In the video above, Marco Tempest and his collaborators onformative.com and checksum5.com show how they made the illusion in his latest TEDTalk. (More credits and info.)
So we asked Marco Tempest: “What do our viewers need to know to appreciate ‘A magical tale…’?” Here is what he wrote …
Magic has this unique ability to look beyond the limitations of current technology and imagine a possible future and give us a chance to experience what that future might feel like. In that sense I am like an inventor, but without the limits of what is actually possible.
In this piece I try to use magic to prototype or sandbox a possible future where 3D sensors and gestural sensing are intelligent and ubiquitous. Imagine the possibilities of a system like this for day to day communication or education. A digital storytelling tool for the future?
Technically I am combining a HD video camera with the depth camera of a Kinect. I myself become a virtual object on a virtual stage filmed by a virtual camera and projected behind me in real-time. All visuals are generated in real-time and the sleight of hand and augmentation are blended seamlessly to tell the story of storytelling and magic.
— Marco Tempest
