I started looking at the possibility of using an
exaggerated version of my own image as an avatar. These
twenty photographs are based on the Preston Blair phonemes
used in animating cartoon speech. For the trial movie below
I exaggerated the mouth shapes further. I experimented with
a lip sync programme called Magpie Pro, recently used by
Tim Burton for his movie ‘The Corpse Bride’. As with other
professional solutions that I have toyed with, this would
be too steep a learning curve to be practical for this
project. I ended up making use of the online avatar creator
Vhost, which is quick and simple but dependent on a monthly
subscription. Ideally I would like an avatar that will
respond directly from text so that It can be driven from
the database. This is possible with Vhost, but I have not
managed to make the connection as yet.
The idea behind using an avatar, especially as a
representation of me, is to engage the students. This is
very dependent on sticking the right balance of humour and
stupidity, without ‘dying’ (to use the theatrical term).
Like a comic or clown, the right balance may enable the
students to don a persona when they enter the space I have
created; the circus ring, with me as the ring master, or
the space of the story, with me as the narrator or story
teller.
The success (or otherwise) of this is very dependent
on my relationship with my students, and the age of my
intended audience. It would be better if I could use images
of them, or perhaps a cartoon image. They will never tire
of seeing themselves on screen, especially in a distorted
manner. The Apple company did some experimentation with an
avatar for their ‘help’ interface, and decided that it
would not work. Being nearly human is not good enough, it
is better to remain distinctly non human. A paper clip
perhaps.
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