HP_Wuvcraft
Banned
Well, that's amazing.
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Homer Simpson to go live on "The Simpsons'" May 15 broadcast
- Thread starter Kaladin
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Well, that's amazing.
Oh, there are multiple versions? You're right, the west coast one is better. I only saw the other one before and there were no good questions at all. But of course there has to be the obligatory Donald Trump mention.
The only funny background gag was Bender, though. All the others were so groan worthy...
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
It's not anything special. You can tell it's canned facial expressions and movements with random animations of other characters to make it look lively.
It's the same technology they used in the 90s when Charles Martinet sat behind a wall with a computerized Mario face that talked to people at that gaming conference.
Here it is:
http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/real-time-mario-marios-head
1992. It only took 24 years for The Simpsons to get around to it. South Park could do it if they wanted to. Or Futurama. Or Bob's Burgers. Rick and Morty. Adventure Time. Basically any animated show that uses computer vector animation which is pretty much all of them these days.
It's basically an evolution of the technology Henson uses for its puppets. Except while the input might be similar, switches and dials maybe, the output goes to a computer database of already made expressions as well as voice recognition software that interprets the voice into mouth shapes. The Simpsons could have done this as early as at least the Radioactive Man episode which was the first digital episode, (But the only one for a few years for some reason. Probably costs.) but the software probably needed to catch up.
I'll bet they do a behind the scenes at some point.
The problem with the whole thing, aside from the dumb questions, is that they only alotted him three minutes of live air time, but he spent half that time on the opening and closing remarks. Was kind of a waste in that regard.
Think what they should have done was make this a special instead of tacking it onto the end of an episode(which also suffered since it lost a few minutes of story time). The first 15 minutes of the special could've been a short with the family similar to that Maggie daycare one, then give Homer the last 15 minutes to do his live thing.
Think what they should have done was make this a special instead of tacking it onto the end of an episode(which also suffered since it lost a few minutes of story time). The first 15 minutes of the special could've been a short with the family similar to that Maggie daycare one, then give Homer the last 15 minutes to do his live thing.
UberTag
Member
I think the question selection left a lot to be desired. They really tried to go all-in with the "hey, it's live and we can prove it" angle but this resulted in practically no time to source worthwhile questions (and they even planted some from fellow writers on top of it).
I think the medium was the wrong approach for this gimmick. Instead of tacking on a segment to an episode (thus ensuring it was rushed and unremarkable) they should instead bring this tech on tour with Dan and have him make public appearances (as Homer) doing Q&As at various conventions like ComicCon and Fan Expo. Have him answer questions in character from a crowd for a full-length panel and throw footage of that up on YouTube or something after the fact.
So neat idea... poor in execution. Just like so many modern-day Simpsons scripts.
scorcher59
Member
Yeah about that...
The Real Abed
Perma-Junior
I explained it. It's just canned animations and an assortment of mouth movements being synced in real-time to Dan's voice. Everything was planned out ahead of time. All Dan had to do is talk and the software did the rest.
At least I'm pretty sure.
obin_gam
Member
Yeah, but Al Jean is a hack and doesnt know what he's doing.
UberTag
Member
It wasn't even fully automated. They had a modified control dongle to trigger specific pre-set animations on the fly.
yanipheonu
Member
Random Simpsons characters showing up for unfunny cameos with no rhyme or reason? Choppy aniamtion that gives the effect of a beloved character's corpse being puppeted around for profit?
It's a new Simpsons episode.
I appreciate they used the George Lucas approach of throwing characters and background elements on the screen hoping it'll make a good scene..
It's a new Simpsons episode.
I appreciate they used the George Lucas approach of throwing characters and background elements on the screen hoping it'll make a good scene..
UberTag
Member
This isn't even the first time they've resorted to that kind of nonsense. Check out the equally unfunny background distractions they churned out when they put out their video to quash the Homer-Marge divorce rumors from their earlier publicity stunt last fall. They think this stuff is hilarious.
Milly Osworth
Member
Wear glasses with eyes glued to them...
He he he he he
He he he he he
The episodes are still quite funny, although the humor has modernized for current youth, they just lack heart and consistency. Plots are rushed due to the episodes being shorter, characters had Flanderized a bit too much although they seem to be reversing, and they jump around way too much. Plots are like that episode where they are shopping for a funeral plot for Abe and they end up with a tennis court.
His eyes go demonic. I'm scared. Will Home become demonic too?Live2D just came out supporting it.
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