New Internet Media Company Puts the Digital You into Famous Content
PASADENA, Calif. (Dec. 17, 2007) – Big Stage is a media company whose breakthrough technology allows users to easily create and integrate a life-like 3-D avatar of themselves into everything from famous movie scenes, TV shows and video games, to music videos, short video clips, virtual worlds, still images, user-generated content, instant messages, e-mails, social networks and more – instantly.
With Big Stage’s 3-D capture technology, users take three simple pictures of themselves with a digital camera and upload them to the Web, where they are quickly converted into a life-like 3-D avatar. Big Stage’s proprietary technology automatically maps the contours of a user’s face to generate an incredibly accurate replica of the user, fully equipped for animation. In under a minute, your avatar is born and fully alive through realistic movement and gestures. Users can then style it with a host of accessories, from hair to eyeglasses, tattoos, hats and more.
After users create and style their avatars, they can drop them into the library of Big Stage-enabled (BSE) user and professionally created content. This highly personalized content can then be shared by users across social networks, mobile phones and more.
“When I first saw this technology in its early stages, I knew there was something special there,” said Jonathan Strietzel, co-founder and chief creative officer, Big Stage. “We are developing a platform that will enable filmmakers and aspiring creatives all over the world to tell their stories in new and exciting ways. Our breakthroughs will fundamentally change the entertainment experience and how people share that experience with others.”
Big Stage’s life-like avatar creation system stems from advanced stereo reconstruction technology funded by multiple government grants, including the CIA, as part of a nine-year cumulative research project at the University of Southern California.
Using the USC research as a starting point and through a series of technical breakthroughs, Chief Technology Officer Jon Snoddy, Chief Scientist Doug Fidaleo and their extraordinary team took what was formerly a complex, expensive, time-consuming process and made it available to any consumer with a digital camera to create a life-like 3-D-animated version of themselves in about 30 seconds.
“The technological breakthroughs realized by this team are massive,” said Snoddy. “We’re placing 3-D-scanning technology previously only available to professionals in the hands of any consumer with a digital camera through a free, fun and easy-to-use Internet-based platform.”
“Big Stage is collaborating with studios, television networks, brands, and a host of Hollywood writers, directors and producers to secure a continuing selection of immersive content. We are also launching a powerful open platform through which both professionals and users can take any image or video and easily Big Stage-enable it. Once published to the Big Stage community, anyone can ‘jump into content’ and share it with their friends and family. No other company provides this kind of immersive entertainment experience,” said Co-Founder and EVP Business Development Jon Kraft.
“As a revolutionary global media company, Big Stage will ultimately power a new, deeply personalized Internet,” said Big Stage President and CEO Chuck Huebner. “The company is driving the next evolution of traditional and social media.”
About Big Stage
Big Stage is a media company whose breakthrough technology allows users to easily create and integrate a life-like 3-D avatar of themselves into everything from famous movie scenes, TV shows and video games, to music videos, short video clips, virtual worlds, still images, user-generated content, instant messages, e-mails, social networks and more – instantly. Big Stage will launch to consumers in the second quarter of 2008.
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