Disneyland is currently testing a new type of meet-and-greet, featuring Mickey Mouse as a living character that can interact with guests. See for yourself! It's really cool :D
[youtube:x6d223p4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6k2xdtU8Wc[/youtube:x6d223p4]
[youtube:x6d223p4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyHIdr1aM7s[/youtube:x6d223p4]
I saw it a few minutes ago, that's amazing!! :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:
That is brilliant!! =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> =D> love it!! how magical being able to interact with Mickey! :thumbs:
Great that this has been caught on video, as evidence. Imagine the kids telling their friends that they actually talked with Mickey Mouse? They wouldn't believe it.
- So we were at Disneyland and we talked with Mickey.
- Um, no, Mickey Mouse never says anything at Disneyland.
- Yes he does, we had a conversation with him!
- Um, are you feeling ok?
:-)
SO COOL!!!! :-D :-D :-D
I think it's gonna be a big success if Disney get this to all of the theme parks.
Must be a lot of job behind the work to get Mickey talk as shown on the video.
And also with the eye that winks and mouth that moves.
Anyone knows how they do it?
I've spoilered the some of my opinions on this so not to ruin the magic. :D
[spoiler:2ex8b22d]It doesn't look the same as the puppet heads which are used in the old Lion King show and the WDW Dream along with Mickey show. I believe the old system used strings.
The mouth movement looks more mechanical and mickeys hands aren't twitching so it seems to be a totally new system.
If the system was more electronic without the need for the characters to operate the eyes and mouth themselves this is huge, it could finally mean that we will see talking heads in parades.[/spoiler:2ex8b22d]
The is huge for Disney in terms of character experience. If the tests are successful we vould have all characters like this in a few years.
WOW this is fantastic i love it !! :D
also alot more challenging for the CMs who are costume characters to talk rather than just act :D I think its fantastic and would be nice to see this with alot more characters in all the parks within a few years !!
Only one thing I must say .. isit just me or has Mickey grown abit ! :P smaller CMs needed ! :lol:
OMG - that is AMAZING. I would love that SOOOOO much. It is totally natural as well. I am going to Anaheim next month and really really would love that.
Wow! I was blown away watching this! I would love to see characters like this in DLP eventually, even though I'm still very fond of the original silent characters :D
Wow!! I atually had a huge smile on my face watching that clip, thank you for sharing!
If only it would be in August...a girl can dream hehe!
x
Quote from: "luke85"Wow! I was blown away watching this! I would love to see characters like this in DLP eventually, even though I'm still very fond of the original silent characters :D
At DLP we then enter into the murky discussion of language. If this was at DLP, would it speak exclusively French, or English (which may provide broader appeal to majority of visitors). Depending on how the tech works, maybe this more than one language is possible, although is it acceptable in the Disney Rulebook for Mickey to be flick between languages as he feels.
Quote from: "ICHAPMAN"Quote from: "luke85"Wow! I was blown away watching this! I would love to see characters like this in DLP eventually, even though I'm still very fond of the original silent characters :D
At DLP we then enter into the murky discussion of language. If this was at DLP, would it speak exclusively French, or English (which may provide broader appeal to majority of visitors). Depending on how the tech works, maybe this more than one language is possible, although is it acceptable in the Disney Rulebook for Mickey to be flick between languages as he feels.
I was thinking the exact same thing. How are they going to do this in our international resort? A seperate French and English set would be most likely. Second, I looks like this technology requires the meet & greet to be inside a confined room, or is this also possible in 'the open air'. A lot of meet & greets spots in our resort are outside.
Anyway, this is a huge step forward and nothing short of Pure Magic! LOVE IT!
A lot of discussion on the American websites are discussing it being done by two characters friends (one on-stage and one off-stage). I disagree I think it is purely done by Mickey himself.
If the technology works as a I think it does:
[spoiler:2tulei7s]With the characters friend talking through a voice changer before the computer then working out the mouth movements.[/spoiler:2tulei7s]
I cannot see why not Mickey couldn't both speak in English and French. Mickey could just act like any other face character and talk in a mixture of languages.
A voice changer?
