Bluecadet collaborated with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to build a one-of-a-kind face-swapping AR experience to accompany a retrospective on John Waters' transgressive cult filmography.

Using "selfie" face filters, this experience allows you to see yourself in John Waters character-style hairdos, accessories, facial hair, and makeup. The web application will open a selfie or front-facing camera on your personal device where you can choose from five characters to transform into. Then, you can save your photos to share your experience.

Bluecadet collaborated with the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures to build a one-of-a-kind face-swapping AR experience to accompany a retrospective on John Waters' transgressive cult filmography.

Step into John Waters' virtual salon

For one of Hollywood's most beloved character-driven (and fashionable) storytellers , it only seemed fitting to use AR technology to give fans the chance to step into the kitschy shoes of some of Waters' most beloved characters.

Bluecadet and the Academy Museum settled on recreating 5 of Waters' most iconic characters (in addition to Waters himself) to best represent the varied personalities created over his half-century career.

The AR filter is only half of the experience, it's up to the users to assume the personalities and bring each character life!

Preserving Authenticity

One of the most significant challenges in building the app was preserving the authenticity of John Waters' work and characters; Waters himself even played a vital role as a stakeholder in approving the app.

It was essential to create a realistic 3D facsimile of each character with attention to the most nuanced details, all built within the capabilities of 3D modeling and AR.

Accessibility

In true John Waters fashion, we made sure that the app was open and accessible to anyone interested in expressing their wild side. In addition to developing a highly-performant browser-based app, we also developed a 'Non-AR' mode which allowed users to view each character as a mannequin bust.

Try John Waters AR

The collaboration between Bluecadet and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures produced an engaging and innovative augmented reality experience. It successfully bridged the gap between the irreverent underground world of John Waters and contemporary technology, resulting in a dynamic, memorable, and irreverent companion to the retrospective.