A Night at Gatsby's AR
I'm going to tell you something about my life.
The A Night at Gatsby’s AR app will be a 2-minute augmented reality playlet to demonstrate an AR version of the adaptation. The app begins with voice-overs of Gatsby’s partygoers repeating some common rumors about him, followed by Gatsby telling even more lies about his life and concludes with his steadfast love for Daisy.
The AR app is generated from a live actor into a photorealistic 3D digital model that is controlled and recorded by the actor through motion capture technology to perform the app’s lines and exhibit appropriate body motions, facial expressions and vocal inflections. The downloaded app/file may perform in classrooms, public spaces, living rooms, or any indoor/outdoor area with an open floor space.
Unlike virtual reality which completely immerses the viewer in a totally digital world but requires a somewhat bulky headset, augmented reality media can be seen as part of the real world through AR glasses, smartphones or tablets. Not limited to superimposing 2D data and images over the physical world, AR can create 3D holographic objects with full-motion and spatial audio that are anchored in the physical world and can be walked up to and around.
Gatsby's AR Production
The top image below illustrates a common four-step AR production process. The human actor with outstretched arms is mapped into an articulated digital skeleton that has over 90 flexible head, face, arm, hand, torso, leg, and foot joints. The skeleton is imported into a robot mesh which is a volumetric representation of the actor’s body. A photorealistic 3D model of the tuxedo-wearing actor is created from a complete 360° set of overlapping digital photographs and the resulting digital “skin” is mapped onto the robot mesh.
In the middle image, the AR Gatsby model (represented by just the robot mesh) now follows the actor’s body motions and facial expressions as the script lines are spoken and performed.
The bottom images show the AR Gatsby positioned atop a staircase in a museum gallery. When viewers focus on AR objects displayed on their smartphones (left), the real-world background may appear blurry to them. Viewing with AR glasses (right), however, keeps both the AR imagery and real world in focus.
A Night at Gatsby's AR Script
The AR app opens with a blank background and Gatsby’s voice.
GATSBY (V.O.) The honor would be entirely mine if you would attend my little party tonight.
Amid low-volume party sounds and the fox trot “The Japanese Sandman,” some disembodied voices are heard.
FEMALE VOICE 1 (V.O.) Somebody told me — Somebody told me they thought he killed a man once.
MALE VOICE (V.O.) I don't think it's so much that. It's more that he was a German spy during the war.
FEMALE VOICE 2 (V.O.) He's a bootlegger.
FEMALE VOICE 1 (V.O.) You look at him sometimes when he thinks nobody's looking at him. I'll bet he killed a man.
The sounds end and Gatsby enters from the blank background and is positioned by the viewer within the display frame of AR glasses, smartphone or tablet onto a nearby physical floor. Gatsby speaks to the viewer.
GATSBY. I'm Gatsby. I thought you knew, old sport. I'm afraid I'm not a very good host.
I'm going to tell you something about my life. I don't want you to get a wrong idea of me from all these stories you hear.
I am the son of some wealthy people in the middle-west — all dead now. I was brought up in America but educated at Oxford because all my ancestors have been educated there for many years.
Gatsby turns his head to the right.
GATSBY. If it wasn't for the mist we could see Daisy’s home across the bay. She always has a green light that burns all night at the end of her dock.
Gatsby looks back at the viewer.
GATSBY. I just want her to go to Tom and say "I never loved you." After she's free, we’ll go back to Louisville and be married from her house — just as if it were five years ago.
Gatsby reassures the likely skeptical viewer.
GATSBY. Can't repeat the past? Why of course you can! I'm going to fix everything just the way it was before. She'll see.
She never loved Tom. She only married him because I was poor and she was tired of waiting for me. It was a terrible mistake, but in her heart she never loved anyone except me!
Gatsby looks resignedly at the viewer.
GATSBY. Well, good-by.
Gatsby turns and walks back into the blank background.