Of such high quality to have an output of the likes of Mickey Mouse? Thats very unlikely. I have to agree that I believe it's done with two performers. One on stage and one off.
I must admit I too think it's an elaborate voicechanger. They use them for the characters anyway so as long as it's a good impression, I'm sure it wouldn't sound too different. After all, Stitch Live is done in that same way right?
I'm sure the the voice and face movements are controlled together - in a similar way to how the actor uses hand movements to control the face already anyway. As for the character, there's a lot of generic moving around that you could get away with.
It's a stunning effort!
I think it must be similar technology to that employed in Stitch Live. The Interactive Mr Potato Head in the queing area on Toy Story Midway Mania and the interactive Roz at the very end of the Monsters Inc: Mike and Sully to the Rescue attraction at DCA are a further developement of this where a CM can see the audience and therefore talk them personally and the voice output is in the exact character voice!!
This is what Disney magic is all about folks!!
As for the language problem well maybe they would only use this Mickey for special Meet and Greets that are done all in English, then all in French or something!?!
Disney have a patent which was filed in 1994 that was for a voice changer.
I think its works by compared the waveform of pre-recorded words with the waveform of another persons voice, the pitch and various other stuff can then be changed to match with the pre-recorded voice.
It makes sense to have the character doing everything, instead of relying on two people to remain co-ordinated.
Another video has been posted, this time officially by Disney:
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2 ... e-testing/ (http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/05/mickey-mouse-testing-one-two-three-testing/%22%20onclick=%22window.open(this.href);return%20false;)
Disney Parks Blog posted an entry about this, click the link to see the video
//http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2010/05/mickey-mouse-testing-one-two-three-testing/
QuoteSome lucky Disneyland park guests experienced a very special meet and greet with Mickey Mouse this week.
Mickey, who usually saves his voice for shows and parades, talked with guests and interacted with them in never-before-seen ways! This was part of a process we call "playtesting" as it gives us a chance to develop new concepts with our guests long before they end up in the Parks. "We're always looking for innovative ways to let guests interact with our beloved characters," says Disney Imagineer and head of Advanced Development Scott Trowbridge. "And we have many more surprises up our sleeves."
This is fantastic, I love how those kids in the Disney video look absolutely spellbound! I hope they do roll this out in the parks, I must get saving for my California trip! :)
I'm not entirely sure how they pull this off, but here's my guess.
It could be really simple. It could just be a guy in another room doing the voice live, and animating the mechanical mouth on Mickey's head video remote control. The performer inside Mickey isn't doing the voice, but has to act with his/her body to match what is being said.
It's worth noting that the voice of Mickey Mouse, Wayne Allwine, passed away last year (May 2009). So maybe Disney are using Bret Iwan, the new voice of MIckey Mouse, by actually having him there in Disneyland, doing the voice live. Just a thought.
This is one of my favorite additions in a pretty big list of new things at DLR. I am also of the mind that it's a two-person job.
In my opinion, it doesn't matter how it's done because it's done so well. I can remember being a child and wishing Mickey or Goofy could talk. Now my son and many other children will have this experience. How amazing!
Go Disney!
Here's a video of the premiere of World of Color with a talking Mickey. I realy think the person inside the suit is doing the talking. He is interacting with the people and his movements match what he says or does. I don't think this can be done if one person backstage is doing the voice and another person is doing the actual performance on stage.
[youtube:3eii52l5]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HUPB1ddpfs8[/youtube:3eii52l5]
I'm not sure if this is the same technology as the Living Character, I think it could just be a pre-programmed version like they use in the shows, celebrities would be given areas to sit in, and they could program around that. But he does use the "just don't tell Minnie" line from the test session.. the whole thing baffles me! If it is live it's so well done that I really think they could be on to the breakthrough of the century as far as their park experiences go!
Quote from: "Scissorsboi"I'm not sure if this is the same technology as the Living Character, I think it could just be a pre-programmed version like they use in the shows, celebrities would be given areas to sit in, and they could program around that. But he does use the "just don't tell Minnie" line from the test session.. the whole thing baffles me! If it is live it's so well done that I really think they could be on to the breakthrough of the century as far as their park experiences go!
On the other hand, when he interacts with the people at the start of the video, it might be the new technology.