Motion Capture: A Necessary Change in the Film Industry

Christian Gobble
Sep 9, 2018 · 3 min read
Benedict Cumberbatch on the set of The Hobbit (2012)

Motion capture is… pretty strange. It’s strange conceptually as well as in practice. Look up any video of an actor acting in a mocap suit and prepare to be astounded. You’ll see someone like Andy Serkis or Benedict Cumberbatch in a skin-tight suit waddling or convulsing on set, making sounds that shouldn’t come from any human. When I first saw Benedict Cumberbatch thrashing on the ground as Smaug I was taken aback. It reminded me of warm-up techniques used in voice or movement class, something I would be VERY hesitant showing anyone outside of the room on film.

That’s the beauty of motion capture. It requires that commitment to a character who may not be human at all. A creature like a dragon must be on all fours, scampering on the ground, tasting the air and darting glances around the space.

Mocap is a new technology that no one seems to quite understand yet, and that tends to freak people out. It’s understandable. Change can be scary, especially in an industry that so heavily relies on trends.

“Cinema is a thankless industry where sometimes to appear on the cinematic scenery is a thing for late bloomers and people who are very patient. The places are accounted, and the space is often unwelcoming. Money is rare, and independent voices are muted by the almost complete absence of risk takers.”
-Xavier Dolan

Even several actors have questioned whether or not ‘mocap’ supports a valid, lifelike performance.

Ian Freer wrote:

This isn’t the first time artists of the past have displayed doubt or outright distaste for new technology use in the performing arts. A while back I read a quote by a theatre critic in the later 1800s, when the film camera had been first introduced. He said (with a great deal of gusto I might add) that films and cinema would never become largely successful. He stated that audiences will always come back to theatre because it is the only performance art that provides a real emotional experience (Apologies for not having the actual quote. I scoured the web for much too long with no real results).

Today, it’s obvious that this critic was grossly underestimating the potential of the film industry at the time. This only goes to show that change, while often slow and strange, is good. Change is scary because it’s the unknown, but it’s necessary to catalyze progress. With the introduction of motion capture to the film industry, countless new and strange characters are freed from the jumpy, processed animation of computers. Instead, the life in the characters can be seen because a real person is behind its movements. The performance as a whole becomes more believable and emotionally resonating to an audience.

At the end of the day, performing artists want the same thing when it comes to succeeding in their craft: to tell a story, to provoke thought, and give an honest, sincere performance in the process and now, motion capture has the potential to take that even further. I am of the firm belief that motion capture technology is a tool that will only help the film and acting industry grow. Actors can now wear the digital mask of a multitude of creatures, monsters, and the like and explore their motivations and what makes them tick.

With that being said, this technology can truly help to tell more stories better than ever. But it can also easily be used as a crutch. As motion capture starts to be used more frequently, audiences will recognize this. It’s important to remember that it isn’t the tool itself that will ever make or break an industry. Rather, it is how that tool is used. Great movies and TV will never rely on fancy graphics, just as much as one movie can’t rely on just the writing or the acting in order to be successful. Performance art will always be a collaboration. And in this case, it takes a collaboration of not only multiple minds, but multiple tools as well.

    Christian Gobble

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