Skullmapping is a Belgium animation studio founded in 2010 by Antoon Verbeeck and Filip Sterckx. Their specialty is new media animation, focusing mostly on “boutique” projects that use image mapping, virtual reality, and holograms. “Our passion,” they state, “is to develop stories with stunning bespoke visuals and finding new ways to surprise our audience.”
One of their animations, Le Petit Chef, does exactly that. A handful of diners gather around a table, awaiting a meal. A tiny chef climbs out of a spider hole in the table and starts to cook his guests steak and potatoes, straining with effort as he lifts objects ten times his own body weight. Our principal antagonist in this piece is a fly.
The animation illustrates how new formats can fundamentally change narrative in media. Holograms, VR, and image mapping have one thing in common in that they eliminate or minimize the screen, something that has separated audiences from the story since the dawn of cinema. Your hand would pass right through the docetic chef if you tried touching him, but for a moment he appears to be as tangible as the place setting in front of you. Combine the animation with the setting: a dinner table instead of a theater, the audience surrounded by soft candlelight and the smell of cooking food. The audience are closer to participants than they would be if this was projected on a screen. The arrival of the real food breaks the illusion, as it must, but it’s also a tidy way to bring the short story to a close.
Our excitement for this animation continues after we realize this is only the tip of the iceberg for new media. The sci-fi funhouse that these technologies prophesy cannot be too far off. We suppose that will come when game designers or programmers start making characters that can respond to their audience. When that happens, films like Le Petit Chef will look like Steamboat Willie for an entirely new generation of media.
Bill Rodgers is the Managing Editor of cfile.daily.
What do you think of this projection mapping animation? Let us know in the comments!
Can these be rented for parties in US? If so, what would be the cost?
As an ex-chef and caterer I find this concept fantastic. The restaurant experience should be entertainment rather than just the food no matter how good. I can readily see this as a sort of inter-course theater used in the same way that some restaurants add smells or textures to add to the sensory experience. I would love to experience this.