Living in Ultraviolet

Living in Ultraviolet is a short motion capture film that explores the tension between beauty and discomfort through embodied movement and glitch aesthetics. Created in collaboration with Gabriel Chi and Olive Stewart, the piece uses abstraction and distortion to create an unsettling yet visually intimate digital space.

The project began during an introductory motion capture course using Motive and Unreal Engine. While capturing movement data, an accidental rig dislocation occurred, producing unnatural and fragmented motion. Rather than correcting this error, we embraced it as a central expressive element, allowing the distorted movement to shape the emotional tone of the film.

An animated avatar performs slow, eerie gestures set to singer FKA Twigs’ Ultraviolet, with textured visuals and moody lighting reinforcing the sense of unease. The combination of rhythmic motion, glitch artifacts, and lighting creates a space where vulnerability and distortion coexist, blurring the line between control and collapse.

Living in Ultraviolet reflects an interest in using technical errors as narrative material and exploring how embodied performance can communicate emotion within surreal digital environments.