Category Archives: Course Character

Week 12 Video Project – The Rise, the Continuation of Hwei’s Story

For my video project, I decided to continue Hwei’s story and give some context as to what drove him to absolute madness. After being fed up with Aggressive Technologies and their mass expansion and brainwashing of the world, Hwei decides that he must become an example of what humanity can achieve if they choose his route and embrace AI.

Like I said before in last week’s summary post, Hwei has never been animated to talk in front of a camera, so I had to find a mad genius look-alike in the League of Legends universe to fill in. I had to get clips from the movie Arcane, and there were plenty of clips of the mad scientist Viktor, who is actually the embodiment of Hwei’s character in its entirety (other than being European and not wearing robes / being artsy all the time).

Since the whole premise of my story was to show that initial human side of Hwei then transforming into a robot, I recorded my own voice with the script I wrote to really sell the idea of human becoming something different entirely.

I used Wav2Lip for the second time now, and it was just as disappointing as last time. Not sure if I’m doing anything wrong, but it seems as though the lip syncing is never up to my standards. There are a lot of parts where I am not speaking, yet the algorithm moved the model’s lips. I also couldn’t find a continuous 50 second clip of him just talking, so the 4 second clip I used kept looping over and over, which didn’t make it very realistic.

I got all of the video clips from YouTube, but I noticed that the YouTube to video file generator I used reduced the video quality tremendously. The entire video looks 480p, and I think I’ll try to find some ways to download crisper videos for the final project.

Just like I did in the Radio Show, I had a lot of fun syncing up the different music and voice line files to create dramatic effect. The black screen before the transformation cutscene signified a shift in atmosphere, along with the new music track being added in tandem. When Hwei touches the ominous purple device, jolts of lightning come into frame as the scene cuts again with the music at the perfect timing, and a picture of robot Hwei (Which is actually a portrait of Viktor) comes in. The voice lines were taken from YouTube, and since they were voice lines from the video game, I had to splice together a few lines in audacity to make a coherent “villain announcement” segment.

Luckily I had no issues with copyright music or clips like I was worried about last week, and I hope it stays that way so that everyone can still view the video! Overall this process took around 2 hours and I definitely have some takeaways for the final project moving forward.

Video Project Plan – Incorporating Hwei in a Different Fashion

For my video project, I definitely knew that I wanted to build more upon my course character and create more of his lore in a video format. I will be attempting to use Wav2Lip, since that is a piece of technology that I’ve successfully used previously. However, when trying to find a video of Hwei from Riot Games that can be used for Wav2Lip, I realized that there isn’t a video where Hwei is talking directly forward that can be manipulated by the software. Due to this, I may be taking a clip from the movie Arcane, which is from the League of Legends world.

Hwei is not a character in this Netflix series, as he is a relatively new addition to the League of Legends universe. Due to this, I’m thinking of using the character Viktor instead.

Viktor is actually a robot in League universe, but this film goes into the backstories of different characters, so he is portrayed in his human form before the transformation. Funnily enough, Viktor is a very similar character to my rendition of Hwei, as he is a mad scientist that is an enthusiast of augmentation and the use of technology, to the point where he replaced his entire body with robotic parts to free himself of his crippled state.

Looking back at it now, I think I should have made Viktor my course character, as he is literally what Hwei stands for currently, and I had no idea until looking back in hindsight. However, maybe trying to add a personality to a blank canvas gave me more creativity in my assignments.

For the narrative of the video, I will most likely create a monologue of the pivotal moment where Hwei turned to automation and AI as his escape from reality. I will show two phases where he is initially in human form, but then turns into the idealized, robotic version of himself after a deep reflection of his ambitions and morals.

The only concern I have right now is that there will be copyright issues or that my video will be flagged by Wav2Lip or Google or any other corporation, so I’ll have to see if I get any issues using this clip.

