Watching a CGI clone army collapse into a glitchy human body pile-up makes free will seem sweeter than ever. This computer-generated slapstick, set to Bryan Adams’ “Run to You,” comes courtesy Jon Robson, a filmmaker and motion artist of 15 years. His new video, Crowd Sim 2, echoes the burgeoning medium of algorithmically-generated crowd simulations pioneered for movies like Lord of the Rings. Crowd Sim 1, however, is less chaotic and has much more Beastie Boys and breakdancing. It’s chill.
Lately, crowd simulations like these have become an art form in their own right through music videos and video art experiments. Robson’s video is extra uncanny because he’s using a detailed 3D scan of a friend, loaning the hapless humanoids a realistic face and skin. “My friend let me photoscan him. In return I made him immortal,” Jobson writes in the video description. If art scholars are still talking about Crowd Sim 2 in 500 years, we hope they find it as funny as we do.
Videos by VICE
See more of Jon Robson’s work on his website.
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