According to Disney Research VP Markus Gross, the tool could be used to lower a movie's production costs or to stay within the budget, say, if it's an indie film that doesn't have a lot of money to spare. "It's not unheard of for a director to re-shoot a crucial scene dozens of times, even 100 or more times, until satisfied," he said. "That not only takes a lot of time -- it also can be quite expensive. Now our research team has shown that a director can exert control over an actor's performance after the shoot with just a few takes, saving both time and money." Considering the lab also developed a way to make dubbed movies more believable and to take advantage of incredibly high frame rates, we wouldn't be surprised if filmmakers arm themselves with an arsenal of Disney Research tools in the future.

It's probably hard to visualize the way FaceDirector works without seeing an example, so make sure to watch the video below to see it in action.