupy is called the uncanny valley....

thanks wiktionary - http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/uncanny_valley

The reason this idea of the uncanny valley is relevant to the field of 3D digital art should be quite obvious I just need to reference 'Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within' or 'Final Fantasy: Advent Children' for it to be clear that this is not a problem the film industry has not always successfully avoided, it can be argued that 'Avatar' escaped the valley but there is still a significant group of people who found the digital characters made them uncomfortable if not revolting.

I think that this is an important issue as it limits the use of realistic CG characters in film. Synthespians (digital actors) I think are the future of all mainstream films, they can be designed to be perfect for a role, do not need payment and will never question a role, and of course you can do things with synthespians that would be impossible to do with a real actor. (Synthespians would also revolutionise the pornography industry)

This is an example of how NOT to do it.

And below is a video demonstrating very clearly how the addition of movement to a figure which already looks uncanny can exponentially increase the creepiness.