CAMERA was delighted to welcome back students and staff from Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS) for a second set of motion capture workshops building on last year’s successful series. The initial session earlier this month enabled the acting students to experience a motion capture shoot for the first time, and to gain valuable experience on what works for a performance in this medium compared to a performance for film or stage. The students’ performances were displayed in virtual reality in real time, allowing them to visualize and engage with the digital creative tools and processes likely to become pivotal in acting and actors’ training in the future – all skills they can now add to their Spotlight CVs!

As well as being an enjoyable experience for the BOVTS students, the sessions play an important part in data gathering for ongoing research projects in the University. CAMERA researchers observed the students performing improvised scenes with an emphasis on physically emotive performances. Two further sessions in December will build in facial performance capture alongside the body performance to augment this valuable research data set. CAMERA’s Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions funded PhD researcher Maryam Naghizadeh will use the data collected to test solutions to the problems associated with motion retargeting – a complex, technical and time consuming post production process that is often problematic.

Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS) is one of the most successful and well-respected conservatoire drama schools in the UK. Courses are recognised nationally and internationally as a benchmark of quality in professional acting, technical, production and management training. We are looking forward to their return in December!