technological construction of performance: case of andy serkis

108 Pages·2017·1 MB·English

TECHNOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION OF PERFORMANCE:
CASE OF ANDY SERKIS

A Master’s Thesis

by
CEREN BALCI

Department of
Communication and Design
İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University
Ankara
December 2016

To Cansın
TECHNOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION OF PERFORMANCE:
CASE OF ANDY SERKIS

Graduate School of Economics and Social Sciences
of
İhsan Doğramacı Bilkent University

by
CEREN BALCI

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
MASTER OF ARTS

in

THE DEPARTMENT OF
COMMUNICATION AND DESIGN
İHSAN DOĞRAMACI BİLKENT UNIVERSITY
ANKARA

December 2016

ABSTRACT

TECHNOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTION OF PERFORMANCE:
CASE OF ANDY SERKIS

Balcı, Ceren
M.A., in Media and Visual Studies
Supervisor: Assist. Prof. Dr. Colleen Kennedy-Karpat

December 2016

Performance in film can be considered as a construction that goes beyond mere
recording of the actors to comprise a synthesis of discrete elements that have been
removed from their original contexts, rearranged, and reshaped. Today, owing to
digital effect technology such as motion capture and digital compositing, the film
industry shows an advanced degree of these processes that allows filmmakers to
influence, reconstruct, and even alter the actor’s performance. This study examines
the technological construction of performance, dealing especially with motion
capture technology in Hollywood blockbusters. This study relies on an analysis of
specific performances in order to explore how they have been constructed with the
help of technological intervention. As the main case study, the career of Andy Serkis,
the most visible example of the motion capture actor, is analyzed to understand and
discuss how the technology is perceived in terms of screen performance.

Keywords: Andy Serkis, Motion Capture, Performance Capture

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ÖZET

PERFORMANSIN TEKNOLOJİK İNŞASI:
ANDY SERKİS VAKA İNCELEMESİ

Balcı, Ceren
Yüksek Lisans, Medya ve Görsel Çalışmalar
Tez Yöneticisi: Yrd. Doç. Dr. Colleen Kennedy-Karpat

Aralık 2016

Film performansı; yalnızca aktör perfromansının kaydedilmesinin ötesinde, orjinal
içerikleri yeniden düzenleyen ve şekillendiren belirli ögelerin sentezi olarak
düşünülebilir. Bugün, hareket yakalama ve dijital birleştirme gibi görsel efekt
teknolojilerinin gelişimiyle birlikte, film yapımcılarının, aktörün performansını
yeniden yapılandırmasına ve hatta değiştirmesine tanık oluyoruz. Bu çalışma, film
performansının teknolojik inşasını incelemektedir. Özellikle Hollywood
filmlerindeki hareket yakalama teknolojisini göz önüne alan bu çalışma, teknolojik
müdahale ile ortaya çıkmış olan belirli performansların analizine dayanmaktadır. Bu
teknolojinin film performansı açısından nasıl algılandığını anlamak ve tartışmak için;
ana vaka incelemesi olarak hareket yakalama teknolojisinin en gözle görünür örneği
olan isim Andy Serkis ve kariyeri seçilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Andy Serkis, Hareket Yakalama, Performans Yakalama

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere thanks to my advisor Assist.
Prof. Dr. Colleen Bevin Kennedy Karpat. With an endless patience and intellectual
contributions, she guided me through the development of this thesis.

I would also like to thank Assist. Prof. Andreas Treske and Assoc.Prof.Dr.Selçuk
Göldere for their valuable critics and comments on this thesis as members of my
thesis committee.

I also thank to my friends; Gökçe Evren, Özge Özer, Hatice İçer, Begün Erbaba, İpek
Altun, Aygen Ecevit for their precious companies.

I would like to thank my cats Pickle and Onyx for keeping company, sitting with me
for hours during the writing process.

The lastly and mostly, I would like to thank my family: my grandmother Fatma
Karakaya, my mother Meral Balcı, my father Rıdvan Balcı and especially my brother
Caner Balcı for their limitless patience, trust, support and love from the beginning of
the study.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………….. iii
ÖZET ………………………………………………………………………………. iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………………………………… v
TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………………... vi
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ……………...………………………...…….…... 1
CHAPTER II: DEFINING AND ANALYZING SCREEN PERFORMANCE ….... 6
2.1 Brief History of Screen Acting ………………………………………… 6
2.2 Method Acting in Hollywood ………………………………………….. 7
2.3 Questions of Presence and Authenticity ……………………………… 12
2.4 Mediation of Screen Performance ……………………….…………… 15
2.5 Performance and Sound ………………………………………….…… 20
2.6 Changing Concepts of Acting ………………………………………… 24
2.6.1 Acting in the Digital Age …………………………………….. 24
2.6.2 Technically Enhanced Performance ………………………..... 27
2.7 Motion Capture Technology ……………………………….………….. 30

CHAPTER III: CASE STUDIES ……………………………..…………….…..…. 34
3.1 Hollywood Examples ………………………………..………..……….. 34
3.1.1 The Polar Express and the Uncanny Valley ………………..... 34
3.1.2 Brad Pitt in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ……….…. 40
3.1.3 Zoe Saldana in Avatar ………………………………....…...… 49

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3.2 Case of Andy Serkis ………………...…………………………………. 56
3.2.1 Andy Serkis in Blockbuster Movies:
Gollum and Caesar ……………..……………………………. 56
3.2.2 Serkis as Actor ………………………………….………….… 71
3.2.3 Serkis as Star …………………………………...……………. 77

CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION ………………………………………………..…. 85
REFERENCES ………………………………………………………….………… 89
FILMOGRAPHY …………………………………………………………...…….. 96

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