If you thought James Cameron was inventive upon creating Avatar, check out Miwa Matrayek. A recent MFA graduate from CalArt's Experimental Animation program, the animator has figured out how to incorporate her theatrical passion into film-animation nonetheless. "It's not even interactive, it's actually precise animation projected in front and onto the rear of the screen, then matched up in a certain way." From there, "the performer" side of the artist goes in between the projections, where she vividly navigates the narration of the story by inserting herself live in a short film performance. (Video of Miwa Matrayek's performance at TED after the jump).
"This concept is something that has evolved within the last five years. I thought I was going to make short films when I first started theater school." Matrayek met her current collaborator for these types of projects, Chi-wang Yang upon taking some animation courses at the graduate program; and it was there, where she started to experiment with superimposing herself inside the anime. The end product allows her to release the performative part of her creative juices while still satisfying her filmography interests. And a fascinating marriage it has been since.
See Miwa Matrayek perform her latest piece: Glorious Visions at TED. Music by Anna Oxygen, Mirah, Caroline Lufkin and Mileece.
A version of this piece also appeared on Dcriber.com
