This article is from the public number:Western Entertainment (ID: EW-Entertainment), author: Tang Hong Yang, from the title figure: Oriental IC
Before we paid attention to a large number of virtual idols with a second-dimensional style. In fact, the avatar of the “three-dimensional” style is also in turmoil.
On October 11th, the famous Japanese actor Mizushima Hiroshi released an avatar plan based on his own image. Lewis Hiro Newman was born as the first real human avatar of the world. It will be an independent personality. Continue to carry out activities on Instagram.
Recently, the well-known fashion magazine “VOGUE” “GQ” operating company Condé Nast Publishing House and Japan’s first Virtual Model brokerage firm VIM reached a cooperation; domestically, Huya recently released the first digital night at the LiveTech conference site Jade, these have further allowed the industry to see the market of imaginary avatars.
“Avatar” is undoubtedly one of the most popular hot words in Japan. In the past two years, the Japanese industry with a strong ACG cultural background has focused on the YouTube platform and promoted the formation of a relatively complete VBuber industry chain. The release of the imaginary image of Mizushima and the cooperation between VOGUE and VIM enabled the avatar native to Instagram to get the attention of the industry.
Different platforms tonalize different styles of avatars. We have previously focused on the second-element virtual idol track that originated in YouTube. There are also a large number of similar products in China. Based on the domestic platform ecology, the virtual idols that are native to vibrato are also following the logic of the short video platform. At present, the total number of fans in the whole network has exceeded 10 million.
“Secret Sauce” Q&A: How to develop a virtual video of a virtual video?
And through Instagram, the imaginary avatar has access to traffic. Currently overseas, companies such as Brud and VIM have created virtual models.
In this article, to distinguish from vtuber, vmodel is used to refer to all imaginary avatars.
We first combI took a look at the typical case of Lil Miquela and analyzed the specific gameplay and imagination space of vmodel.
1Typical Case: The vmodel universe opened by Lil Miquela
At the end of 2016, the love of self-proclaimed “Virtual YouTuber” became popular and promoted vtuber as the annual hot word, creating a new, secondary culture based on submitted videos. It should not be overlooked that the virtual avatar/Virtual Model, also known as CGI Influencer, was born during this period. Lil Miquela, represented by Lil Miquela, quickly gained a place in the fashion field with Instagram as its main position.
The analogy of the love of the pioneering role in the vtuber industry, the avatar Lil Miquela, is also the “first person” of Vmodel.
Lil Miquela
Because most people initially believe that love is AI, most people don’t realize that Miquela is not a real human being. She has her own worldview values and has her own virtual world “universe”. Have other “digital people” friends.
Lil Miquela’s team behind
Lil Miquela’s team set the real name for her in the real world, Miquela Sousa, a 20-year-old Brazilian Spanish mixed-race girl living in Los Angeles, and she is a model and singer. She has her own “self-awareness”, supports black rights, and has publicly expressed her dislike of Donald Trump.
MiqUela is a fictitious online role that she produces by the team and is delivered to our popular social software to maximize engagement. Because of the team’s judgment, the generation that grew up from The Sims has a high acceptance of the imaginary avatar.
Miquela was created by DJ and music producer Trevor McFedries and Sara DeCou. The latter is the founder of Brud.
Brud claims to be “a cross-media studio dedicated to creating a digital world,” focusing on robotics, artificial intelligence, and how to apply it to business. In April 2018, Brud received a $6 million venture capital to ensure that Miquela has all the opportunities that a real-life model can have, like a real-life model like Kardashian.
In addition to Miquela, Brud also created two other vmodels, Blawko and Bermuda, all run by a team of nine people, including designers, brand managers, creative producers and software engineers.
Miquela’s operations
Miquela’s “universe” was quickly established. In April 2018, Miquela posted a photo of another vmodel called Blawko. Based on Miquela’s unique worldview framework and the ins tagging capabilities, Brud introduces a newcomer vmodel compared to Activ8(绊爱company) launching newcomer vtuber For convenience and effectiveness.
Brud adds popularity to vmodels through marketing similar to real-life stars. A few days after the photo was posted, another vmodel Bermuda, made by Brud, “invaded” Miquela’s account and asked her to tell people the truth about her identity. Miquela also officially admitted for the first time that he is not a real human being.
If you say that your loved AI settings have made you feel puzzled, Miquela’s setting has some more ridiculous reality. She introduces her origins: she was created by an evil genius in Silicon Valley. At that time, as his servant, he was secretly injected into the memory and personality of a human named “Miquela” by Brud.
Brud’s control over content operations between avatars is becoming more and more precise. Recently, Miquela’s boyfriend Blawko began dating her attacked Bermuda.
The gossip of celebrities is shun, and the avatars are the same. The public’s attention will enrich their sense of presence and presence, attracting everyone to learn more about their stories, Miquela’s “identity exposure” after she The SNS got more visits and attracted everyone to understand her “universe” to understand other people in her world.
The “virtual” identity itself is enough to push Miquela further into the spotlight, and as she gets more and more attention, she has gradually become a cultural phenomenon, which itself is close to the gameplay of social games.
business activity
Miquela is becoming more and more famous. She works with brands like OutdoorVoices and Supreme to advertise ads like CrazyRich Asians and in magazines like Wonderland, New York Magazine and Vogue. Appeared and received more and more heated discussion.
