Groove Jones won both the Silver Honors and Audience Honors at the 11th Annual 2023 Shorty Awards in the category of Artificial Intelligence. The Shorty Awards celebrated its milestone anniversary at a live event in New York City on Wednesday, May 24th, 2023. The internet’s preeminent annual awards program announced the winners and honorees of the 15th Annual Shorty Awards in 148 categories, including brands, agencies, non-profits, and independent creators.
The Shorty Awards are an annual awards show recognizing the people and organizations that produce real-time short-form content across the web. Here is the list of all of the Winners – https://shortyawards.com/15th/winners
SILVER HONOR
Category: Artificial Intelligence
Client: FC Dallas
Title: Get In The Game
Case Study
AUDIENCE HONOR
Category: Artificial Intelligence
Client: FC Dallas
Title: Get In The Game
Case Study
About the FC Dallas Experience
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
FC Dallas wanted to produce an exclusive once-in-a-lifetime experience for the FC Dallas soccer fans. The idea of “Get In The Game” was to put individual fans into their own video where they get to make the game-winning goal alongside the star players on the team. The experience would be held during an actual game, where any ticket holder could step in and have the chance to be the star.
WHY DOES THIS ENTRY DESERVE TO WIN?
The “Get In The Game” experience was accomplished using the Groove Jones XR Avatar Scanner, a 360 3D volumetric scanner that captures a fan’s 3d data while at the same time taking multiple pictures of their body using 50 cameras. The overall process is frictionless, where fans use their own phone to register to get scanned. The guest then enters the 10′ x 10′ scanner booth and strikes a pose. Within seconds, the system scans the fan using multiple cameras, then automatically stitches them together, creating a 3D model of them. The system uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) to automatically detect and processes their data (body size, position, weight, and shape) to add a bone rig to their body data, animate them, and composite the fan’s image into a video. The result is an exciting, custom video that is delivered to their mobile phone for viewing and sharing with friends on social.
The XR Avatar Scanner is powered by 50 4K cameras that capture HDR (high dynamic range – for color and depth) using multiple focal lengths—instantly capturing both the geometry and texture of the person standing inside. The proprietary technology is the speed at which the system analyzes the user data and rigs and animates the user data, regardless of what they are wearing, body shape, or size.
RESULTS
The “Get In The Game” fan experience occurred over two events. Starting with a VIP event where season ticket holders attended a private tour of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and got scanned. The next event was open to everyone who attended the FC Dallas and Colorado Rapids match. The general audience event was held in the Gallagher Club during the game at Toyota Stadium, where fans were scanned and received their custom video of them in a match with their favorite FC Dallas players – Paxton Pomykal, Jesus Ferreira, and Paul Arriola!
Using a system powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning), we could process every scanned person, regardless of what they were wearing. In seconds, their data was analyzed and processed to add them to the action video. The system then sent a link to the user so they could watch and download their custom video. The entire process took a few minutes.
The result is an exciting, custom video that is delivered to their mobile phone for viewing and sharing with friends on social.
“The scanner system delivered more than we were expecting,” says Jerome Elenez, Vice President of Marketing of FC Dallas. “Over two nights, we had hundreds of fans participate in a truly unique, once-in-a-lifetime fan experience. Everyone walked away with a great memorable moment that they could then share with thousands of other FC Dallas fans. Creating a real FOMO moment.”
About the Shorty Awards
Since its inception in 2008, the Shorty Awards have evolved with the internet, from the birth of social media to the proliferation of digital content, to the emergence of Web 3.0 and the exponential growth of the creator economy, defined by the US Chamber of Commerce as a group who make money directly from their audience, consisting of consumers, entrepreneurs that cater to their audience, advertisers, and companies that market to artistic entrepreneurs. Digital talent has spawned a new era of entrepreneurship, and creators have become the fastest-growing type of small business.