James Cameron’s Avatar was an exercise in cinematic excess. What it lacked in compelling characters, a coherent (and mature) plot, and story-telling acumen it attempted to make up for with incredible computer-generated vistas and creatures. In particular, the movie’s focal aliens, the Na’vi, were created by motion capturing actors and applying their movements to the CG models. Given that almost the entire movie is composed of Na’vi interacting with one another, this made it the most intensive, biggest performance capture production of all time.
And now it has been topped by Quantic Dream. David Cage, the somewhat eccentric head of the aforementioned studio, has made the claim that the upcoming, Ellen Page-starring Beyond: Two Souls will beat out Cameron’s special effects extravaganza on the basis of scale alone. Exactly how big was it? According to Cage, the developers shot their performance capture for twelve months. A full year, just of shooting. If nothing else, Beyond: Two Souls certainly promises to be ambitious.