What is the "Uncanny Valley?" And How Animators Can Use it Effectively.
Can animation be too real?
You probably know the feeling if you've ever watched a movie with CGI. It looks more real than usual, but the feeling is unusually strange.
Robotics engineer, Masahiro Mori, called this the "uncanny valley" phenomenon. Researchers are now studying these strange phenomena as our entertainment becomes increasingly hyper-realistic.
What is the "uncanny valley"?
The "uncanny valley" is a term used to describe the feeling where an artificial representation of a human becomes unsettling or disturbing to look at as it becomes increasingly realistic.
According to researchers, the rise of AI, robots, and CGI alone would not be enough to cause us to be afraid. The uncanny valley only appears when these technologies are combined with increasingly realistic visuals.
Here's a graph that explains the uncanny valley in a nutshell:
The uncanny valley lives somewhere in the middle, between somewhat human and fully human.
This means you might feel the same "likability" or affection for cartoon characters with big, round eyes and small mouths (e.g., anime) and your co-worker.
It also means that there is such a thing as "too real" or "not real enough."
How to use the uncanny valley?
The obvious way to use the uncanny valley is for horror and thriller.
A good example is the anime Flowers of Evil.
The author, Shūzō Oshimi, based his series on the (in)famous French poetry of Charles Baudelaire, published under the same title (Les Fleurs du mal) in 1857.
The poems are known for their dark and erotic themes and their exploration of the beauty and ugliness of modern urban life. These themes are mirrored in the anime and manga series.
The anime follows the story of Takao Kasuga, a high school student who is an avid fan of Baudelaire's poetry.
One day, he steals a female classmate's gym clothes, his initial love interest, and is caught by his other classmate Sawa Nakamura. Nakamura blackmails Kasuga into becoming her boyfriend and helping her with her deviant goals.
The story explores the themes of guilt, obsession, and the blurred lines between good and evil as Kasuga becomes increasingly entrenched in Nakamura's schemes.
The original poetry collection was considered quite scandalous at its publication, and several poems were banned. Despite this, it is now considered a classic of French literature.
The animation technique in Flowers of Evil combines traditional hand-drawn animation and digital compositing. This rotoscope-like effect was achieved by filming the actors performing the scenes against a green screen and then using compositing software to combine the live-action footage with the hand-drawn animation.
Using rotoscoping to achieve a semi-realistic yet uncanny valley effect is perfect for a psychological thriller.
This is especially true in Flowers of Evil which blurs the lines between horror and beauty, good and evil. The uncanny valley effect helps us feel the uneasiness of a "grey" aesthetic and morality.
Sources
Kätsyri, J., Förger, K., Mäkäräinen, M., & Takala, T. (2015). A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses: Support for perceptual mismatch as one road to the valley of eeriness. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00390
Flowers of Evil. Directed by Hiroshi Nagahama, Zexcs, 2013.