In August 2018, in Times Square, Spotify billboards were promoting Miquela’s new single “Hate Me.”
In November 2018, in the microfilm festival initiated by GIPHY, Miquela was a guest in one of the works.
In May 2019, Lil Miquela appeared in the advertisement of Calvin Klein, who kissed the live model Bella Hadid to express her support for gender and identity. She also donated part of her income to social welfare projects, such as the Los Angeles-based California Wildfire Relief Fund (Black Girls Code NGO).
Miquela is becoming synonymous with cool and trendy, and likes Miquela to become a tasteful thing.
Brud succeeded in creating a virtual character that is almost identical to a real person. With the increase in popularity and the expansion of business operations, Lil Miquela’s personality is as malleable as her image and has a broad imagination.
How 2Vmodel exists
1) Interactive AI digital person
Vmodel has become increasingly popular among brands. The virtual character image is a different way for the company to think about brand safety. These personalities generated by team operations also have a solid social media star temperament, but there is no unpredictability of the real stars that the brand hates.
First of all, they are virtual and completely managed by the team. There is no gossip and no secret behind this immersive model. Correspondingly, the risk is more controllable, and vmodel will appear in the time when it should appear. On the occasion, for the brand side, they are perfect.
The fashion and beauty brands that have a higher demand for real people have a natural affinity for vmodels. Many brands have launched their own virtual models, such as SK-II and AI’s Soul Machines.
Unlike many companies in Japan that follow the trend of launching vtuber, skin care products have a higher affinity with natural and immersive images. In line with the virtual trend, SK-II announced that Yumi has become its new ambassador.
Yumi is equipped with an AI system that can interact with SK-II customers to distinguish them from other avatars. Yumi can provide beauty advice to consumers and help consumers better understand their skin. In addition, Yumi is online 24 hours a day and is always ready to provide skin care expertise in Japanese, English, Mandarin and other languages.
” Yumi is not just a web-based digital creation. She is a digital person who can interact interactively and participate in work that technology has not been able to achieve so far,” said SandeepSeth, CEO of global SK-II. “Yumi reflects our goal of combining technology and creativity to benefit our customers. She provides a humanized warmth and connection in the form of a digital experience that makes the overall skincare experience at home and in the store more enjoyable and compelling.”
Yumi has not yet been officially launched, but it is certain that once Yumi “takes office,” consumers can get installed from smartphones, home devices and other software stores, and through her skin care advice and consulting services.
2) brand spokesperson
Another shipmentThe typical use of avatars is Colonel Sanders from the “food industry”. He is the image of the younger version of Colonel Sanders created by KFC with digital technology, which has caused heated discussions on the Internet.
The agents of Colonel Sanders, Kennedy and Kennedy, did not look at Miquela or Shudu, which had a certain reputation when considering the involvement of virtual network red. They created a 100% immersive image of KFC and gave him the setting of Colonel Sanders.
Campus Saunders is not just a branded content. In addition to his KFC endorsement, his image also collaborates with the beverage brand Dr Pepper for advertising.
3) vmodel brokerage company
Based on the frequency of use of YouTube and Instagram in Japan, both vtuber and vmodel have developed to a certain extent in Japan.
Imma, the first person in Japanese vmodel, was born in the summer of 2018. Imma is wearing a conspicuous pink hair, shooting fashion photos with famous actors, models Suwon Hiko, and Akimoto. As of October 15, the number of fans is 149,000. The prospect of seeing vmodel is considerable, and there are also vmodel brokers in Japan, among which VIM is the most well-known.
The largest ancient community in Japan, the “old woman”, the total number of fans on the ins as of October 14, more than 350,000. Its operating company, yutori, established vmodel brokerage company VIM in July this year and completed additional financing, plans to create a new IP around Instagram.
At present, VIM has created two vmodels, namely uca and Kwai. The commonality between the two is the world view, as well as the fine craftsmanship of the people. The Kwai Lord is a cool and sexy girl, and the UCA is the main style of the doll.
4) Virtualization of live stars
The real star is not a new thing to create a virtual image. In China, there are also avatars such as Bisman and Dili Coldpa.
Recently, Lewis Hiro Newman, based on the appearance of the famous Japanese actor Mizushima, was born and developed by the 1 sec studio. On the first day of the opening of the Ins account, it has received more than 5,000 subscribers.
1 sec, the person in charge of the palace, explains the logic of the real-life image of a real-life star. “Shuidao Hong, like most people, did not know what kind of person he would become in his previous life. He also I have faced the choice of going to the UK or staying in Japan to enter the entertainment industry. He chose the actor. The Lewis Hiro Newman we created for him this time chose another track, and we will continue to enrich his people. Let’s experience the feeling of two world lines in the same world.”
Miyaji also said that Mizushima’s imaginary image is the first bomb of 1sec, and later there will be other real stars to launch the real image, and 1sec will form another “cosm” of the real star image.
3 imagination space
platform style and technical iteration
Due to different factors such as the foreign network environment and cultural background, the avatar gameplay also shows regional differences. This also makes the existence of imaginative vmodels more common in Europe and the United States, while in Asia, the two-dimensional vtuber has a wider audience.