this is bbc news, the headlines: quarantine squads in china are detaining people suspected of being infected by the new coronavirus while authorities in beijing have banned large social gatherings to control the outbreak. the number of deaths from the epidemic has jumped to over 700 — surpassing the toll from the sars outbreak two decades ago. two key witnesses in donald trump's impeachment have been removed from their posts. the us ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland said he was being recalled from his post. lieutenant colonel alexander vindman has also been sacked from his white housejob. democrat candidates trying to be the one to take on president trump will debate each other in new hampshire. on tuesday, supporters there will get to choose which one they support. all eyes are on pete buttigieg and senator bernie sanders.

now on bbc news, it's time for click. it it's time for click. is time for the oscars and we're here it is time for the oscars and we're here hand out the awards. there is best actor in a box. most surprising actor in a lead role. best performance by a jedi and best film that has not yet been made. la, la,

la, la land. it is oscars weekend and time for hollywood to give itself a pat on the back and time for the rest of us to be reminded there is a reason why the movie industry chose to live in southern california. and with all of glamorous la to choose from, they put me in a box. in a warehouse. although it is the coolest box i have been in for a while because, spoiler alert, i am have been in for a while because, spoiler alert, iam not have been in for a while because, spoiler alert, i am not really in the box! i am out here. that is virtual me and it is called portal. the box itself is real, of course and the lights inside provide the illumination for the modified human —sized 4k lcd screen on the front. this can show pre—recorded video all live images of some loon messing about in front of a camera. what's he doing? the same? oh, yeah, of

course. i must say, iam impressed. ifigured out all course. i must say, iam impressed. i figured out all these course. i must say, iam impressed. ifigured out all these reasons course. i must say, iam impressed. i figured out all these reasons why somebody might not want to do a hologram and i eliminated those reasons. that is why we develop and he is right. while i have had fun with so—called holograms over the yea rs with so—called holograms over the years they have all needed a huge set up with precisely placed projectors and enormous pieces of glass or giant mesh and dark environments to allow the images to stand out. this one, however, is compact, portable and really bright. first things first, these are not holograms. you know what i think about the term hologram. but these are the most realistic not holograms i think are the most realistic not holograms ithinki are the most realistic not holograms i think i have ever seen. the key is that this part of the screen is transparent so if the camera moves left and right you can see the background move behind the character and that really gives you a feeling

that they are there and that this is a3d that they are there and that this is a 3d image. a small piece of reflective floor and the shadow of the also captured and sent to the booth, something that really adds to the realism. it is a thumbs up from me, really. he is not too happy, however. 0h, me, really. he is not too happy, however. oh, yes, he is. # send in the clowns. with the joker leading the clowns. with the joker leading the oscar pack this weekend with the 11 the oscar pack this weekend with the ii nominations it is not hard to see how the right kind of character inside one of these devices could have a film's marketing department going nuts. i would like to see every cardboard cutout standing in a lobby replaced with a hologram portl. i want to go to a museum and then hologram einstein asks me a question. i could be the next president of the united states from his or her own campaign office into all 50 states at the same time. with the ability to hear see and interact

with the audience in real—time. the ability to hear see and interact with the audience in real-time. and david has another project on the go which is not live. pretty much the opposite, in fact. one of the most famous things about the hologram industry is bringing back the dead. digital resurrections. these are people who never gave their consent while they were alive but they have all become super famous holograms while they were alive but they have all become superfamous holograms in death. and what we are doing as we filmed half a dozen of the world's most famous icons while they were alive so they could do the performance that they want to do. they hold the microphone how they wa nt they hold the microphone how they want to, they sing the way they want to sing. it is not a body double and a c6! head, it is really them. it is less macabre and easierfor the audience to get mine. and when the time comes we can access the content and send them on tour. and, actually, that idea is where we go next. because there is currently a

trend in resurrecting dead celebrities. the technology exists to put convincing cgi versions of actors into film. it raises a lot of issues. you are tearing me apart! did you know that james dean only ever made three movies before his death in a car accident in 1955? did you also know that after his death his image rights have been handled why mark rosler at cmg worldwide. kid was killed tonight! his memory, his value still resonate with young people around the world, struggling to understand themselves as teenagers and the rebel personality ofjames teenagers and the rebel personality of james dean. so teenagers and the rebel personality ofjames dean. so it has always been important for the family that future generations remember who james dean

was. managing the business affairs of dead celebrities may sound unusual but it means that their estates get royalties from any paraphernalia that features their faces. and these days, that does not just mean mugs. we essentially want to bring james dean back so that he is an option for storytellers and for content creators to use him for traditional film, for content creators to use him for traditionalfilm, virtual for content creators to use him for traditional film, virtual reality, gaming, music, branded content. traditional film, virtual reality, gaming, music, branded contentm the first james dean gaming, music, branded contentm the firstjames dean project gaming, music, branded contentm the first james dean project will see a virtual version of this screen icon co—star in a vietnam war film called finding jack. our intention is to put together a 3d virtual james dean using all the historical data, images and pictures and video that we have had over the course of the last 64 years. we have watched

