Thursday, April 17, 2014
M.I.A. and Janelle Monáe performed a duet using holograms
Newswire · The A.V. Club: M.I.A. (who’s touring behind her recent album, Matangi, when she’s not pissing off the NFL) and Janelle Monáe (who’s turning 2014 into a victory lap following the success of Electric Lady) performed together last night—even though the former’s show was in New York and the latter was in L.A. Thanks to the magic of holograms, however, Monáe showed up to do a verse on the track “Bad Girls,” while M.I.A. performed an original contribution to “Q.U.E.E.N.” The results are pretty interesting to watch, involving such fancy tech trickery as integrated video mapping and 3-D projection, and—thanks to the quick thinking of a spectator—part of the “Bad Girls” performance is now online.
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6 comments:
This reminds me of CMU's adaptation of Antigone in the warehouse. That show was all about the media and they had the actors having conversations with the projections. I thought, personally, it looked very choppy and too distracting, nut to mention the proportions seemed off even though they may not have been. At the same time that was a far more intimate setting than the stage of an MIA concert. The pictures look pretty cool and it seems as though she pulled it off in a level we could not for sure. I think it would be a lot of fun if the projections were used in the future to as the article says, "bring back the dead". Wouldn't it be great to see Michael Jackson perform?
This is really cool. I think the integration with holograms and the music industry has been extremely impressive. I'm surprised that holograms have only now just started being super popular especially since they've been around for a while now. These projections were a little weird though. I thought it was cool making MIA or Janelle Monáe move around in ways that even if they were there couldn't actually be made. But it was a little strange and unnecessary to have them do all of that. When you go to a concert, I think it's more fun when the person is actually there so if it was just a hologram, that's cool and all but I think it would still be cool (and probably better) if the hologram didn't do any "special effects tricks". Just have the hologram singing too!
I'm not really sure how I feel about hologram performances. From a technological aspect they are really cool but I think they kill the whole point of a live performance. There is no way for a hologram to interact or feed off of the audience. Unless the performer is actually performing in front of a green screen and is being broadcast into the venue with some way for them to get feedback from the audience, the performance just isn't real. I did think the use of movement and making the hologram jump around were both interesting and positive uses of the technology. If you are going to use holograms, embrace the fact you are able to manipulate them. If you just want another artist to be able to jump in on a song and just sing you might as well just put them up on a video screen and call it a day. With holograms you can make the performance, while still fake, at least more interesting.
I've heard of shows like this, but I don't know how they actually work. This article wasn't very clear. What doe they mean by "3D projection"? Based on the video it looks like they are just projecting a video on the back wall, but ironically media tends to look bad on video so maybe it was more impressive in person. I thought that this line was really funny: "potential of holograms—beyond resurrecting the dead". As though resurrecting the dead wasn't that cool. Just saying. I don't really know MIA, but it sounds kinda crazy.
I love holograms and I think their life is just beginning. I truly think holograms are going to be a large part of our future. Videos and pictures are going to combine to become a nearly living being, who are talk and move effortlessly around an environment. M.I.A. says, “It’s definitely cool for us and it’s cool for me. I could be in 10 places at once.” There is also another potential for prerecording and the performers have to do even less work now. But the fans I think will think the technology is cool, but ultimately they want to see the stars in person because that has a more dramatic effect. I remember reading an article in Holocaust and Human Behavior class last year about a museum that was using a hologram of a Holocaust survivor. I think this application is more beneficial, for it can preserve historical figures, but also allow people to interact with them on a personal level.
This is pretty great. While I am starting to feel like holograms are getting to be rather gimmicky this is a more acceptable use for them. Hologram technology allows people to be somewhere they cant physically be like in this case if they are across the country or, as in many other hologram tech usages, deceased. I do think though that this technology is being implemented a little to soon and is not quite ready enough for live performances.
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