In this workshop, we will consider the virtual body and the virtual perspective: how we see and how we are seen within technological fields of representation. We know that the movements and framing of a camera shape our experience of a film, putting us in a kind of virtual body moving around the world of the film to see what happens there. We also know that moving image technology allows us to see our bodies and others’ bodies in ways that exceed our own capabilities and defy reality — we can slow things down, speed them up, pause, repeat, zoom in, and manipulate the image in so many ways. When we work in virtual worlds, like 3D simulations, games, or motion-interactive video, we can bend bodies and perspectives even more beyond the real, and yet we still relate to what we experience there, with our bodies. In this workshop, we will expand our understanding of embodiment with virtual technology, learning and experimenting with motion tracking and machine learning tools. We will create new video works that use these devices to remap, reinterpret, translate, and manipulate our own lived and experienced motion. We will be using camera tracking in DaVinci Resolve, AI-driven skeletal tracking in Rokoko Vision, rigging and animating digital avatars in Blender, and finally, processing our outputs with Stable Diffusion using ComfyUI. We will reflect on the nature of these tools and their complicated histories, as well as their current applications in the world, in order to situate our own creations within a broader context of how technology interprets the body.

What should people bring with themselves: 

laptop and power, smartphone (we will use for the camera)

How should participants prepare:

– install Blender (2.8 or higher) and DaVinci Resolve on computer

– get set up to access ComfyUI via Google Colab (I will send more detailed instructions on this for participants who register)

– optional: come ready with a digital avatar humanoid body you would like to use throughout the workshop, otherwise you can find or make one during the workshop, or borrow one provided (fbx format)

– Some experience and basic comfort level with at least one digital media software (animation, video, AI, 3D) is recommended, though you do not need to be familiar with all of the platforms we will be using. More experienced participants will likely be more able to fully customize their process, but all essential steps will be covered and assets/scenes/workflows provided–so those with minimal experience will still be able to fully participate and gain new perspectives.