motion and facial capture technology mature over the last 15 years and it is now completely possible to ca ptu re is now completely possible to capture an actor's performance and map their movements and expressions onto a different digital being. it has created monsters. it made robert de niro and will smith young again and it has even allowed a film's production to continue after its sta r‘s production to continue after its star's untimely death. but the james dean project takes this idea to a different level. using a celebrity's likeness not because the story demands it coz some dead celebrities a bankable. it is not like you are creating a brand—new virtual being from scratch where you have to spend ample amount of capital to create the awareness for him. people know james dean. he is an icon. but this is much more than blending old existing footage into new scenes.

this needs to be a completely flexible 3d photorealistic fully animated bull believable version of animated bull believable version of a person that can act in new scenes and deliver new dialogue. and we humans may accept cgi monsters but we are biologically wired to spot any hint of a fake human. theyjust look wrong. they break the realism and they end up firmly in what is known as the uncanny valley. as i have learned about visual effect, a big part of illusion is how much time you are giving your artist to refine the work. often it is rushed and often it has been asked to do things that technology does not deliver well. previous attempts at cgi actors have been mixed and i wonder whether there is a certain quality threshold that you orjames dean's estate has to insist on? our

expectations are very high. virtual assets that we create will evolve over time. this is not a one—time and it's perfect. it will evolve. so oui’ and it's perfect. it will evolve. so ourjames dean that we will raise for this movie may be a little different than the james dean we release a later date. of course there is more to an actor than just theirface. there is more to an actor than just their face. that is just one there is more to an actor than just theirface. that isjust one part there is more to an actor than just their face. that is just one part of their face. that is just one part of the entire performance package. their face. that is just one part of the entire performance packagem you are going to take an actor and put them into something new you need to find a reference for them. you need another acted to do it. how much is it then their performance? orcan you much is it then their performance? or can you just take stuff from things i have already done but then it is not original. it is a bit of a minefield. unsurprisingly, some actors have themselves expressed their annoyance. i don't think this is going to be replacing actors that are alive because they have talent

that nobody can achieve unless you are physically alive, to be able to make adjustments on the fly. but i also think that working with a virtual star individual being makes it easier to release and market content in the future. sometimes it is very easy to use a digital asset to promote what you were trying to get viewers to see versus hiring actors to promote content. that costs additional capital. so basically living actors, human actors are a bit of a pain and you would rather work with avatars? to some extent. it is easy to work with deceased celebrities. hello and welcome to the weekend take. it was the week that uber received a permit that could allow itself driving cars back onto californian roads for

testing nearly two years after a fatal accident in arizona. the uk government is bringing a ban on petrol diesel and hybrid car sales forward from 2040 22035. and google's location data tracking is now under a probe by the european regulator. it says it will establish if google was operating illegally and with clear transparency. an artist in berlin tricked google maps into saying there was a trafficjam by dragging a wagon of smart phones around the street. he searched for directions on the mat at on 99 secondhand mobile the verses before hitting the streets. scientists have successfully tested a device that prints by a wing skin. this artificial skin, first tested on pigs, is now a step closer to using human burn clinics. scientists in israel have developed a tiny robot that can transform shape to step up and over obstacles. the reconfigurable continuous track robot uses just three motors to flex

its body on a link by link basis to build its own track in the air. and finally, a 125—year—old film of a train has had an ai update. you to be used in neural network to scale the famous short into 4k so crisp it could have been shot i am modern smart phone. 0h, oh, jenny, you are so cute! she is said to be the most realistic robotic animal and i can tell you she feels pretty real. that knows almost feels wet and squidgy. and these dementia patients at las vegas's senior living facility seem pleased to meet her. you are a good dog. she is awesome. you look real.

look at those teeth. jim henson's creature shop is responsible for the lifelike look, feel, movements and behaviour that have been built on top of this sensor embedded voice co ntrolla ble top of this sensor embedded voice controllable robot. there is a great deal of research on the benefits of live animal therapy for seniors with dementia. it helps soothe behavioural and psychological symptoms and reduces the need for certain medications. the problem is many seniors can no longer safely ca re many seniors can no longer safely care for or have a live animal around them. with robotic animals it is important to introduce them early in the disease progression so that they have the cognitive abilities to form that attachment so when they are ata form that attachment so when they are at a later stage in dementia, the animal is already something that they turn to for comfort. it is a dog. i thought it was a real dog. this is really quite a strange

