The first group with more "avatars" audience
Avatar Me Show
How human in real life recognize their authorship of their representations (like images, avatars, personal data…) inside the digital world?
The boundary of “new law” in virtual world?
We are going to start a play and using our audiences' avatars as actors. And our audiences won't know it before they starting to watch the play in theater.
Then their reactions and feedbacks will be collected in the end of the play.
The techniques I used
1. 3D scanning
2. Maya and Wrap3
3. Unity
4. Final Cut Pro and After Effects
5.Projection
Term of use
We made people to sign up for the 3D scan, with a term of use in the sign up page. This part of project is important because the term of use start from beginning of the project and inside the page, but actually no one mentioned it and no one cares about it.
Feedbacks
I was surprised by the feedbacks from my "avatars audience". During the show, almost all the audience who in the show were surprised and happy from watch it. None of them feel uncomfortable and want me to stop spreading it. Manu, Calab, Noah and Ruyi told me they were thinking of the host will ask them going in front of audience and to participant in the games, and then surprised by the moment that when they saw themselves' avatars with "real" body and face actually in the show and doing the games. And some of them told me that it was so realistic that they feel like really connected to the avatars between themselves. Ruyi said:"I feel like I want to control her but I couldn't".
One thing worth to be focus on discussion later is that the audience who don't know who the avatars are in the show feel less understandable and more confuse about it. Also, when they all watching the game 3 part of video, they were more silence/serious than before.
I had two group of people to watch the show, one had more "avatars" audiences in the group, another had few. And the result are quiet different. The first group which had more avatars audiences are more exciting and emotional. The second group were more question and focus on the concept of the play.
Plot
5 mins
The play begins with a game section of a general talk show. There is a host on the stage who is an avatar of one of our audiences, making a brief introduction to the show and the game section. This section consists of three single games. In every single game, two or three audiences are chosen to come up to the stage and follow the command of the host to do some certain performances.
When the “real” audiences chosen are standing up and going to the stage, their avatars appear to represent the audiences to play the game. In the first game, the avatars are requested to do some daily activities, such as dancing, drinking and so on, but in a hilarious way. Watching the performances of their avatars, the audiences might feel funny with unawareness of the abuse using their avatars, personal information, etc. Then, for the second game, there are also another two to three audiences’ avatars are invited to start the game. This time, on the orders of the host, the avatars have to finish some intense actions in a realistic way. For example, one of them is punched by another, which could make audiences feel offended when they see their avatars are using in such a way, or they are asked to eat in front of others audiences and stared by them.
On the third part of the game, it comes to the climax of this play: all the settings of the talk show stage fall down and all of the avatars are invited to act like tiller girls, jumping and singing in a systematic way. The host, as the commander, the conductor, operates the group of avatars with the background of audiences’ selfies, social media profiles, and personal data. All of the avatars dance in an absolute regularity with a voiceover making a speech, whose voices are manipulated from formal speeches given by celebrities like Washington, Lenin, etc.
And at this time, through all of the three games which become more and more violent one by one, audiences come to aware that the abuse use of their avatars (personal data) is a serious task rather a funny thing on the digital world.
TIMELINE:
00:00:00-00:00:20 Beginning
00:00:20-00:02:00 First Game(hilarious)
00:02:00-00:03:30 Second Game(conflict)
00:03:30-00:05:00 Third Game(tiller girl)
Lines:
(When the audiences start check-in, the play begins. While the audience is walking into the room, the host is starting talking.)
Host: Welcome back to the Avatarme Show’s GAME TIME! In this section, I will invite some of you guys to join the game. Everybody will get the chance to be on the stage. The spotlight, the music, the cameras. You guys are superstars. OK? When you heard your name, do not hesitate and just come onto the stage, please.
Host: Well, the first task is quite easy, and it is kinda like a warm-up. I am asking you guys to dance. A real dancer, you know. Professional, charming, powerful. Ballet, Tango, or if you want, the shot dance. You could be stars. You are the stars right now. Come on. Tom, you wanna be the first one?
(When the first part of the game is over,)
Host: Wow! Thank you. Thank you guys’ wonderful performance. High five. Give me high five. The stars are born.
OK. Everybody has done a very good job! Thank you, Manu, Ruyi, and Kellee.
Host: And now I will invite another group of people. Caleb, Gabriel,..... Come on! You have already known the point. It is a very simple game without any deep meanings. Come on! Your grandmas will be proud of you!
