Master’s Research
樋口聡一郎
HIGUCHI Soichiro
配信における双方向性と他者の存在が落語に与える影響
The Effects of Bidirectionality and Presence of Other Audiences on Rakugo in Live Streaming
COVID-19の蔓延による興行自粛要請により、寄席は落語の無観客配信を余儀なくされた。しかし、その多くは鑑賞者の立場から対面での寄席と比較したとき、体験として一体感や迫力が欠けたものであった。 演者にとっても、鑑賞者の反応がわからず、口演しにくい高座であるという課題があった。 論文では、まず寄席の建築的な構造と、演者と観客の役割について分析を行った。結果、対面での寄席では、演者と鑑賞者の間に非言語的なメタ?コミュニケーションが、観客と他の観客の間に他者の身体の無意識的な模倣から感情が湧き上がる情動感染が起こっていることがわかった。 この分析を元に、ライブ配信において、双方向なやり取りや他の鑑賞者の存在を意識させる事例を挙げた。メタ?コミュニケーションと情動感染を引き起こすフィードバックを、人間の三つの感覚（視覚?聴覚?触覚）から考案した。筆者は、触覚は感情と結びつきやすい感覚であるという特性から、他の二つと比較して「配信における双方向性と他の鑑賞者の存在が演者?鑑賞者それぞれの落語に与える影響を調査し、各々の体験を向上する」ことに大きく貢献すると予測し、比較検証を行うことにした。 先行研究を挙げ、「コミュニケーションを生むためのフィードバックとして触覚を用いることの有効性の検証と、実際に落語のライブ配信に取り入れることで、従来の配信落語には無かった演者?鑑賞者それぞれの落語体験への影響を調査する。一連の制作と実験を通して、演者?鑑賞者それぞれの体験を向上させる」ことを本研究の目的とした。 演者?鑑賞者双方の配信落語の体験向上のため、鑑賞者の表情から笑いの度合いを数値化し、視覚（座布団が舞うアニメーション?照明の変化）?聴覚（ラフトラックの再生）?触覚（振動モータによるバイブレーションの強弱）のフィードバックを生成し、物理的に離れた演者と鑑賞者と共有する、修士作品〈Augmented Rakugo〉を制作した。これを用いて、アマチュアとプロの落語家に協力を仰ぎ、実験を行った。 その結果、演者と鑑賞者のメタ?コミュニケーションには触覚フィードバックが、他の鑑賞者を意識させるためには座布団が舞う視覚的なフィードバックが有効であり、効果が限定的である部分もありながらも、配信落語の体験向上に繋がる部分が認められた。
Due to the request to practice self-restraint in the entertainment industry caused by COVID-19, entertainment halls were left with no choice but to broadcast rakugo with no guests present. However, from the standpoint of the viewers when compared to being in-person at the entertainment hall, as an experience it lacked unity and punch. Even from the perspective of the performer, without knowing the reactions of the viewers it was a difficult stage to narrate on. In this thesis, he firstly conducted an analysis about the roles of the performer and viewer, and the architectural structure of the stage. As a result it was understood that with the in-person stage there is non-verbal meta communication between the performer and the audience, and in the space between viewers and other members of the audience an emotional spread occurs from the break out of emotions from the unconscious imitation of others’ bodies. Based on this analysis, he cited examples of interactive interactions and awareness of the presence of other viewers in live broadcasts. Feedback that triggers meta-communication and emotional spread was devised from three human senses (sight, hearing, and touch). The author decided to conduct a comparative study, predicting that the sense of touch would contribute significantly to “investigating the interactivity in delivery and the effect of the presence of other viewers on each performer’s and viewer’s Rakugo to enhance each of their respective experiences” compared to the other two senses, due to its characteristic as a sense easy to relate with emotions. Citing previous research, the objective of this study is to “verify the effectiveness of using the sense of touch as feedback for creating communication, and by actually incorporating it into the live performance of Rakugo, investigate its impact on the respective Rakugo experience of performers and the audience, something that has not been done in the conventional delivery of Rakugo. Through the creation of a series of works and experiments, he will improve the experience of both the performers and audience.” In order to improve the experience of delivered Rakugo for both performers and the audience he created the master’s work Augmented Rakugo, where the extent of laughter was quantified from the audience’s facial expressions, and visual (animation of a floor cushion dancing and changing in lighting), auditory (playback of laugh tracks), and tactile (intensity of vibrations from a vibration motor) feedback was generated and shared between the performer and the audience, who were physically separated. Using this work, he conducted experiments and requested the cooperation of amateur and professional Rakugo storytellers. The results showed that tactile feedback was effective for meta-communication between the performer and audience, and visual feedback, in which a floor cushion dances, was effective for making the audience aware of other audience members. While the effect was limited in some areas, it was recognized that there were areas that led to an improvement in the experience of delivered Rakugo.