experience because the dog does almost feel real and sound real. and everybody seems to be feeling that. but is that right? there are people who, despite explaining to them that it isa who, despite explaining to them that it is a robot, actually still believe that it is a real dog. we looked at that from an ethical perspective and we are concerned about not tricking them but on the other hand, you know, if it gives them comfort, that is really the goal. they like to suspend disbelief. they like to be able to relate to it as if it is a long—lost pet that they may have known in an earlier time. i would like to have you. and she could be solving a problem here that has already been identified. we started a while back coming dogs into the community because we felt like the dogs were a method of helping with loneliness and... what we found is that we have

to payjust as much attention to the dogs as the human. that she ever not like people? she usually likes everybody. would be better to design a robot dog that does not like people. of course, not everyone likes dogs though. what we find is that the barking behaviour in a real dog rna robot triggers that fear response and someone of the things that we can do in the setup of the robot is turned off the barking behaviours. this rechargeable robotic dog's behaviour is customisable via a smartphone app but there are pros and cons to the whole thing. before we started filming, she had to be rebooted and it was really quite disturbing as she temporarily died. she clearly did bring joy though and i can see the benefits of it being designed to sit on lapse or race services rather than creating a tripping hazard on the floor. other breeds and a cat are in development but i was left with wonder real issue... i feel

really bad that we have to take her away from them. now, recently, we've seen artificial intelligence starts to outperform humans in very specific tasks. but could ai ever predict a film's success better than the people who work here. that is the question that mark asked and this is the answer. nobody knows anything so said legendary screenwriter william goldman who was talking about the movie business and how incredibly difficult it is to predict hits. that is why we end up with films like reimagined robin hood. and godzilla, king of the monsters, both, absolute stinkers. in the

movie game, predicting blockbusters is more art than science. tax companies think it is cracked the cash breaking cinematic code. it claims its ai cash breaking cinematic code. it claims its a! can help predict a movie success at the box office before it goes into production. movie success at the box office before it goes into productionlj think before it goes into production.” think when you say, a! making decisions about films, people get a bit edgy because they start thinking about robot direct is or computers making artistic decisions and that is not what is really happening here. it is very much about the business side of the film industry. i caught business side of the film industry. icaught up business side of the film industry. i caught up with the ceo at the company's i caught up with the ceo at the compa ny‘s hollywood office. i caught up with the ceo at the company's hollywood office. up here, we have an example movie, detective pikachu. when my god you can understand me! just enter base information on a project, look at the synopsis. the kind of thing you see on ibd. was the project,

estimated budget, the rating, the genre, the keywords. all these sectors are very important because they determine how valuable the project is. and from there we build different tools that you can use to evaluate that film. pikachu's voice, ryan reynolds, he could also run and compare ryan to potential comedians comedy actors that might be suitable for that role. he is adorable. at your adorable. using some of the system still is, we can play a movie version of fantasy football, changing around elements like the casting. depending on the gradient to be provided with, this system protects the chances of financial success. not somebody who is a big name at the moment who properly would be all right for this film is a drain at the rockjohnson. we will put him in here. as the button. and now the system, otherwise everything stays at the same when we calculate. as you can see, it predicts that there is more revenue. let's recast

with dame atjudi dench. there is more revenue. let's recast with dame at judi dench. it drops quite a bit. i haven't use senior before have i? all of the data is effectively based on things that are already established. what happens when it comes to the wildcard movies, something that comes com pletely movies, something that comes completely out of nowhere and that nobody could have predicted and caught everybody‘s by surprise. what happens in? they still catch by surprise. outliers are outliers and they are called that because they don't happen very often. 5%, 3% of these movies. they actually are part ofa group these movies. they actually are part of a group of outliers that everybody keeps talking about but in reality, it's a very slim minority. they are adamant that humans are still in the mix and that its softwa re still in the mix and that its software is an additional assistive tool for movie moguls. this is based on hard numbers, the business side of the industry. what about the scripts? is there anything out there that could tell you whether a script is good or not? i don't think there

is good or not? i don't think there is anything out there that can tell you if a script is good, especially not quality good because right now. . . not quality good because right now... exactly, ai cannot understand whether a script is good. the company's whether a script is good. the com pa ny‘s recently whether a script is good. the compa ny‘s recently penned whether a script is good. the company's recently penned a deal with warner brothers but the studio insist the machine learning software will be used in the marketing and distribution side of things. as far as hollywood studios are concerned, humans remain in the picture. for now. were going to do this, you and me. really interesting stuff isn't it. that was mark and of course, this weekend is oscar weekend so we will know very soon which films did well this year. we've been looking at some of the best in the vfx category and here are our final nominee. long have i waited. confronts your fear, it is the destiny of a jedi.

