Psychology Experiment

I'm biased; I admit it, so perhaps an experiment along the following lines would be instructive. Whenever I see or hear Bush I am viscerally repulsed, much the same way I'm viscerally repulsed by those I know who are habitually dishonest. But my reaction may be more due to my bias than anything objective. So here's the experiment, which I believe is possible with present animation technology.

Construct a neutral, anthropomorphic face, gender neutral, with a gender neutral voice.

Then, using archive film, superimpose the facial expressions of major political figures during speeches onto the face so that it appears that the face is giving the speech. No nuance of expression should be lost, however subtle, but neither should any uniqueness of true facial feature (e.g. Nixon's nose shape) give away who it is that's giving the speech. To cement the anonymity of the image, the words spoken should be distorted just enough to cancel their intelligibility, but all the inflection and emphasis left intact. Thus the content of the speech cannot unconciously influence reaction to it, but the force of the oratory will still be felt. It's vital that the voice sound completely human.

Show the different clips.

If any viewers can still identify the speakers, the animation was not sufficiently masked.

Once viewers are incapable of identifying the speaker, poll them on their reactions to the bare personalities thus portrayed.

That one is being honest. Look out for that one, he's a wolf disguised. That one respects his audience. That one has nothing but contempt for his audience. And so on.

I predict, once the reults are tallied and the speakers' identities revealed alongside the impressions created by the animations, that any figure's most ardent supporters will be the most surprised by their own reactions to their hero's portrayal - and that strong detractors might be surprised as well.

Most important, consider the possibilities if this exercise were conducted on candidates actively running for office!

Any animators out there intrigued enough to take this on?

Mark Baird
Alameda CA