Video Project Plan – Incorporating Hwei in a Different Fashion

For my video project, I definitely knew that I wanted to build more upon my course character and create more of his lore in a video format. I will be attempting to use Wav2Lip, since that is a piece of technology that I’ve successfully used previously. However, when trying to find a video of Hwei from Riot Games that can be used for Wav2Lip, I realized that there isn’t a video where Hwei is talking directly forward that can be manipulated by the software. Due to this, I may be taking a clip from the movie Arcane, which is from the League of Legends world.

Hwei is not a character in this Netflix series, as he is a relatively new addition to the League of Legends universe. Due to this, I’m thinking of using the character Viktor instead.

Viktor is actually a robot in League universe, but this film goes into the backstories of different characters, so he is portrayed in his human form before the transformation. Funnily enough, Viktor is a very similar character to my rendition of Hwei, as he is a mad scientist that is an enthusiast of augmentation and the use of technology, to the point where he replaced his entire body with robotic parts to free himself of his crippled state.

Looking back at it now, I think I should have made Viktor my course character, as he is literally what Hwei stands for currently, and I had no idea until looking back in hindsight. However, maybe trying to add a personality to a blank canvas gave me more creativity in my assignments.

For the narrative of the video, I will most likely create a monologue of the pivotal moment where Hwei turned to automation and AI as his escape from reality. I will show two phases where he is initially in human form, but then turns into the idealized, robotic version of himself after a deep reflection of his ambitions and morals.

The only concern I have right now is that there will be copyright issues or that my video will be flagged by Wav2Lip or Google or any other corporation, so I’ll have to see if I get any issues using this clip.

Hwei Against a Mega Corporation: His Take on Aggressive Technologies

Course Character: Hwei the Creator

Original Hwei biography as a reference

As Hwei ventured on his quest for world domination through the harnessing of AI powers and creating life through his research, Aggressive Technologies was a corporation that he never saw eye to eye with.

Aggressive Technologies looked to take the AI market by storm, engulfing all of the industries pertaining to, e-commerce, social media, among other fields of tech. Their sole focus on expansion and obsession with creating a monopoly has made their corporation one that seeks to trample upon others to gain the upper hand.

On one hand, Hwei may seem to have the same overall goals as Aggressive Technologies, taking over the world and having the power to shape anything he touches. However, it has never a goal of his to gain monetarily from his research and creations. In fact, his ideal new world would consist of no monetary value on any item, idea, or being. All he ever wanted was to create the way he wanted to; for the world to see the potential beauties of the world from his perspective. The purpose of his new AI beings would not be for his gain, but rather for the betterment his world (at least for his perfect creations).

To be fair, some of Hwei’s equipment and parts of his laboratory were stolen from Aggressive Technologies, as he sent out his rogue thief programmed robots to infiltrate their headquarters. The masterminds behind Aggressive Technologies know about the research of Hwei and the existence of some of his true to life robots, but have not identified him as a serious threat yet. There will soon be a clash between the two parties, as Aggressive Technologies is threatened by Hwei’s unwillingness to back down to their expansion, while Hwei fights back against the irrational development of AI in his eyes, ruining the beauty of his craft.

Course Character: Hwei the Creator

I gained inspiration from the MOBA game League of Legends to create my very own rendition of the character Hwei. He vaguely fits under the artist archetype, albeit in a very sinister way. Hwei does not abide by the status quo of the world around him. Rather, he sees these things as tools to paint and envision his new world; one where AI can have the same shape, form, and intelligence as humans. While he portrays himself as a humble artist dressed in traditional Chinese robes and carrying a paintbrush as big as a sword, he’s actually a cutthroat AI developer and designer, spending most of his time in his laboratory working as a one man army to take over the world with robots. I can’t get too in depth with his lore as of now, but Hwei has had some traumatic experiences in the past to the point where his belief in mortality and the human experience took a twisted turn. Hwei’s discovery of AI after the tragedy in his life gave him purpose in life, finding companionship only in his own artificial creations.