Bad acting and the uncanny valley

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05 Sep 2011, 5:15 pm

XFilesGeek wrote:

I believe the "creepiness" factor is one of those things that is implied and you're "just supposed to know."

Yeah, get a lot of this from other people. Just supposed to know all kinds of things that make no sense.

Quote:

The perceived "problem" with the stuff in that article is that they're taking the human form and replacing it with artifice. Most people would find a realistic-looking "fake human" to be creepy because it suggests that "real" humans could emotional bond with "fake" humans, and, eventually, said people may loose their grip on reality and start treating "real" humans like "fake" humans. Furthermore, many, many people find any alteration to the human form to be "creepy (this includes tattoos, piercings, body modifications, ect)."

It's kind of like people who get addicted to WOW. Human relationships in real life require lots of effort. Interaction with "fake" humans requires no effort whatsoever. Therefore, becoming addicted to interactions with "fake" people = creepy. People addicted to fake relationships can't be trusted to understand and appreciate "real" relationships and thus threaten the very underpinning of human society.

Personally, the only thing in that article that creeps me out in that article is putting giant contacts in your eyes. I'm very sensitive about my eyes and that's just gross.

Ouch, yeah, giant contacts seem pretty harrowing.

I don't get your comparison to WoW - interactions in WoW are with real humans, just over the internet. I know I find WoW pretty boring and frustrating when I don't have a guild (and I don't even really play these days). Could you clarify that statement a bit more?

XFilesGeek
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05 Sep 2011, 5:43 pm

Verdandi wrote:

XFilesGeek wrote:

I believe the "creepiness" factor is one of those things that is implied and you're "just supposed to know."

Yeah, get a lot of this from other people. Just supposed to know all kinds of things that make no sense.

Quote:

Sure.

While WOW players are "real," their characters are not, nor are the environments or situations. Socializing in WOW requires less "work" and would therefore appear to be less "real" than "face-to-face" interactions. Heck, one of the reasons I LIKE internet forums is because a great deal of the superficial effort is removed. I've noticed that, with some NTs, it's precisely the "work" and "superficiality" of their relationships that they think is really important. By default, people like myself, who actually prefer to interact with people via the internet, or who aren't freaked out by bonding with "machines," are considered "creepy."

I think it goes back to that article on introversion Moog posted about effort, socializing and the amount of input we provide in relationships for the expected level of output.

Just my hypothesis, of course. Feel free to dissent.

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Verdandi
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05 Sep 2011, 5:51 pm

XFilesGeek wrote:

Now that you say it that way, I agree with you. I just couldn't tell what you were saying before (that is, whether you were endorsing or reporting). Thank you for clarifying.

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05 Sep 2011, 8:48 pm

I like Keanu Reeves and I like the Matrix (which has to do with living in a simulated world).

Blade Runner has to do with hunting human 'replicants'.
I looked up Blade Runner and Uncanny Valley and found this link with the empathy test they give to see if someone is a replicant.
http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/cyborg/sachs/2.html

I'm not sure if I have that feeling or not. Two of the videos of IdahoRose could possibly make me feel weird if I watched at night.

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05 Sep 2011, 9:06 pm

I can tell bad acting. But I think mostly this is subjective. What I think is bad acting another person might think is good acting. It's just a matter of an opinion.

ActingUpAgain
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07 Sep 2011, 9:37 am

I've been acting since I was five, and I consider myself pretty good at picking up bad acting. There are many different ways to distinguish it - and it's not always "bad acting", sometimes it's just not good acting for the venue or poor character choices.

Subtlety - A really good actor (on the screen) finds ways to make you understand what he/she is thinking without ever having to say a word. This is done with body language and eye expression. The latter may be why Aspies can run into difficulty when distinguishing when one is acting poorly. This is why so many people bag on Keanu Reeves - his expressions are just too subtle or non-existent in many of his movies, thus giving the appearance of only being two dimensional.

By the way, acting on stage is much different. You have to amp up everything you do or say - subtlety is not an option, otherwise much of the audience will miss what you're doing. With film, the camera can linger on the face and help an actor communicate. Therefore, acting can be made worse with bad camera work.

Finally, directors and actor's choices on how to play a role make a big difference. An actor may be fabulous at rage, but if it's over a simple, fixable problem, they appear to be over-acting. Good actors explore all the possible emotions and responses, and good directors know which one is most appropriate for the movie. Most scenes in movies are filmed no less than three different ways in an effort to find the best approach.

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07 Sep 2011, 10:32 am

XFilesGeek wrote:

Verdandi wrote:

Okay, I read the explanations and watched the videos. I don't get it - what am I supposed to see here? Nothing looks creepy to me. These are the reasons why some people perceive an uncanny valley and react to it? What I find strange is that this is expressed as a kind of universal perception even though it clearly is not.

Edit: Except the close-up picture of Paula Deen staring straight at the camera, but those kinds of pictures always make me uncomfortable.

Edit 2: I'm not trying to come across as argumentative (I don't know if I am, but just in case) and I appreciate your explanations.

I believe the "creepiness" factor is one of those things that is implied and you're "just supposed to know."

The perceived "problem" with the stuff in that article is that they're taking the human form and replacing it with artifice. Most people would find a realistic-looking "fake human" to be creepy because it suggests that "real" humans could emotional bond with "fake" humans, and, eventually, said people may loose their grip on reality and start treating "real" humans like "fake" humans. Furthermore, many, many people find any alteration to the human form to be "creepy (this includes tattoos, piercings, body modifications, ect)."

It's kind of like people who get addicted to WOW. Human relationships in real life require lots of effort. Interaction with "fake" humans requires no effort whatsoever. Therefore, becoming addicted to interactions with "fake" people = creepy. People addicted to fake relationships can't be trusted to understand and appreciate "real" relationships and thus threaten the very underpinning of human society.

Personally, the only thing in that article that creeps me out in that article is putting giant contacts in your eyes. I'm very sensitive about my eyes and that's just gross.

Fascinating perception on the Uncanny Valley effect, XFilesGeek. Fear of humans developing "fake relationships" could could also possibly explain why children are expected to grow out of having imaginary friends, and why adults who are known to still have imaginary friends are often labeled "creepy" and/or "insane" by society at large.

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07 Sep 2011, 11:37 am

I can usually pick up very egregious bad acting. Watch The Room. It's a classic example of terrible acting (as noted by The Nostalgia Critic).

Essentially an actor is guilty of bad acting if they're incapable of making others believe they are in their role.

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