The Future of Animation

I recently came across an influencer's Instagram account that caught my eye. The post that drew my attention was a photo of a girl sitting in her room next to a half unpacked suitcase. She wore a grey hoodie, a pair of blue jeans and expensive white leather boots. Her pose was casual, but confident, she was on the phone and looked like she was mid conversation with someone. The photo looked like it could have been any other intstagram influencer, the catch is: she's a robot. Her bio reads: ~ MIQUELA~ 19/LA/Robot. The LA based company Brud has created Miquela as well as four other Instagram accounts for robots that all have their own unique personalities and aesthetics. The CGI robots also have their own youtube channel and complex relationships with one another. They comment on each others posts, and promote real companies' products and fashion. They are very popular as well for not being real, as Miquela has 1.5 million followers. At first I thought this was incredibly bizarre. Why would anyone waste their time following someone who wasn't real? As I read through Miquela's Instagram, I realized how detailed the captions were, as if they were actually written by someone who was real. Miquela wrote about a fashion brand she was promoting, a recent trip she had taken to London, a girl's night in with a few of her fellow robots. Her and her fellow robot's posts had a real narrative to them. It was similar to watching a TV show or reading a book, except instead on your Instagram feed. This I think is the future of animation. CGI is moving towards realism, that eventually you won't be able to tell the difference between what is real and what is animated. And for some, the difference won't matter anyway. 

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