If you’ve always wanted to star in a movie, these people just made it easier for you.
This is pretty amazing to me. Digital editing of this kind — substituting images, etc. — has been possible for a long time. But this is the first real mass-market mainstreaming of the tech I’ve seen: an affordable price point, all the equipment you need, plug-and-play, with starter scenes provided and the promise of more to come.
Right now I’m guessing the scenes are carefully chosen for ease of insertion-of-you without disrupting the flow. I’m also guessing that a logical next step is to increase the complexity so that we’ll be able to put ourselves in groups, not just in front of them; in action, not just still. And surely we will get to the point where we can simply record an image of ourselves and have it so seamlessly morphed into whatever scene we wish, into whatever character, that the possibilities will be endless.
And yet, although I’m stone in love with movies and am breaking my heart and my back to write one, I find I’m not ready to put Yoostar on my wish list. Not because it’s bad — I think it’s very cool, will jazz a lot of people, and may open all kinds of doors to new ways of thinking about how we interact with pop culture and visual media. I think we’ll see a new kind of political/social commentary/protest media grow from these seeds. I predict a new wave of school projects, blog entries, and astonishing mash-ups and vids. I imagine that so many people will make a dream come true to see themselves on the screen.
I’m delighted for all those people: anything that gives a person joy without hurting someone else is a Big Win in my book. But for me this would be a record of an experience that I haven’t actually had. I don’t want to see myself in a movie, I want to live it. I want the experience. I only know two ways for me to get that: act, or write. At least until there is f-tech in the world…