bringing carrie fisher back was an incredible tiered problem and i thought it was going to be difficult but i actually didn't appreciate how complicated it was going to be. you can't do it for me. what we did was build this enormous matrix of all of the performances of carrie fisher from seven and eight and at that essentially figured out all the loa ns essentially figured out all the loans she said and thenjj and chris wrote the script around those lines and the way that we chose to do it was for each of her performances, we cut out her face so that it is carrie playing the princess and cut out her face and built a carrie playing the princess and cut out herface and built a digital princess layer around the face. with pa rent princess layer around the face. with parent costume. which meant of course, she could have a new hairstyle. she could have a new costu me hairstyle. she could have a new costu m e for hairstyle. she could have a new costume for this movie which would make her feel very unique to this particular project and then i think, the other thing we worked hard onto to achieve, was the fact that she

was interacting with elements in the scene or other is. she walks past... this one moment she walks past rey and says never underestimate a droid. those kind of interactions are droid. those kind of interactions a re key droid. those kind of interactions are key to make the audience believe she was really there at that moment. look at that fleet. there was about 16,000 galaxy ships turn up to save the day. it was notjust a matter of building the ships but you have to design them and you can't design a 16,000 ships... what you can, but it would take a very long time. we would take a very long time. we would still be doing in our. and for the foreseeable future. what we did was, james klein, who is the art director on the show for us, he and his team designed a whole bunch of ships and then we modelled those and then the guys wrote some computer programmes that basically made up ships from those component parts. because of the enormous amount of

work involved in the detail of what we do, we try and sketch out a simple version of the idf stop so that everybody understands what the general idea of the moment might be and we can do a lot of those beings using more physically based ideas. example, we know that when an explosion happens, there is a certain amount of force involved and certain amount of force involved and certain things happen and when you see explosions like we're doing now, are actually based upon real, physical burn rates of materials stop how quickly an explosion might expand and what force that would have. a lot of that stuff looks more real because it is actually assimilating a real event. the weird thing is that we just want to make our work vanish and for people to be unaware of it and for people to really believe that everything in the movie is actually happening. the force will be with you...

always. and we wish all of the nominees the very best of luck of course. that is if from us here in hollywood. if you would like to join us, you know where to find us, on facebook, youtube, instagram and twitter at bbc click. we will see you soon. hello there. we've got some very strong winds indeed coming our way this weekend. all courtesy of storm ciara, which will arrive on sunday. that's when we are going to see the strongest winds, with met office warnings already in force. these could yet be updated through the weekend so make sure you stay in touch with the forecast over the course of the weekend. now, storm ciara itself will develop under an incredibly strong jet stream, one of the strongest

atlanticjet streams i've seen, with the winds in the jet stream 250 miles an hour. that is what will make this intense area of low pressure on sunday, which is storm ciara. before we get there, over the next few hours, we will see the winds pick up as well. it will become quite blowy. a band of rain pushes east in intensity, followed by some blustery showers across western areas. because it has been quite a windy start on saturday morning. temperatures between 4—8 celsius. the rest of saturday, there'll be a fair bit of sunshine for a time, especially across england and wales, but further north across ireland and scotland, the cloud will thicken through the afternoon. outbreaks of rain and hill snow in scotland and strong gusts of wind. northern ireland and scotland. they could reach up to 70 miles an hour. strong enough to cause some disruption. from there it becomes very windy overnight as well across england and wales. a band of rain pushes its way in. storm ciara doesn't really start arriving until later on sunday. let's take a look at ciara, here it is

under pressure charts. you can see how tightly packed the isobars are on this weather system, always a sign of strong winds. the strongest winds will come along in two batches, but really, it is going to be windy on sunday, pretty much across the whole of the uk, with gusts for most of us in the range of something like 60—80 miles an hour. we are going to see some impacts, some disruptive weather, on sunday. the strongest winds for scotland, along through the afternoon, certainly on the southern flank of this area of low pressure. that is where we will see the sign of strong winds. notice how that comes through, especially through the central belt, late in the day on sunday. that could cause problems. further south for england and wales we have got a cold front that is going to be bringing a squally band of heavy rain through, and that is ahead of this band of rain where we will get the strongest wind gust. with gusts of 60—80 miles an hour, and the strongest winds potentially lasting some 6—9 hours, the risk of impact just increases. transport disruption is to be expected. whether on roads, rails,

at airports or even the ferries, we could see significant problems on sunday.

welcome to bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: growing anger in china: quarantine squads detain people suspected of having the coronavirus as the death till continues to rise. —— toll continues to rise. thousands of passengers confined to their cabins onboard the ‘diamond princess'. more than 60 people are infected with the virus. president trump fires two senior officials who testified against him at his impeachment trial. democrats descend on new hampshire where the presidenital candidates are debating who should take on donald trump in november. and as the film world prepares for the oscars, one female director tells us why hollywood is unconsciously racist.