VirtuaTelepresence :

The ultimate simulation of live tele-conferencing.

VirtuaTelepresence presents a different look into the world of video conferencing. It questions the authenticity of telepresence - can one tell the difference between what is real time and what is pre-recorded? If the video feed is actually pre-recorded, does it still count as 'telepresence?'

In order to understand the concept of telepresence, we researched its definition:

"The purpose of a telepresence system is to extend an operator's sensory-motor facilities and problem solving abilities to a remote environment." - T. Sheridan, 1992

We decided that the dialogue between John and Gladys should revolve around their ideas and opinions of telepresence. We used the conversation as a form of "disguise" to shield the audience from the true concept of our mini project 2.

Our roles:

John: the "Recorded"

Matt: the "Controller of the Recorded"

Gladys: the "Actor"

The Process:

A conversation between John and Gladys was filmed first. Several takes were made, as well as a number of "escape" routes, such as the "I don't know" or "ask Gladys" series, just in case an audience member were to ask the "pre-recorded John" a question.

The conversations were then evaluated: which ones worked best (audio + visual) when incorporated with the next line of dialogue. The biggest task was making sure that the frames of each movie clips would correspond with the next. Our initial idea was to cue the beginning and ending frame of each movie clip to match up with a loop which was used as a constant. However, problems arose. It was hard to line up a frame of John looking serious with his mouth shut with a frame that has John smiling and looking to the side. Matt then devised a new plan to use the last set of frames of the movie clip and loop those frames together, rather than using the original loop (which was also not as green in color as most of the other clips).

The movie clips were triggered by pressing certain buttons on the keyboard. For example, the first loop of John would appear when the #1 key was pressed; the next line of conversation would be triggered by pressing the #2, and so forth. Matt was able to see Gladys on his screen and react to her reactions by pressing the necessary buttons that triggered a movie clip of John that corresponded with Gladys' question or comment. Ultimately, Gladys would be having a Matt-controlled conversation with John.