Sony - FUTURE PROOF : What is the future of Self-Expression
Upbeat music plays. In a real world living room, an animated anime-style Vtuber avatar with strawberry blonde hair and a black and white dress spins to face the camera. Then a man appears in her place and begins dancing before she replaces him doing his moves. A white logo appears in the top right corner of the screen.
ONSCREEN TEXT: SONY
An avatar of a blonde woman wearing a black and red dress and a bat-shaped hair clip interviews over a black background. Subtitles appear as she speaks.
RINGO
“All human beings are beautiful. I believe the virtual world is one of the best ways to express exactly who you are.”
ONSCREEN TEXT: Ringo Kujo
Virtual Artist
Sony Music Entertainment “VEE”
As Ringo interviews, she gives a thumbs up, and cartoon hearts rise into the air from her hand.
RINGO
“By using ToF AR and mocopi, I hope that more people will be able to express themselves.”
Now two women appear in half moons video chat windows on a purple background. The woman on the left, Annika, has curly hair and wears a blue button-up. The woman on the right, Hana, has straight shoulder-length hair and a white crewneck.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Annika Hansteen-Izora
Creative Technologist
Hana Jacobsen
Designer & Artist
As Hana speaks in Japanese, subtitles appear.
HANA
“There are so many ways to explore your identity in the metaverse.”
Annika responds in English.
ANNIKA
“The worlds can be so playful. I can style myself however I want that day. I can even have stars in my eyes.”
HANA
“Now that you can stream your avatar from your smartphone, I can be anything anywhere.”
The strawberry blond avatar dances against a digital black backdrop on a grid floor. Text appears.
ONSCREEN TEXT: What is the future of
Self-Expression?
A split-screen shows a Japanese man with a goatee beside an avatar with green skin and silver hair. The avatar follows his movements as he waves. A man with glasses, Masashige Komatsu, interviews. As he speaks in Japanese, subtitles appear.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Masashige Komatsu
General Manager
Business Incubation Platform
Sony Group Corporation
MASASHIGE
“In virtual spaces, you can express yourself regardless of gender, age, or country.”
A Japanese man wearing a grey sweater in an empty office punches the air. The strawberry blond avatar appears in his place and punches the air. As a digital background appears around her, she does a high kick.
MASASHIGE
“mocopi and ToF AR are technologies that make self-expression easier.”
Sitting at a desk in an office, the man with the goatee and a man with combed hair sit before a smartphone on a tripod. The man with the goatee raises his arms.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Sony Group HQ
Tokyo, Japan
MASASHIGE
“I think it is a very effective tool for creators to exercise their creativity.”
In split screen, the man with the goatee raises his pointer finger and drags it through the air in a heart motion. Beside him, the green-skinned avatar draws a heart in the air beside her head. The man in the grey sweater Shota, speaks in voiceover. Subtitles appear as he speaks.
SHOTA
“mocopi is a mobile motion capture system that makes it easy to perform motion capture anywhere.”
Shota attaches motion capture sensors to his wrists and waist, and puts on a headband. A smartphone screen shows a list of the activated sensors. Shota jumps and waves his arms before a smartphone. The smartphone screen shows the strawberry blond avatar following his movements. Now standing in the office, the avatar spins in place and spreads her arms wide.
ONSCREEN TEXT: mocopi
Shota interviews.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Shota Minami
Product Manager
Sony Corporation
SHOTA
“The ability to easily capture motion anywhere will mean that more people will be able to easily start using their entire bodies to create richer expressions in the virtual world.”
In the office, Shota high kicks. His avatar appears in his place mid-high kick. As Shota hops in place in front of his smartphone, she mimics his movements on the screen. He swings his arms. Now Ringo interviews.
RINGO
“I was surprised at how light it was when I put the mocopi on.”
In the virtual environment, Ringo dances.
RINGO
“And above all, it’s easy to use. I hope more people will enjoy virtual physical expression.”
The virtual environment turns into the real-world office. Ringo continues dancing. Now the man with the goatee, Hiromasa, interviews. As he speaks in Japanese, subtitles appear.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Hiromasa Doi
Senior Software Architect
Sony Semiconductor
Solutions Corporation
HIROMASA
“ToF AR takes advantage of the depth sensors built into smartphones to make smooth and highly accurate face and hand recognition possible.”
An animation shows a smartphone camera aimed at a floating icosahedron, a blue cone emitting from the camera illustrating the smartphone’s depth sensor.
ONSCREEN TEXT: ToF AR
A 3D representation of the icosahedron captured by the smartphone appears beside it. Sitting at a desk, Hiromasa and the man with combed hair aim a smartphone at Hiromasa. Hiromasa weaves his hands through the air, and a split screen shows the green-skinned avatar following his movements. He smiles, and the avatar smiles too.
HIROMASA
“This has the advantage of conveying the emotions of the VTuber to the viewer.”
Two side-by side Ringo avatars appear. The left Ringo snaps her fingers, making hearts and sparkles of light flash from her fingers. The right Ringo waves her hands in a circle. Now Ringo interviews.
RINGO
“The best thing about ToF AR is that the physical expression is really beautiful.”
She moves her hands.
RINGO
“As you can see, I use subtle hand movements like this and they are reflected beautifully.”
Shota and his strawberry blond avatar strike a pose side-by-side. Hiromasa raises his hands and pinches his fingers together and the green-skinned avatar copies the movement. A man in a white turtleneck and blazer, Takumi, interviews. Subtitles appear as he speaks.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Takumi Okada
Creative Planner
Sony Music Solutions Inc.
TAKUMI
“mocopi and ToF AR make motion capture more accessible. Not just young people, but anyone who is curious can use these technologies to participate in virtual spaces and express themselves.”
In the virtual environment, Shota’s avatar strikes a triumphant pose. On the smartphone screen, Shota and his avatar grins and hold their arms wide in front of the camera. Now Shota raises his fists and shifts his weight as though boxing. Side-by-side, Shota and his avatar lunge forward with their arms outstretched, then repeat the movement. Masashige interviews.
MASASHIGE
“Anyone can express creativity. By providing simple tools like this, more people can become creators of content, and that content will reach more people and inspire them.”
Beside a playground, Shota’s avatar exercises with a pair of old men in tracksuits. Shota’s avatar skips across a city crosswalk. A young man and woman walking through a park look back at the avatar as she strolls down the brick pathway. A person eating on a park bench glances over at the avatar shuffling past nearby. A young woman smiles at her phone as she watches a video of Shota’s avatar dancing.
MASASHIGE
“I dream of creating such a world.”
Now avatars of Annika and Hana appear in video chat. Annika’s avatar has short pink hair. Hana’s avatar wears a knitted white sweater.
ONSCREEN TEXT: Annika Hansteen-Izora
Creative Technologist
Hana Jacobsen
Designer & Artist
ANNIKA
“That was so easy. You look amazing.”
HANA
“I can’t believe I can do this with my phone. Hey Annika! You really do have stars in your eyes.”
Two grey semi-circles appear against a purple background. Text in the left semi-circle reads “FUTURE PROOF” above Kanji. Text in the right semi-circle reads “SONY.” With a chime and a flash of light, the Sony logo appears against a black background.