• by August 19, 2013

It was only a matter of time.  Leave it to the Magic of Disney to take what was once the miracle of mixing live action and animation (a la “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” circa 1988), and, by simply leveraging augmented reality, now  it’s as simple as “there’s an app for that.”   What Disney has done is effectively allowed for the scaled mixing of live action video with their animated characters in an app that allows anyone to create unique videos and place animated Disney characters and objects alongside them within the footage, in real time.

Disney Infinity: Action! – this mobile app, associated with the Disney Infinity console game being released today, is sure to unleash a wave of user generated videos that star anything from your cat to your client to your kid alongside your Disney hero of choice -- Mr. Incredible, Sulley from “Monsters, Inc.” or Jack Sparrow from “Pirates of the Caribbean.”  Simple guidelines on the screen facilitate correct placement of a surface, object or person, and your video is recorded with the outline of your chosen animated character showing its placement in the final version. The three characters each come with different sets of actions, some of which can be used in the videos for free, while you have to unlock others through in-app purchases. Once you complete your video, you can easily save it to your mobile device, share via email, or upload to Facebook or YouTube.

I don’t now about you, but the thought of Mr. Incredible sharing a moment alongside any number of teenage antics that come to mind sound like the kind of endorsement by association that the Disney brand usually tries to avoid.  In this case, Disney Infinity: Action puts the power of mixed media into anyone’s hands and makes it sharable.  It will be interesting to see what contexts the videos from this AR app get placed in as Disney Infinity gets released.  Anyway you cut it, it’s bound to present an interesting creative canvas for both consumers and creatives alike.  I’m personally wondering what Mr. Incredible will teach that Old Spice guy.