Zemeckis' "A Christmas Carol" Dazzled My Senses

One of Disney's biggest releases this holiday season is the new film written for the screen and directed by Robert Zemeckis, titled A Christmas Carol. The film uses some of the most advanced 3D technology, but was shot with real actors using performance capture.

One of the reasons the film works so well, in my opinion, is because of the brilliance of Jim Carrey. Carrey plays the lead, Ebeneezer Scrooge, and also plays the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. His incredibly expressive face was covered in small white motion capturing balls, than then transfer his movements, however subtle, back to a computer to be edited. Jim Carrey's infamous ability to morph his face to any form is what made all of his characters stand out, and what the made the characters in the film seem so realistic.

For example, view the image to the left for the incredible transition from real life to cinema that Zemeckis was able to do using his performance capture technology. Still, it wasn't just Carrey's facial expressions that made his performance work. The performance capture process is able to mimic body movements as well. Even the nervous twitching of fingers, that Carrey as an actor, does will translate to the screen and add detail and depth to his character.

This care for detail was taken to great extents by Robert Zemeckis as well. He made sure that every small detail of each shot was planned out, and added great depth and environment to each scene. The original artwork for the film, shown in the picture (right), is a wonderful example of Zemeckis' attention to detail. Each individual
snowflake was created and rendered to fall at a realistic pace in the film. Chimney smoke rises from the homes in the background, and men riding horse-drawn carriages are everywhere.

All of the extreme care to detail in environment, acting by Carrey, and the incredibly nature of Performance/Motion capture technology made A Christmas Carol worthwhile to see, to me. Many of my peers had an initially negative reaction to the film because it's incredibly stylized nature, but for me, that's what I enjoy about it.

-Brian