Finding agency in the imagined body through Unreal Engine’s Live Link performance capture

Daly, Darren

Abstract

This article explores the agency of the actor in training with Performance/Motion capture (Pe/MoCap) technologies. It examines a series of characterization workshops exploring Michael Chekhov’s (2002) Imaginary Body techniques through live interaction with detailed digital avatars and environments. Previous examples of research in Pe/MoCap have identified the lack of detailed avatar characteristics as liberating in performer training, giving more agency to performers in exploring movement (Tunstall 2012, Whatley 2015, Kapsali 2021). However, detailed visualization of bodies and faces is central to the pedagogy within these workshops. Increased technological accessibility now allows the PeCap actor to visualize detailed, pre-baked characters and worlds in real time. They can view their inhabitation of these bodies synchronously on screen, placed inside or outside animated worlds, with efficient facial and vocal capture through Live Link software. This reverses the usual timeline of actors' bodies being reduced to data for animators to impose upon and allows for engagement with industry quality visual feedback at the moment of actor interaction. It encourages a self-reflexive approach to the training exercises to explore their agency in creating environment and situation as well as character. The imaginary body technique as a focus directs the actor to consider the relationship between their own body and their ‘imagined’ character whereby the imagined bodies have already been designed by someone else and reflect industry norms. The inherent social and cultural markers arising from the characterizations and the tensions arising between the bodies of the actors, their imagination and their avatars also inform the discussion.

Citation

Daly, D. (2024). Finding agency in the imagined body through Unreal Engine’s Live Link performance capture. Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2024.2366115

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Feb 9, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Jun 13, 2024
• Publication Date: Jul 8, 2024
• Deposit Date: Aug 1, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 9, 2024
• Journal: Theatre, Dance and Performance Training
• Print ISSN: 1944-3927
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Pages: 1-7
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/19443927.2024.2366115