Remember Rob and Fab? Those two guys who lip-synched their way to a Grammy? When it was found out they were faking the whole thing, their careers went downhill. But that was then. This is now. And now is oh so different.
You see, since then we have seen actual pop stars lip synch live (I’m looking at you, Britney) and even a very good band fronted by cartoon figures (Gorillaz). But let us look at the Japanese Girl band AKB 48. The pop group has been around for a while and so when new member Aimi Eguchi joined up she created a buzz. She was perfect. Maybe a little too perfect. And she was.
You see, Aimi Eguchi, it turns out, was a computer-generated composite of the real band members. Her pretty face was actually made up of the “best features” of six other members: her eyes, nose, mouth, hair/body, face outline and eyebrows were not flesh-and-blood, but cut-and-paste.
However, not everyone was quick to notice. Aimi had built up a huge fan base. “The video shocked fans of Eguchi,” reports ChannelNews Asia, “who were convinced that her features were more the result of good genes than the skillful use of computer graphics.” Below is the video that shows how they did it.
Of course the Japanese are far ahead of the US in creating synthetic characters. Hatsune Miku is a 3-D rockstar with a huge following. While the 3-D projection technology is still working through the “Ghost Phase”, eventually, it will be such that you will not be able to tell the real from the unreal on stage. With Aimi, CGI is taking the next step, and you know that Hollywood is taking notice. What if you could create an actor that takes all the best parts of Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Chris Evans and can combine them together into an ultimate leading man? Would the public buy it? We are almost at that point.
As for me, I demand the Recording Academy give the Grammy back to Milli Vanilli. They were not fakes – they were simply twenty years ahead of their time.
