Recently Tested's own ex-mythbuster, Adam Savage got an exclusive look at one of WETA's incredible props for the upcoming Ghost in the Shell (2017), which stars Scarlett Johannson as Major Makoto Kusanagi. WETA created all the props for movies such as Lord of the Rings, Elysium, Avatar & many more. These expertly crafted props and models have stunning detail and functionality, for a prop that's only seen for moments on-screen. Take a look at the video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KosBvDyWgnA
Richard Taylor, legendary prop designer shows us the detail on all of the robot-geisha. The western remake is slated to use many physical props and effects like this, to bring a real grounding to the film, rather than simply just rely on computer generated effects. These Geishas look like porcelain dolls, and are wearable by an actress, despite the mask's complexity.
Inside the mask, we see fans and many other flourishes that make this comfortable to wear. The masks were milled and modeled with the hair being 3D printed. With the full-body model, we see intricate details inside the geisha-robot, which was inspired by both future technology and old-school mechanical automation. We see that the design of the geisha also contains animatronic aspects to it.
The number of animatronics in Movies have dwindled over the years, with the rise and advent of CGI. However many film-makers are now coming back to the old school art, with consideration to the physicality of the props that simply cannot be replicated with CGI. It takes one look at some bad CGI to know that sometimes, it's better to stick to traditional disciplines. The geishas are a testament to physical model work, with each of the geisha heads taking hours of hand-crafted work to bring to that level of detail.
Ghost in the Shell (2017) is shaping up to be both an incredibly faithful remake of the Anime classic, why not take a look at the trailer below!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRkb1X9ovI4
