Twelve young actors from the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School (BOVTS) were given the rare opportunity to integrate ‘motion capture’ into their film acting earlier this month, thanks to expert instruction and cutting-edge cameras provided at the University of Bath.

The actors, aged 18-plus, spent two days out of an intensive, five-day ‘acting for motion capture’ course at the University’s Centre for the Analysis of Motion, Entertainment Research and Applications (CAMERA), gaining real-world experience of the technical demands, professional expectations and functional operations of a full performance capture shoot.

Motion-capture is one of the fastest growing sections of the performance industries. It’s a technique used to record the movement of actors wearing suits fitted with markers or sensors.

Cameras or sensors track the markers’ movements, and the recorded data is then transferred to a computer where it’s mapped onto a digital character. The character then becomes animated, moving in the same way as the actor.

On day one at the University’s CAMERA studio, the students familiarised themselves with the space, mastering and rehearsing movements, and learning more about the software and hardware required on a motion capture shoot. This included checking out the University’s Vicon Valkyrie state-of-the-art motion capture cameras with 26MP resolution and up to 2000fps speeds.

On day two, the actors slipped into motion-capture suits, which are dotted with the sensors that pick up movement. The day ended with a scene being shot of the performing actors. By the end of the course, the students were all given an animated film, showcasing their performance.

When asked about his experience working with the CAMERA facilities, Sean Hollands, BOVTS workshop director, said: “The Team at CAMERA have been really supportive. It’s been really great. The studio team understand everything. The level of quality and commitment to getting good quality recordings, in every single take has been exceptional.”

He added: “(It) is so important for the actors to be able to go back and look at their takes so they can learn from what they’ve done.”

Janey, a workshop student said: “I’ve learned that within motion capture there are specific poses that are quite different from any other kind of acting – for example, character idles, which are specific standstill poses for an avatar, the sort you see in video games.

“I like gaming, so I’m familiar with these idles but I had no idea that the movements they make when they are waiting for me to do something in the game had to be created in this way.

“It has been quite a revelation for me to discover that motion capture filming is a buildup process, and not the same as when I’m just acting.”

CAMERA’s Creative Lead, Martin Parsons said: “After a period of refurbishment at CAMERA, it’s great to be back in the space, using our new Vicon Valkyerie mocap camera system and sharing our technical know-how on how a motion capture volume works with the next generation of actors.

“Providing access to this sort of state-of-the-art equipment, that they would otherwise only come across in a high-end film production studio, and supporting them through their first experiences of a motion capture shoot is very rewarding.”