Re: political calls...now technology advances

["Aaron 'Bishop' Read" <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 01:22 AM 11/5/2002, Chuckigo@att.net wrote:
>1st call was to remind the absentee voter in our house to remember to send in
>the ballot in a timely fashion.  (odd that our phone number and the ballot
>request for the away-from-home student would fall into the hands of
>Stockard Channing, but at least now Ms.Channing has my phone number....)
>(snip)

Chuck, I assume that you were receiving a pre-recorded message from 
Channing...but something I'll point out is that the technology to do 
voice/video overlays (a la the recent Al Pacino movie "Simone"/"S1M0NE") is 
now at the point where Jethro Q. Thudpucker, campaign flunky, could call 
you up and sound exactly like Stockard Channing, and flirt with you to get 
you to vote a certain way.

Scary, isn't it?

In Blair Witch 2 - there's a semi-famous line (I'm paraphrasing here) where 
the main character claims that "Film lies, only video tells the 
truth!"...only in today's world that's no longer true.  Video can be 
manipulated in real time with no one the wiser...witness the first-down 
lines in football and the rotating ads behind the catcher in baseball.

At what point will an actor or actress begin licensing their likenesses to 
be digitally overlaid another, cheaper, actor/actress in a film...so the 
famous actor can star in 30 major movies in one year and rake in the bucks, 
and the studios don't have to pay that actor/actress $20 million per 
film.   Will moviegoers accept a unknown, potentially less-skilled actor 
that looks and sounds like the real thing but might not act as 
well?   Probably.   Will we as a public, then realize that most famous 
actors and actresses can't actually act?  (meaning, they play themselves, 
they aren't good character actors)  Probably not.  :-)

My money is that we see a real-life "Simone" within two years.  Maybe 
sooner if they try and keep Richard Harris on as Dumbledore in "Harry 
Potter" even though he (the actor, not the character) died.



_________________________________________________________
Aaron "Bishop" Read       aread@speakeasy.net
Fried Bagels Consulting   www.friedbagels.com
AOL-IM: ReadAaron         Brighton, MA 02135