Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.

If you aren’t currently registered to be able to read stories on the LA TIMES website, then go do so. Trust me... it’s worth it.

Now, once you’ve done that, you need to go check out a story by P.J. Huffstutter about the work that Robert Zemeckis is currently doing on THE POLAR EXPRESS, his adaptation of Chris Van Allsburg’s book about a train that takes people to the North Pole, where Santa is.

CLICK HERE FOR PROOF THAT ZEMECKIS ISN’T HAPPY UNLESS HE’S TRYING SOMETHING IMPOSSIBLE!!

Time and time again, Zemeckis has pushed the envelope of what visual effects can do in service of story, and time and time again, he manages to pull off things that no other director would be capable of.

Here’s a brief excerpt from the story:

”All of the scenes in THE POLAR EXPRESS will be shot with digital cameras in front of a blank screen, with sets to be filled in later by computers. The actors will be covered in motion-capture sensors so that each move of an arm, each flicker of an eyelid and each wrinkle of a lip will be stored on a computer and used as guide for the digital animators who will create the actual movie footage.”

And I know... you’re thinking, But what about TOY STORY and SHRECK and FINAL FANTASY and all of those? Aren’t they completely computer created?

This is different, though, stranger. I’m not sure I totally get what he’s up to. Hell, I’m not even sure the writer of that article totally gets what Zemeckis is up to. The point is, he seems determined to push himself to do something new again, as always.

Here’s another brief excerpt:

”Some of those roles will be filled by actual child actors. But others will be completely virtual, including one who represents Hanks' conductor character as a boy. The crew has spent nearly a year experimenting on ways to map Hanks' current facial and muscle structure. They plan to mix that data with photographs of the actor in his youth and backward engineer a virtual child that will resemble the adult Hanks.”

There’s all sorts of material in the piece about the impact of a film like this on the industry and the film’s potential budget. It’s a great read, so get moving.