SSC Film Studies

The article 'Native images: the otherness and affectivity of the digital body' is written by Adam Davis. 

The article is about how technology can shorten the gap between the 'photographic' (Humans, animals, etc.) and digital objects, eg the dinosaurs in Jurassic park. 

The article makes the point that the creation of non existent objects such as dinosaurs can be created by; CGI, 3D computer graphics,  stop motion animation and animatronics. 

The article gives examples of how the different ways non existent objects were created in the first Jurassic Park by Steven Spielberg. The article includes images of the dinosaurs that were created and explains how, for example:

The article continues below the image explains "The animated creature is situated as ‘intruding’ on photographic space. The spectacle is more than simply seeing a dinosaur, but also seeing it as if it were photographed."

The article continues to state that for the characters to come into contact with the dinosaurs a different approach has to be taken, the different approach being animatronics. Animatronics are essentially are mechanical robot dinosaurs that can be physically touched. The difference/ benefit of animatronics in contrast to CGI is "Animatronic dinosaurs share profilmic space and can be touched.". Essentially to cause one of the characters to come into physical contact with the dinosaurs it would have to be done by animatronics and cannot be done to the full effect by CGI alone. 

The use of animatronics is used throughout the film, the most famous scene is when one of the characters is eaten:

The article continues to say that the change in technology has changed the way non existent objects are created, the main example being the Na'vi from the film Avatar. 

The article continues to say how CGI was used by Cameron in the Avatar films to create a realistic looking Na'vi, an example being the selected image: