Machinima Report

Saturday, June 9, 2007

Insertion of Documentary Video and Film Clips

A critical component of the experience is to augment the 3D computer graphics with video. The film clips serve to authenticate our depiction, and as moving, rather than still, images, they serve to immerse the viewer in a cinematic experience. There is the orange jump-suited detainee, gaunt, unable to support himself, dragged by guards past cages. My youthful, blue haired avatar, piloted by my well-fed self, is aghast.
We place several clips in different orientations. This, after all, is a prototype, a proof of concept and the concept of 3D spatial cinema, ie, experiencing a sense of place within a 3D virtual environment with the addition of filmed components, is relatively new. We experimented with different triggers for the films: as you stand up and exit your cage, you immediately view an image of a detainee in a similar cage; as you walk between the cages, an image appears on the ground of a detainee walking between cages – to evoke a strangely effective “mirror” effect.

At the end of the walkway Ben built a large screen for interview footage. The enormous projection of Mozaam Begg’s father’s face, broken with emotion, reading from his son’s letters, is a compelling example of a new place for cinema: instead of the dark, sequestered theaters of the real world, here is the drive-in of the virtual world: a large “outdoor” place to gather and watch a communal screen.

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