"Like Me" is a live video installation performance designed for the 120 ft by 11 ft video wall at the IAC center in Chelsea, New York, NY.
My frequent collaborator, Talya Stein, and I had the opportunity to showcase our work on the IAC video wall. Together we designed a large-format film experience for an audience that's interactive and uses face-mapping technologies.
"Like Me" explores how we share ourselves face to face versus pre-recorded. What type of human interface draws our attention the most? The performance is a likeability contest between a 3D scanned performer and a live performer.
The audience votes throughout the performance, controlling the volume of each performers' voice as they try to win over the audience. In the end, one performer wins, and the other walks away, based off the reaction of the people in the room. We created the installation with high-resolution video, OpenFrameworks, Faceshift, auto 3d avatar, and Maya. Special Thanks: Mimi Yin, Dan Shiffman, Andrew Lazarow, The Residents, Dori Jay, David Lobser, Adam Lanphier, Mike Allison, Erin Finnigan, Wyna Liu
Step 1:
Recruiting two artists to compete
Step 2:
Face Mapping Process Video
Step 3:
Record background video footage
Step 4:
Edit all footage together
Step 5:
2-3 playtests
Test audio, voting system, and ability to program different responses from the avatar depending on what the audience votes.
Step 6:
Showtime
The performance was well-received by the audience. Usually, voting happens with an app, so that IRL voting was a fun change of pace. We could improve on the audio balancing if we do it again, as it was tough to have one artist speaking as the other artist's speaker was lowering in volume. In the end, the audience was able to experience how differently they relate to IRL interactions versus virtual interactions with another person.