Performing for motion capture

A practioner’s Guide

BY John Dower and Pascal Langdale

…this book will tell you everything you need to know about acting for motion capture.

This is the first book to provide an invaluable resource for the education of the next generation of performers in this exciting medium. Over the last 10 years, a revolution has occurred in digital production - video games have overtaken the film and TV industries in terms of production and revenues. Many video games derive their digital animation from human performance by means of motion and performance capture. Actors such as Andy Serkis and Troy Baker have won critical acclaim for their digital performance in games and film.

The book includes contributions from practitioners working across the globe, including: actor Kezia Burrows; software developer Stéphane Dalbera; director Kate Saxon; a group of Japanese games directors; Jeremy Meunier, Head of Motion Capture at Moov studios, Montreal; Marc Morisseau, motion editor for Avatar; and a Chinese Motion Capture suit manufacturer.

Contents:

Introduction: What is Motion Capture? A Brief History and Current Snapshot of an Evolving Technology.

Data: Mocap as an Animated Medium
The Body: Developing a Responsive, Free and Versatile Instrument
Creating Characters: In Motion Capture, You Can Play Anybody… But Only if You Can Play Anybody!
Imaginary Environments: Exploring the Limits of our Imagination and Professionalising Play
Video Game Locomotion: Learning How to Perform Under the Extreme Limitations Required by Video Games, Within the Long Pipeline of Game Development
Cinematics: Performing for Conventional Mediums and Acting in the Digital Realm
Direction and the Lack of It
The Industry: Finding your Place in a New Medium

Appendix: What Will the Landscape be in 10 Years' Time?

Faster than Night

Social media billionaire Caleb Smith is on a mission. Racing against a terrible terminal illness, he is embarking on a deep space voyage with the secret goal of cheating time and death. While half his wealth drives the search for a cure on Earth, Caleb plans to take advantage of the time dilation of faster-than-light travel, returning after only a small time has passed for the ticking bomb of his disease, to enjoy his new cure, a long life and immortal fame.

With his small crew already in cryosleep for the jump to hyperspace, Caleb double-checks the ship's powerful artificial intelligence, ISMEE. She is his masterpiece, the newly synthesized sum of all online human emotion and cognition. Think of her as the lovechild of Wikipedia and Facebook; this AI is buggy, unpredictable and gloriously meta-human. Through her Twitter handle @ISMEEtheAI, viewers can interact with Caleb as he prepares for humanity's first hyperspace jump... and when a life-support circuit malfunctions, help him make an impossible decision.

Faster than Night blends live theatre, real-time 3D animation and audience interaction into an emotionally powerful adventure unlike any other.

Part of HATCH 2014, Harbourfront Centre’s annual performing arts residency programme.