{"id":55339,"date":"2025-03-27T15:35:07","date_gmt":"2025-03-27T15:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/?p=55339"},"modified":"2025-03-27T16:46:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-27T16:46:43","slug":"halo-4-animators-want-your-face-and-theyll-give-you-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2025\/03\/27\/halo-4-animators-want-your-face-and-theyll-give-you-40\/","title":{"rendered":"Halo 4 animators want your face – and they’ll give you \u00a340"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An animation studio who worked on Doctor Who is offering Sheffielders the chance to be a non-playing character in a video game – and pocket \u00a340 for 10 minutes’ work.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten24 Studio have been running The Sapiens Project at Orchard Square in the city centre, having taken over its first shop unit last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten24, who are running the project, have created scans used for VFX effects for films and TV shows such as Kingsman: The Secret Service and Merlin, as well as for video games including Halo 4. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants undertake 11 different facial expressions, with the objective of the project being to \u201cenhance human-machine interfaces in fields like medical technology, robotics, transport, and customer service,\u201d as well as to \u201cdiversify characters in games.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The expressions cover a range of human emotions, such as sadness, shock and frustration, with some examples featured as models in the lobby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The “frustration” expression, one of 11 that participants must recreate in their scan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Those taking part must be aged 18 or over, be fully shaven and have no piercings, headwear or makeup. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants have reported mixed feedback from the project, with one describing it as \u201crewarding,\u201d whilst others have described it as \u201cvery strange.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellis Volpe, 18, of Endcliffe, said: \u201cI found the Sapiens Project quite rewarding. I was unsure at first but after reading about what they can and can\u2019t do with my data, I decided to go ahead with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt took 10 minutes in and out and I left with \u00a340 cash in hand which is very useful for a uni student like me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Tom Lord, 19, of Crookesmoor, said: \u201cI found the experience really different to anything I had ever done before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was also very strange having to sit in a small room with 71 cameras around you, having to pull weird faces in front of a person you don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon entering, those taking part must sign a model release form, allowing the scans to be used \u201cbyTen24 or its licensees in any and all Media, for any purpose,\u201d except \u201cfor creating sexually explicit content and for government or state surveillance\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants must then change into a grey vest and bald cap, before taking part in the scan and receiving a \u00a340 cash compensation fee for their time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To take part, you can click here <\/a>to book your appointment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I Sold my Soul for a Nando\u2019s and a pint – my experience taking part in The Sapiens Project<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The offer of \u00a340 for ten minutes of work would be appealing to most people, but the offer of \u00a340 to a uni student seven weeks into term almost sounded too good to be true, writes Shrey Chandarana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, The Sapiens Project are really offering \u00a340 to any individual aged 18 or over, who are willing to remove any piercings, fully shave their face, and forgo their dignity by changing into a tight grey tank top and a bald cap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The experience started with an ID check, to ensure you were aged over 18 and that you weren\u2019t a repeat customer. The checks were relatively stringent; a woman, ahead of us in the queue, had piercings in and was unable to take part. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This then led to the signing of a \u2018Model Release Form,\u2019 which essentially signed the rights to your face away for any project Ten24, the company running the project, saw fit, although with the reassurance that this didn\u2019t include \u201csexually explicit content and\/or for government or state surveillance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Safe in the knowledge that the scan of my face wouldn\u2019t be uploaded directly to Keir Starmer\u2019s computer, we were then instructed to change our clothes. The host pulled out a tight grey tank top and then applied a bald cap to our heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking like a mix between a wannabe person trainer and a Pitbull superfan who got lost on the way to his gig, we then ended up in a room that had over 70 cameras, all arranged with you in the centre. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new host took you through the necessary poses. The first? \u201cClose your eyes and open your mouth. Wider. As wide as you can.\u201d Not the best start. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, the rest of the poses passed without too much effort. Scared. Laughing. Happy. Sad. Frustrated. It was all done within about 5 minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One signature later, your face was signed away, and you were handed two \u00a320 notes, one of which, for me at least, went straight on a plate of food at Nando\u2019s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An animation studio who worked on Doctor Who is offering Sheffielders the chance to be a non-playing character in a video game – and pocket \u00a340 for 10 minutes’ work. Ten24 Studio have been running The Sapiens Project at Orchard Square in the city centre, having taken over its first shop unit last month. Ten24, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":55349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,1],"tags":[948,62,947,276],"class_list":["post-55339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-story","category-uncategorized","tag-animation","tag-culture","tag-media","tag-sheffield-city-centre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55339"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55339\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55516,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55339\/revisions\/55516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}