((PKG)) MOTION PICTURE HOLLYWOOD
((TRT: 05:55))
((Topic Banner: The Magic of Motion Capture))
((Reporter/Camera/Editor: Genia Dulot))
((Map: Los Angeles, California))
((Main characters: 3 female; 1 male))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Pasha Sol
Motion Capture Technical Artist))
Motion capture suit, as the parts that are on Robyn right now, is basically the base on which I will be putting these markers which are covered in reflective coating. Our cameras are going be sending infrared light over to this and then the light is going to bounce back and the camera is going to register where the marker is.
((Pasha Sol
Motion Capture Technical Artist))
So, as you can see in the volume, there are 69 cameras looking at Matthew right now. And here on the monitor, I can see 68 cameras showing up and seeing all of his markers. Markers are lit up over here.
This is Matthew’s cluster, which is just five markers put together. That will help me recognize him apart from other actors.
((Pasha Sol
Motion Capture Technical Artist))
Motion capture came to entertainment from the medical field. It was used across chiropractors and sports coaches for people who wanted to improve on the sports advancements and also on the recovery from trauma.
((Pasha Sol
Motion Capture Technical Artist))
I can track your motion and I can analyze that and I can track and see how can I make you perform better or what is the progress of the recovery from a certain trauma. If you have an injury in the knee, for instance, you will not be walking symmetrically and I can spot that using motion capture very precisely.
((Pasha Sol
Motion Capture Technical Artist))
It is a revolution because of the entertainment industry. It has been around for a while but only recently the entertainment industry started to absorb it in such a big amount.
((Matthew Brezina
Motion Capture Actor))
My career as an actor, I was trained in theater and then when I moved to LA, I did a lot of film and I came across mocap [motion capture] acting because I really fell in love with video games and I wanted to figure out how to act for video games.
((Matthew Brezina
Motion Capture Actor))
Sometimes in MoCap, you get to play and I have played like dragons, werewolves and so forth like that. It’s studying a lot of animals. It’s looking into how animals move. Once you actually get there, it’s kind of thinking of, okay, a dragon has joints a little bit different than a human does and it also has wings and it has a tail. So, like with a tail specifically, you have to imagine that you have a tail and how that weight would shift your body.
((Pasha Sol
Motion Capture Technical Artist))
Now we have Matthew in real time moving around. What’s most important is that I can see Matthew’s bone movement based off of his markers.
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Pasha Sol
Motion Capture Technical Artist))
The system is actually completely disregarding everything that has to do with anything apart from the skeletal movement. It is up to the actor to transfer the weight through their performance. That’s why a very light person can play a very big, burly, heavy character if they are a good enough actor and they can show that weight in their body movement.
((Robyn Dennis,
Motion Capture Actor))
That’s the one thing I love about motion capture. It’s not about how you look. It’s about how you bring the character to life. I’ve played people who were like eight feet [240 cm] tall and they’re, you know, really wide. So then, you have to take into consideration like okay, I am not really eight feet tall but if I was and I am more heavyset, how would I walk?
Like okay, this leg weighs like one ton, so I’ve got to…ugh...ugh…you know, as opposed to regular everyday life. I am 5’4” [160 cm], so.
Being able to be anything in this industry is really freeing and it’s empowering.
((NATS: Matthew Brezina and Robyn Dennis))
Capture! Action!
((Matthew Brezina
Motion Capture Actor))
Get in! Are you okay? Okay, don’t move. What is that? What is that?
((Robyn Dennis
Motion Capture Actor))
Get it off!
((Matthew Brezina
Motion Capture Actor))
I’ve never seen spiders that big.
((Robyn Dennis
Motion Capture Actor))
They are huge. Oh my God!
((Matthew Brezina
Motion Capture Actor))
This is supposed to be fun.
((Vince Argentine
CEO, Rouge MoCap))
Here at Rouge, we have done pick-up shots for Black Panther, Spiderman, Guardians of the Galaxy, things like that. So, Marvel films, we have worked on a bunch of different video games.
((Vince Argentine
CEO, Rouge MoCap))
In feature film, we use what’s called digital doubles a lot. So, we’ll actually 3D scan actual actors in their costumes and then build a 3D puppet out of that 3D scan. And then we fit it with bones, like an armature, like you do like a marionette. And then the motion capture is what drives that marionette.
((Vince Argentine
CEO, Rouge MoCap))
Classic example, but I know Tom Cruise does all his own stunts, but you can take a headline actor like Tom Cruise and then take a stunt actor that can do crazy backflips and stuff and take a photo-real version of him and have another actor play his motions.
((Vince Argentine
CEO, Rouge MoCap))
We do that with body motion capture and then now, in a lot of things with face motion capture, with those HMC head-mounted cameras. We’re actually recording the facial expressions and the body and fingers all in one go. And then that is puppeteering your CG [computer generated] avatar.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((NATS: Matthew Brezina and Robyn Dennis))
((Matthew Brezina
Motion Capture Actor))
Spiders are crying. It’s not even a very good stick.
((Robyn Dennis
Motion Capture Actor))
Okay, let’s just go. Okay.
((Matthew Brezina
Motion Capture Actor))
Okay. Three, two, one.
((MUSIC/NATS))