A Halloween album that doesn't even include 'Is it Scary'.
Go read the press release, its states that it's a collection of his "all-time most electrifying and danceable tracks". Outside of the chorus, Is It Scary isn't really danceable and thus wasn't included. Look at the other tracks and they're easy to dance to
These guys have access to thousands of hours of video that MJ filmed in his lifetime, endless takes of songs for deluxe editions without dipping into unknown songs, they have actual 3D model of MJ's face (yet choose not to use it for hologram?). I could go on but who has the time.
There's actually a myriad of technical reasons as to why they do not immediately utilise the digital model made of Michael's face:
- Digital obsoletion. One issue digital archivists face is older, proprietary formats becoming obsolete or abandoned by their creators, therefore making it a lot harder to get access to in the future. If the programs are abandoned, it means you not only need to keep access to a copy of the old program, but also an operating system that is compatible. It's possible the digital files for Ghosts face this, probably not but still a possibility.
-There's also the issue that maybe they no longer have a copy of the digital scan for whatever reason.
-The model was scanned in 1996. The technology for scanning faces into 3D models has come a veerryyy long way since then. While it might look alright to our untrained eyes, to professionals who are familiar with complex 3D modelling, it might simply not be high quality enough.
Ignoring all of this, there is the fact
they actually did scan a 3D model made of Michael Jackson's face during the production of Ghosts:
Read this link here:
https://www.fxguide.com/featured/the-technology-of-michael-jackson-reborn/ It describes how they used an actual plaster life cast made of Michael's face in 1997 by Stan Winston. However as great as the cast was, it was good for measuring the dimensions of his face but it did not give accurate skin pore textures. In fact, due to pressure from the plaster they also faced additional issues with the cast. On top of this, it's only in one pose. Often when they scan your face for digital reproduction, they get you to do numerous poses. If they could just use the 1996 digital scan as a base, they would but they either couldn't get access to the digital files, or the physical cast made was more accurate than a 1996 digital model (another very possible case).
I think also that many people don't understand how
extremely difficult it is to make a realistic, digital human face and animate it (understatement!!!!). It's not as simple as just grabbing a scan from 1996 and everything's hunky dory, even today filmmakers with technology that are thousand times more powerful than what they had access to in 1996 still struggle. 2016's Star Wars: Rogue One film featured 2 characters with digital human faces, one of them 'portrayed' by Peter Cushing who had been dead since 1994. Many people who weren't aware of his death thought he was real, but a number of people still noticed he was a bit off. Us humans are extremely good at noticing when a face is slightly off, which just makes it even harder.
Keep in mind that ILM had access to far superior and greater state of the art technology than the studio that worked on MJ. Even though we've come along way in a matter of years, their models weren't perfect even if they're some of the greatest CGI I've ever seen.
Criticise the dancing of the hologram if you want because frankly the dancing was certainly nowhere near MJ standards, plus it was obtained through easier and more accurate methods. Just understand that presenting an accurate, realistic digital human face and animating it is actually extremely difficult, especially if the actor isn't here.