I’ve always understood it as the perception that something isn’t quite right (usually with a person, but I’ve seen it used in non-human contexts too) without being able to immediately describe why.
A great example is Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One - the actor who played him on the original trilogy died in 1994, so they just deep-faked him into the scenes he was needed. When I saw Rogue One initially, I didn’t know that actor was dead, and didn’t connect the dots that even if he wasn’t dead, he’d look like a zombie this many years after filming the OT… but in Rogue One, he just looked like Tarkin. Mostly. The scenes that featured him gave a kind of uncomfortable “what the hell is wrong with that guy” feeling, but I still didn’t connect the dots and couldn’t put my finger on why it looked so wrong.
Then later I learned is was a deep-fake, and now it just looks like a deep-fake; the uncanny valley sensation went away once I finally understood why he looked the way he did.
The internet is full of creepy looking ‘examples’ of uncanny valley, but they’re all shit imo, cuz they’re all just blatantly creepy shit; well beyond the uncertainty that goes along with uncanny valley.
Yea once you know why it looks off, it switches from uncanny to plain ol creepy. At least, subjectively for me it does - idk if that uncertainty is definitively a criteria for uncanny valley, but that’s what makes it a distinct experience from creepiness imo.
I’m decently familiar with deepfakes and I totally didn’t notice Tarkin being off when I saw Rogue One in theaters. I was like, “Wow, that actor has barely aged a day since the original trilogy. Good for him.” I later learned about it being special effects and was like “Damn, they did a good job. Totally fooled me.”
Like, I can see it when I look at it now, only after being told. But the first time, on the big screen? Didn’t notice at all.
I’ve seen some really neat deepfakes over the years. One of my favorites replaces Jack Nicholson with Jim Carrey in “The Shining”, so the creepiness kinda helps, lol
I’ve always understood it as the perception that something isn’t quite right (usually with a person, but I’ve seen it used in non-human contexts too) without being able to immediately describe why.
A great example is Grand Moff Tarkin in Rogue One - the actor who played him on the original trilogy died in 1994, so they just deep-faked him into the scenes he was needed. When I saw Rogue One initially, I didn’t know that actor was dead, and didn’t connect the dots that even if he wasn’t dead, he’d look like a zombie this many years after filming the OT… but in Rogue One, he just looked like Tarkin. Mostly. The scenes that featured him gave a kind of uncomfortable “what the hell is wrong with that guy” feeling, but I still didn’t connect the dots and couldn’t put my finger on why it looked so wrong.
Then later I learned is was a deep-fake, and now it just looks like a deep-fake; the uncanny valley sensation went away once I finally understood why he looked the way he did.
The internet is full of creepy looking ‘examples’ of uncanny valley, but they’re all shit imo, cuz they’re all just blatantly creepy shit; well beyond the uncertainty that goes along with uncanny valley.
Ah see I knew about Tarkin going in and saw the CGI. I just recognized it at that, nothing weird.
Yea once you know why it looks off, it switches from uncanny to plain ol creepy. At least, subjectively for me it does - idk if that uncertainty is definitively a criteria for uncanny valley, but that’s what makes it a distinct experience from creepiness imo.
I’m decently familiar with deepfakes and I totally didn’t notice Tarkin being off when I saw Rogue One in theaters. I was like, “Wow, that actor has barely aged a day since the original trilogy. Good for him.” I later learned about it being special effects and was like “Damn, they did a good job. Totally fooled me.”
Like, I can see it when I look at it now, only after being told. But the first time, on the big screen? Didn’t notice at all.
I’ve seen some really neat deepfakes over the years. One of my favorites replaces Jack Nicholson with Jim Carrey in “The Shining”, so the creepiness kinda helps, lol