(The second group of people is ready on the stage,) (打手游戏)
Host: Cuz we have already done the warm-up, so this time, it won’t be that easy. Listen carefully, I want you guys to put forward your hands and clap on each other hands. Sounds easy right? Come on! Just like some silly game you played with your friends when you were kids. That’s it. You got the point. Now I want you guys to try harder. More. More. You’re gonna piss him off, I bet. Guys! I mean! What are you doing? Stop it! Stop it! It is just a game! Chill! Come on, shake your hands. Still good friends, right?
(The 2nd part ends, and comes to the 3rd one)
Host: OK! Very well! We are cool! No problem! Everybody get fun and enjoys it, doesn’t it? This is AvatarMe Show.
(The third part begins, the stage falls down, turning into the digital world “stage”, like social media profile, avatars communities, etc. )
Host: Finally, I mean, finally, it is the final part of the game. I want all of you to stand up and come onto the stage. Let’s play the tiller girls’ dance together!
Voiceover: Select some quotes from speeches given by celebrities. Like in The Declaration of Independence:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
We will pick several quotes about freedom, liberty, law, and rights, remixing them into an experimental tape and looping it.
Explanation of the last past:
All of the avatars become single parts of group behavior, which means the abuse using of avatars or personal data in the digital world is a
Speech in history (We used voiceover of words in those speeches for adding it to BGM)
January 30, 1961: State of the Union JFK
One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves, yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free. They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice. They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression. And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts, will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.
We preach freedom around the world, and we mean it, and we cherish our freedom here at home, but are we to say to the world, and much more importantly, to each other that this is a land of the free except for the Negroes;(4:57-5:43)
January 11, 1962: State of the Union Address JFK
Yet our basic goal remains the same: a peaceful world community of free and independent states--free to choose their own future and their own system, so long as it does not threaten the freedom of others.(23:55-24:10)
January 14, 1963: State of the Union Address JFK
I am proud of a program that has helped to arm and feed and clothe millions of people who live on the front lines of freedom.(29:10-29:21)
January 23, 1980: State of the Union Address Carter
Peace—a peace that preserves freedom—remains America's first goal. In the coming years, as a mighty nation we will continue to pursue peace.(23:12-23:30)
January 28, 2014: 2014 State of the Union Address BARACK OBAMA PRESIDENCY
Our freedom, our democracy, has never been easy. Sometimes we stumble; we make mistakes; we get frustrated or discouraged.(63:37-63.56)
January 29, 1991: State of the Union Address
GEORGE H. W. BUSH PRESIDENCY
We are Americans; we have a unique responsibility to do the hard work of freedom. And when we do, freedom works.(06:39-06:55)
January 31, 1990: State of the Union Address GEORGE H. W. BUSH PRESIDENCY
The anchor in our world today is freedom, holding us steady in times of change, a symbol of hope to all the world. And freedom is at the very heart of the idea that is America. Giving life to that idea depends on every one of us. Our anchor has always been faith and family.
(32:08-32:23)
August 18, 1988: Acceptance Speech at the Republican National Convention GEORGE H. W. BUSH PRESIDENCY
And I intend to speak for freedom, stand for freedom, and be a patient friend to anyone, east or west, who will fight for freedom.(38:16-38:27)
January 25, 1994: State of the Union Address BILL CLINTON PRESIDENCY
Violent crime and the fear it provokes are crippling our society, limiting personal freedom, and fraying the ties that bind us.(48:02-48:10)
September 11, 2001: Address to the Nation on the Terrorist Attacks GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENCY
Yet, we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world.(04:15-04:22)
January 29, 2002: State of the Union Address GEORGE W. BUSH PRESIDENCY
Steadfast in our purpose, we now press on. We have known freedom's price. We have shown freedom's power. And in this great conflict, my fellow Americans, we will see freedom's victory.(47:18-47:40)
February 28, 2017: Address to Joint Session of Congress Trump
And when we fulfill this vision; when we celebrate our 250 years of glorious freedom, we will look back on tonight as when this new chapter of American Greatness began.(58:50-59:10)
Games List:
First Game:
Getting drunk
Dancing stupidly (shot dance, Carlton dance, )
Singing stupidly
Second Game:
Boxing (harsh) 互相打手看谁先忍不住(sounds)
School Bully
Using offending language before the audiences
Keeping Eating before the audiences
Third Game:
Tiller girls dancing while the host is the conductor. with selfies, avatars, social media profiles...
IDEAS:
Using a camera or a DV to make a live streaming: When an audience’s avatar is on the stage, we could use the camera to record this audience reaction. In the first game, it is a medium shot. The second game, close shot. The final game, extreme close shot. (The idea of feeling uncomfortable when our faces are playing on the screen seen by others for a long time)
