Computer Graphics (9)
Benjamin went straight to Darian and relayed what Tom Scott, the CEO, had said.
Darian looked at him in disbelief. “How exactly does a game company think it can help me?”
“Beats me.”
“What, is he going to introduce me to a good doctor or something?”
“Maybe.”
Darian let out a dry laugh. “I’ve already seen every expensive shrink in Hollywood. They’re all hacks.”
“He’s the CEO of Legend Games. He can’t be calling you just to mess around. Why don’t we go and see for ourselves? At worst, we get some fresh air.”
There wasn’t another option anyway. If there was even a sliver of a chance, they had to try it.
Darian nodded, as if clutching at a straw.
* * *
The two of them flew by private jet to Legend Games Headquarters in Columbia, South Carolina.
Tom Scott greeted them warmly at the entrance.
“Welcome. I appreciate you making the trip.”
After the pleasantries, the three of them sat down in the meeting room.
Tom Scott spoke to them. “I’ve long been a fan, so it’s an honor to finally meet you. I think games and film have a great deal in common.”
Benjamin nodded. “I’ve heard there are a lot more games these days that feel like movies.”
“That’s right. A prime example is Hideo Kojima. He originally dreamed of being a film director, but somewhere along the way he became a famous developer instead. Even now, he prefers being called a director rather than a game director, so that’s what I call him too.”
“I think I’ve heard of him.”
“Motion capture was originally used in film, but now it’s indispensable in games as well. CG is the same. In fact, games are probably the field that uses CG most heavily, and best.”
For a long while, Tom Scott talked about the overlap between games and film. But as the conversation dragged on, Darian cut in.
“I’d rather hear how you think you can help.”
CEO Tom Scott asked, “Ah, yes. Forgive me, but I heard you’ve been having trouble acting in front of a green screen. Is that correct?”
Darian nodded. “That’s right.”
“Then you’ll already know about Loki.”
Benjamin nodded. “I do. It was genuinely shocking. The way it can create virtual humans so precisely... I couldn’t quite believe it until I inspected the footage frame by frame.”
“Legend Games has been working with Snow Crash since the earliest development stage of Loki, building new technology together. I believe this can help solve Darian Heralson’s problem.”
Darian asked, his voice sharpening a little, “You’re not suggesting you’ll have someone else act in my place and just swap my face out with CG, are you?”
Tom Scott burst out laughing at that. “Ha! No. In fact, making a living person’s face look exactly right is harder than making a virtual human. With a virtual human, there’s nothing to compare it against. But with a real face, there is. And even if CG can imitate the face, it’s hard to imitate the acting.”
“Then what exactly are you proposing?”
“Legend Games has used Surreal Engine to develop a technology that can replace the green screen.”
Benjamin froze. “What?”
Green screens had been used in Hollywood for decades, and they still were.
And now he was talking about a technology that could replace them?
Surely he doesn’t mean he just changed the screen’s color or something like that.
“It’ll be easier to show you than explain it here. Would you follow me?”
Tom Scott led Benjamin and Darian to a massive soundstage.
The moment they stepped inside, both men gaped.
“T-this is supposed to replace the green screen?” Benjamin asked.
Tom Scott nodded. “Yes.”
Darian stared at the enormous screen, eyes wide. “What on earth is this?”
Tom Scott smiled. “We call it Surreal Screen.”
* * *
By then, Darian’s exit had practically become a foregone conclusion, and the talk had turned to who would replace him.
Dick Rooney, Gary Coos, and Palphy Gilhully were among the famous actors whose names were being floated.
Amid all the rumors, Darian Heralson appeared in person on The Jerome Carrier Tonight Show, better known as the Jerome Show.
When news of his appearance broke, dozens of Anita supporters gathered outside the studio to protest under the banner of “Opposing the appearance of a domestic abuser,” but the network paid them little mind.
This was his first TV appearance since the trial.
The Darian-Anita lawsuit had shaken Hollywood to its core, and because of the huge reversal in the case, the public was intensely interested. The Jerome Show’s live ratings hit an all-time high.
“Tonight we’ve brought on someone with a very difficult story. A lot of people thought he was a man who hit a helpless woman, and I thought the same. But the jurors and the judge apparently saw things differently.”
The audience laughed.
“Please welcome Darian Heralson.”
When Darian stepped onto the set, the entire audience rose and gave him a standing ovation. The applause went on for a long time, almost as if they were trying to cheer him on.
After Darian took his seat, Jerome said with gentle sympathy, “You’ve had a rough time of it.”
“No.”
After Anita’s public revelations, he had been forced off not only the film he was shooting, but also films he had already completed. Every commercial he had appeared in was pulled as well.
The financial damage alone ran into the tens of millions of dollars.
He had won in court, but the money and time he had lost would never come back.
Darian spoke calmly about everything he had been feeling.
“At first I blamed everyone around me. I just wanted the whole thing to end as quickly as possible. I wanted to give up on everything and disappear somewhere, like I was running away.”
