특수분장의 재매개적 진화, <아이리시맨>의 디에이징 기법

Abstract

This study analyzed the aging special effects make-up in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) and the de-aging special effects make-up in the The Irishman (2019) in stages. In doing so, it examined the process of up in remediation that the analog/practical aging make-up has been repurposed to the de-aging make-up in particular by digital media. The coexistence of the practical aging make-up with using tissue papers and the digital special effects make-up, such as the synthesization of 3D scanning of the actor’s maquettes and the actor’s actual facial expression, made The Curious Case of Benjamin Button the remediational turning point from the analog technique to the digital, while digital media involved in most scenes in The Irishman, made the main actors’ faces look younger according to age stages. The film useed the three-camera-rig to create 3D images of actors acting. After extracting the actors' actual expressions as 3D images, the actors' young faces obtained as a result of machine learning about past video materials were synthesized here. Furthermore, a software called Flux was developed and used to add light and shade to the synthesized face in harmony with the set environment, and at the same time, to perform fine facial expressions. The de-aging technique of The Irishman is the latest in the genealogy of special effects make-up and most cutting-edge technology, as digital media immediately repurpose the traditional aging make-up. Accordingly, the de-aging shows following technological merits and/or importance. First, it can provide greater efficiency in the actor's physical condition and acting compared to the practical makeup. Second, compared to the performance capture technique, which can be seen as a type of special effects make-up, it can give greater freedom of acting and directing to both actors and directors. Third, the de-aging can be said to be a combination of the pros and cons of actual special makeup and performance capture in that unlike performance capture, which allows the actor to accurately recognize the other actor's surroundings only through a computer monitor, the de-aging can freely act in harmony with the surrounding environment and the other actors in the set as if the actor had practical make-up. Fourth, by not performing animation, the de-aging can find its value in terms of the fundamental truthfulness of acting beyond the plausibility of representation. Finally, the technique reduced the possibility of excluding respected actors with long experience in acting and maximum life experience from the role just because they are old. The significance of this study can be said that the theory of remediation of new media in the area of cultural studies was expanded to the film area of special effects make-up, and the technological importance of the de-aging technique was extracted. What the process of remediation was discussed with only two films among the various films in which special effects make- up was used can be viewed as the limitation and efficiency of this study as well.