Many years of experimentation with both interactivity and animation have allowed FELIX MUNDI to develop unequalled expertise in the field of interactive animation. By combining open-ended storylines with well-trained and well-framed animators, FELIX MUNDI transforms animation into a dynamic and provocative tool capable of ushering the customer to a higher level of enjoyment. We can help you to:
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INTERACTIVE ANIMATION By animation we mean play facilitation. Interactive animation stands apart from regular animation or theatrical animation in that its function is to facilitate interaction between guests and animators. Regular or theatrical animation takes guests as far as a smile or an acknowledgment of the animator’s action. Interactive animation, on the other hand, encourages guests to go beyond the expected reaction, to truly interact with the animators. Interactive animation gets people really involved in a situation. Interactive animation is very much like ‘improv’, except that in this improvisation game, most of the players aren’t experienced comedians, they’re just guests thrust in the spotlight! In such a play facilitation environment, the interactive animator must be a quick study, have a deft touch and be able to quickly pick the appropriate intervention tool. Sometimes a provocative approach to interaction will work fine, while at other times helping a guest along will entail respecting his unexpressed but detectable wish to remain more of a passive spectator, out of the limelight. Selecting capable interactive animators is of the first importance and should not be done haphazardly. Personnel should be chosen according to their capacity for public interaction. Some actor/animators are more at ease working off set script and dialogues, while others prefer the high-wire act of open-ended storylines and improvisation. Interactive animation calls for the latter. Though interactive animators love working off open-ended scripts, they also seek clear parameters of intervention. Indeed, loose scripts call for clear lines of directions and even clearer boundaries. Thus equipped, the animator may improvise to the limit, secure in the notion that he’ll never go overboard. As lines of direction and boundaries vary enormously according to the circumstances of each project, we won’t enumerate them here. For the members of the management team, the challenge of interactive animation lies in accepting that things won’t always go according to plan. For a manager, accepting what is perceived as chaos is easier said than done: feeling like you’ve lost control is most unpleasant. To counter that feeling, managers should take a page from ‘improv’ games and become the referees who encourage play by giving direction and drawing the line, all the while trusting in their animators to do their magic!
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