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Jason Kennedy

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About​

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Dr Jason Kennedy is a senior lecturer above the bar within the department of Animation, Visual Effects & Game Design at Auckland University of Technology. He is a professional animator and actor, and uses his combined experience to investigate the nature of performance within the contexts of animation and motion capture. He is also a collaborative member of Eco Astronomy, a multidisciplinary astronomical research institute. In this capacity, Dr Kennedy extends his research into the field of palaeontology and exobiology, creating 3D scientific visualisations and palaeoart.

Areas of Focus​

3D animation, performance capture, motion capture, synthespians, photogrammetry, acting, performance, virtual production, technological dramaturgy, palaeoart, palaeontology, multidisciplinary research, interdisciplinary research, practice-based research

Relevant Publications​

Performing Animation: Practical Foundations for Better Video Reference
(Submitted, awaiting decision)

Epiphanic Resolution: The Effects of Video Compression on the Believability of Computer-Generated Characters (Submitted, awaiting decision)

Animation-Directed Embodied Performance Technique (ADEPT): A framework for creating better animation video reference (2024)

A Pedagogical Workflow for Interconnected Learning for Animation, Visual Effects, and Game Design Students (2024) 

Cross-Disciplinary Communication Strategies to Support Scientifically Accurate Animation: Reconstructing Pleistocene Megafauna in Sri Lanka (2024) 

Muscular Headband or Sexual Display? A Practice-Oriented Case-Study for Producing Scientifically Informed Palaeoart of Palaeoloxodon Namadicus Sinhaleyus (2024)

Umbilicus Siciliae et Trinakriae - La Torre Ottagonale di Enna: Storia, Archeologia, Topografia e Archeoastronomia (2024)

The Animator’s Sensorium: The impact of acting and animation experience on creating reference performances (2021)

Acting and Its Double: A Practice-Led Investigation of the Nature of Acting Within Performance Capture (2021)

Cataloguing Vactors by Performance Style and Genre in Films from 2010-2013 (2021)

Vactor Ontologies: Framing Acting Within a Motion Capture Context (2021)

Cataloguing Vactors by Performance Style in Films from 2010 (2020)

Acting-Centred Definitions of Vactors, Synthespians, and Digital Doubles (2019)

Critiquing the Screen Presence of Synthespian Counterparts (2019)

The Animator’s (missing) Hand: How practice informs seeing in 3D animation (2017)

The Protean Double: Critiquing the Screen Presence of Synthespian Counterparts (2017)

Automation versus Animation: A case for the affective potential of CG animation (2016)

Beyond the Mirror: Producing Emotionally-Authentic Facial Performance for Animation Reference (2015)

Gauging Meaningful Reference Performance in Animation and Motion Capture (2015)

Character Acting: A Case For Better Animation Reference (2013)

Triggering Core Emotional Responses from Interactive Narratives (2011) 

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