‘Synthespians’ Welcome, With Human Voices

Re “Synthetic Actors Guild,” May 8: The film “Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within” is a brand extension of the game, not the other way around. Loyal gamers want the game characters up on film, not substandard human actors without the superhuman physical abilities and looks of the game avatars. Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft of “Tomb Raider” can’t possibly measure up to the almost superhuman game character done with computer-generated imagery. Is that just cashing in on the game’s success or is it a real game extension?

However, a CGI high-resolution version of Aki Ross on the big screen in “Final Fantasy” is the real thing to a gamer. The more photo-real Aki gets, the better. The point is to experience your favorite game character on a higher level in super-high-rez form on the big screen.

Scott Ross is absolutely right to question why we would create CGI actors. The one legitimate answer is obvious to gamers, and it means better branding for game developers as well as migration of the game audience to the film with a true game extension. However, as filmgoers, let’s hope there’s a story in there somewhere.

Steve Lindsey

Los Angeles

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The article on computer-generated actors was all well and good but left out a very important point. These so-called synthespians’ abilities to “act” and be convincing and interesting to an audience are completely dependent on the voice of a regular flesh-and-blood human. The credits for the film “Shrek” include the actors who supply the voices. If these projects had to depend on computer-generated voices they never would have been green-lighted. It still takes a real human voice to bring these piles of gigabytes to life.

Tim Song Jones

La Crescenta