A Christmas Carol will boast a phototextural look, and will be more advanced than Monster House (above), and closer to Beowulf. © 2006 Columbia Pictures Industries Inc. and GH One LLC. All rights reserved. 

BD: So what's it like doing phototextural Dickens?

DC: What we're doing is going back to the original story and creating the ideal version of Dickens' world as if we were going into his mind. And, of course, it's being fused with Bob Z. And we can stylize the environments along with the characters so it's being designed with the simple purpose of telling a great story.

BD: And how are you improving performance capture?

DC: The technology is getting more refined and so this time around we're trying some different things: basically, the headcam, and we're going to constantly evolve that technology. What we discovered is it gave such fidelity to the facial performance that it captured the nuances we needed to convey the emotional impact. We've perfected it for our purposes and we've really defined what it is. An what we're doing with the company is making a lot of things and exploring and keeping a very open mind about what the tools are and pulling the best from each of these components. Sometimes the technology we need doesn't exist so we create it ourselves. The great thing about ImageMovers Digital is that we are not bound by any legacy software, any legacy pipeline.

Chiang and his team are refining performance capture on Carol by utilizing such technology as the headcam, which better conveys facial emotion. Above is Beowulf's innovative capture work. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.

BD: Are you still using markers or transitioning to marker less?

DC: A little bit of both.

BD: How are you dealing with The Uncanny Valley?

DC: It's always going to be an issue. People always ask if we're falling in it. We will get past it, for sure. But that's not necessarily the goal. We don't want to make the perfect live-action person. But everyone is still learning about what makes a human: human and there are some very subtle nuances. But eventually we'll get it. And I think you'll see on A Christmas Carol that we've gotten a lot closer to overcoming it, just in terms of the actual performances, there are things that we are bringing out that have never been seen before. We are taking those moments and finding the important elements of what really cues people to reality and lifelike performances and exaggerating those.

BD: And how has recruiting gone for you? I've noticed that you have artists who have worked at ILM, Sony Pictures Imagesworks and The Orphanage.

DC: We've been very fortunate in finding some of the best people in the field, from visual effects to animation to live action. They're all able to see the potential of what this art form can be, and so everyone is bringing their best skill set to it. And our strength is that we're not locked into any style. Ultimately, there will be a look for what these types of films can be, but I think the strength comes from the eclectic nature of everyone's background.

Bill Desowitz is the senior editor of VFXWorld and AWN.