Who's at
the head of the table? - The rough-and-tumble
character introduced on the tape as "Rudy Frank" is
a company sales rep with a lot to learn and an attitude
of a guy dreading change in this videotape training
product made in September. But instead of casting
an actor, the director/producer Stan Taylor chose
to use our live animated character projected directly
onto the Bubble Screen as Rudy.
By
casting a cartoon character instead of a real person, Taylor
was able to give his "stubborn guy" lines
that he normally couldn't make work and keep the rest
of the content credible. But the audience begins to
understand Rudy and relates to him and his woes at
doing the extra work to sell the company's new product
line - aqueous cleaning solvents. Before the video
is over, Rudy has sold himself on the idea of making
a better living off the sales of the new solvent, the
message that the client is putting forth.
Technically,
adding Rudy as an element was very simple. Virtual
Vinnie's appearance was slightly altered and a 5 o'clock
shadow was added. In the video production studio, the
scenes were shot in Beta SP format in a painted cove,
with the Bubble Screen mounted on a stand sitting on
a chair at the end of the conference table and the
LCD projector situated directly behind it. The transparent
nature of the Bubble Screen and its round shape, both
contributed to an unusual look. Using the LCD projector
in data mode with high res XGA 1024 output eliminated
the chance for scan lines in the video, without worrying
about genlock.
When it came
time to shoot the Rudy Frank portions, the actor did
his lines with the Digital Puppeteer set up in a separate
sound-proof room, feeding the audio directly to the
DAT audio recorder/mixer.
About three
or four different looks were used, including one with
Rudy at the bar, talking to a bartender.
According
to Taylor, the client was pleased with the unique look to the Rudy element, plus they appreciated the low
cost for several minutes of animation and the ease
of using the digital actor in the presentation.
Rudy
discusses his problems over a beer in the bar scene.
You can see the stand for the Bubble Screen, but
not the projector behind him in the set.
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