Dog & Pony Shows presents
Pixels
Pixels is a real-time animation show
Pixels is an animated show co-created by improvisers and a live audience. True stories from the audience inspire animated shorts in real time. Every show is different from big adventures to tiny romances, spooky hauntings and impossible mysteries. Part comedy, part experiment, and all powered by technology from Flipside Studio!
The first production of Pixels was back in 2018 and it has been evolving along with the advances in VR technology ever since. We are always excited about bringing the next stage of this project to live audiences.
Dog & Pony Shows
Stephen Sim and Caity Curtis are best known for their work in improvised theatre. The duo spins true stories from the audience into something new, (and often funny.) Sim and Curtis are the creative team behind the Winnipeg Improv Festival, The Improv Company Training Centre and oodles of Winnipeg Fringe Festival Productions (Burns and Allen, A Loving Tribute; The Big Stupid Improv Show; Pixels). Stephen likes to write sci-fi short stories and Caity crochets succulents.
Here's a little bit more about the show.
The animation is done in real-time while the improvisers are onstage. There is a live show in a theatre with a live audience. The show is also streamed live on the internet. Ever since I started doing improv shows (way back in the olden days) I always dreamed of someday, somehow, being able to improvise as a cartoon or to have the stories I was improvising become animation live. Well, the technology is catching up to that vision. And it’s really cool to experience.
We premiered the show way back in 2018 with a grant from the Winnipeg Arts Council. We did a series of shows at the Winnipeg Fringe and remounted the show later that same year at the Winnipeg Improv Festival. The tech has evolved, the software has evolved and the show has adapted.
Let me explain a bit about how the show works.
We use Virtual Reality headsets and a VR platform called Flipside Studio to make real-time animation. Flipside XR is a VR company that makes a platform that is a virtual TV/Film/Animation studio. It gives creators and performers access to create animated content. And it does it so quickly that you can actually do it in front of an audience live! It still blows my mind. The audience sees the improvisers on the stage performing as well as the projected animation on the big screen. The live stream will be the 2D real-time animation, it will be like watching some improvised shorts, only improvised. Someday you’ll have an option to watch the performance in VR and see it being made in 3D!
Here's a clip of us doing Pixels back in 2018 at the Winnipeg Improv Festival
