A_live

Laura Waltz

2023 Motion Capture/Tracking Dance Puppetry Avatars Sensors
completedFellowship

Summary
My fellowship project 'A_live' is an artistic/methodological movement research, and the use of MoCap technology to explore the possible 'organicness' and feeling of 'aliveness' of avatars through animation fundamentals from puppetry. The aim of this research is to take core principles of (analogue) puppetry animation and to translate them on the moving/dancing human body using motion capture techniques, in order to explore how this movement method can increase the experience of aliveness of 3D avatars, by making their movements more organic and establishing them as breathing/alive creatures.

'A_live,

'A_live, is an artistic/methodological movement research.

The aim of this research project is to take core principles of (analogue) puppetry animation and to translate them on the moving/dancing human body using motion capture techniques, in order to explore how this movement method can increase the experience of aliveness of 3D avatars, by making their movements more organic and establishing them as breathing/alive creatures.

I am inspired by, and draw upon my background as pluridisciplinary artist, with a focus on dance, movement, and puppetry/object theater.

I'm interested in approaching 3D avatars as another form of body language with its specific dynamic and needs, which also implies other possibilities and limitations. For this language, the human body acts as the vector as well as a translator. The fundamental principles of puppetry animation are considerably different from the human way of moving regarding impulses, dynamics, rhythm, accentuation, tension, stop/echoes of the movements, etc. When these principles of puppetry are applied to the human body, and the resulting movements are used to animate an avatar, an act of translation occurs. It results in more precise movements and sequences, and the impression of ‘organic’ movement, because the avatars are established as ‘breathing’ and ‘alive’, which is the core of puppetry’s art.

'A_live' Trailer :

You will find here the long interview about the Research and the Process itself:

{ More to come here, about the Process, the Whys, the Discovery }

~ Creative Response, Research Showing ~

As a showing from this research, ‘A_live, became a video installation on 3 canvases about those movements, impulses and breath, accompanied by live music.

The setting is composed as follows: Movement sequences, recorded using motion capture techniques, are projected on the three canvases. The embodiment of this exploration is interpreted by three different avatars, each one with its own texture and characteristics. One avatar has a water texture, which has an ‘explosive’ capacity related to the strength and speed of the movement impulses. The second avatar is more ‘typical’: a humanoid shaped form, yet connected to a cloth which is reacting intricately and precisely to the avatar’s impulses, creating a ‘wind’ feeling as well as an extension of the breath’s embodiment. The third is made of particles which leave traces of light following each movement.

The emphasis of this visual experience is on the quality and precision of the movements, and the different impulses, explorations and nuances embodied by the avatars: How the different textures are reacting to those elaborated momentums, innovative way of moving and to the avatars breath are the leaders of this experience. Each texture with its respective features reacts in a different way to the impulses of the performer, creating various and specific visual echoes in harmony with one another.

Thoughtful dramaturgical choices and precise editing creates an additional layer of choreography, from the timing of the appearance (and disappearance) of the sequences upon the canvases; the smoothness (and suddenness) of the transitions; the synchronicities and delays between the sequences which underline the specificity of the each movement or breath. We are invited to witness each avatar’s individual breath as well as experiencing a collective organic entity as it moves and breathes as one.

The animation’s cameras are connected to the pelvis of the avatars, which is to say, to the core of the movements. In fact, it is important to note that absolutely no extra effects were added, and there was no need at the end to clean the files. The cleanliness of the movements, and the possibility overall to use ‘raw’ files in this way, are the direct results of the method I’ve explored and developed.

Although this showing is the first creative response to my research; the frame became not only an explicative presentation of the project so far, but an immersive installation in its own right. It was important to me to create a unified, elaborate setting, and to invite the audience to feel immersed in an atmospheric ‘island’: connecting with senses, finesse of movements, beauty, breath and ultimately a deep exploration of aliveness through external bodies.