“You mean that fantasy island Barbados. Some reporters accused you of going there for a holiday.”
“That’s one way to look at it. I just wanted to get somewhere with no people and be alone. But while I was there, I happened to meet a young Asian man. He told me he believed in me. And then he asked me not to fight for my own sake, but to fight all the way through for his. The moment I heard that, I felt my head clear. If it hadn’t been for him, I might have given up on everything.”
Jerome asked, curious, “Who was he?”
“I don’t know. After we parted, I realized I hadn’t even asked his name. I do know how to contact him, though.”
“Have you called him?”
“No. I promised to invite him to the premiere, so I deliberately didn’t contact him. I figured I’d see him then.”
“I sincerely hope you meet again.”
“Yes.”
Darian went on. “In a way, I’m glad this happened to me. Otherwise I would have kept living exactly as I used to, full of my own arrogance. I used to think an actor only had to be good at acting. But through all of this, I realized something. Without the public, there is no star. Acting alone in some empty place means nothing. It only becomes meaningful when someone is there to watch you. So now I’m grateful for everything.”
Several people in the audience wiped away tears at his words, and everyone applauded.
As the talk show moved into its later segment, Jerome asked the question he had clearly prepared.
“Let me ask you bluntly. Is it true that the moment you stand in front of a green screen, you start thinking of your ex-wife and suffer panic attacks?”
Darian nodded. “It’s true.”
“I’m guessing she’s not whispering sweet nothings to you, so what does she say?”
“That’s a little hard to say here.”
“Fair enough. If my ex-wife were staring at me, I probably wouldn’t be able to do anything either.”
Jerome suddenly raised one hand and shouted, “To Dana, who had the misfortune of marrying a lousy husband... I’m sooorry!”
His playful outburst made the audience laugh.
Dana was Jerome’s ex-wife.
He could joke like that because they had remained on friendly terms after the divorce.
“I hear there’s a chance you’ll leave Liberty.”
“That’s not true. Filming is continuing without any issues, and I’m still discussing things with Director Diamindi. We’re working to make Liberty the best film it can be.”
“Have you overcome your ex-wife phobia... no, your green screen phobia?”
“Not yet. I still can’t act in front of a green screen. But I’m continuing treatment, so I believe I’ll improve little by little.”
Jerome frowned in confusion. “I don’t quite get it. If you can’t act on a green screen, how are you still filming? Without green screens, Americans wouldn’t even know what the weather was. Even if a tornado came right up to their front door.”
That was because weather broadcasts were also done in front of green screens.
Darian smiled. “Because I don’t need to act in front of a green screen anymore.”
That answer baffled not only Jerome and the people in the studio, but also viewers at home.
How on earth were they supposed to film without using a green screen?
And before long, the answer became clear.
* * *
Games were the sum total of computer graphics.
Inside a game, countless interactions unfolded on the basis of physics engines.
When a character walked across dirt or snow, footprints were left behind. When a stone hit water, ripples spread out. When a missile was fired, buildings exploded.
As game graphics had become increasingly realistic, people had naturally considered applying game engines to film.
The problem was that the quality still wasn’t high enough for cinema.
But Surreal Engine 5 was different.
At a presentation held at Legend Games Headquarters, CEO Tom Scott said, “Surreal Engine 5 can render graphics in real time that are indistinguishable from reality. It can reproduce the movement of light and shadow, and it can generate objects of complex shape.”
Surreal Engine was a 3D graphics physics engine created for game development.
Having long dominated the gaming industry with its powerful graphical performance, Surreal Engine had now risen to the point where it could reproduce live action.
Tom Scott unveiled a soundstage fitted with a massive curved LED screen.
“This is Surreal Screen.”
As the background lit up, he was suddenly standing on the moon.
It wasn’t merely that a screen was behind him; it was a perfectly CG-rendered lunar surface. When he began to walk, faint footprints appeared in the dust beneath his feet.
CEO Tom Scott explained how Surreal Screen worked.
“The background displayed on the LED screen is rendered in real time by Surreal Engine according to the actor’s movement, the camera angle, the weather, and the time of day. When the actor moves, the camera and background move with them, and surrounding objects interact. If you’ve ever played a game, the scene will feel familiar.”
Come to think of it, game engines were probably the most specialized tools ever made for building worlds.
The vast maps of open-world games weren’t all laid out at once from the beginning.
They were rendered as needed, each time the character moved to that location.
Now the screen’s background shifted to a snow-covered mountain, and snow gathered on his hair and shoulders. But then sunlight poured down, and the snow melted away almost at once.
He could move anywhere while remaining in the very same place. Every scene unfolded without the slightest sense of disconnect.
When Tom Scott snapped his fingers, he was back on the soundstage with the screen.
“The image is projected onto an LED screen, but as you’ve just seen, it is converted in real time through Surreal Engine into photorealistic 3D. Surreal Screen will change the future of the visual media industry!”
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