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  • Easy.

  • Don't, don't.

  • And cut.

  • Hi, I'm Caroline.

  • I'm at House of Moves in Los Angeles,

  • and today I'm gonna learn how to act for motion capture.

  • I'm gonna get suited up.

  • I don't know what I'm gonna look like on-screen,

  • but let's find out.

  • House of Moves has been the stage for many projects

  • in TV, film, and video games that involve motion

  • and performance capture.

  • I've seen plenty of videos of actors wearing

  • these suits covered in dots or Ping-Pong balls.

  • Did I have what it takes to be the next Caesar or Alita?

  • To coach me through it, we met with one of the best

  • in the business, Richard Dorton.

  • He's a professional motion-capture actor and a teacher

  • at The Mocap Vaults.

  • Hissumé is extensive.

  • Richard: If you've played a video game,

  • you've probably killed me.

  • Caroline: He gave me some valuable acting tips,

  • and then I put them to the test.

  • But first, a little background on motion

  • and performance capture.

  • Richard: Motion capture came out of the medical industry.

  • They were capturing the moves of peoples

  • walks, their gaits, they were studying it

  • for medical reasons.

  • As it moved into the entertainment industry,

  • motion capture was used for

  • video-game characters.

  • And performance capture, that grew out of

  • "The Polar Express," the movie with Tom Hanks.

  • He coined the phrase "performance capture"

  • because we were now capturing the body with the face

  • and with the voice.

  • Caroline: Motion and performance capture are responsible

  • for some amazing performances.

  • Now it was my turn to get suited up.

  • It's not itchy or anything, so it's pretty comfortable.

  • It's kinda like your workout clothes.

  • This is fun.

  • I was covered head-to-toe in these reflective markers,

  • which are actually made from ground-up glass.

  • They'll help capture movement from all different parts

  • of my body.

  • Why do I feel like a mannequin?

  • Through some sort of miracle of technology,

  • I was going to be transformed into one of the creatures

  • from the 2016 online game "Paragon."

  • I would be a character named Grux, and this soldier.

  • But first, I had to get a full-body scan.

  • Motion-capture artist: Lean forward.

  • Lean back.

  • Side-to-side.

  • Twist.

  • Twist.

  • Reach up to the sky.

  • Richard: Your range of motion, we do this so that we can,

  • when we put the animated character on top of you,

  • we can see that it has a full range of motion.

  • It's just basically getting the system

  • to recognize your skeleton.

  • In the game industry, we have to fake everything,

  • and motion capture's all about pure imagination.

  • So you have to imagine the environment.

  • You have to create the environment with your body.

  • Caroline: And with that, it was time to start faking.

  • The scene: a dark, grimy subway station.

  • I started off as Grux.

  • Needless to say, Grux doesn't look anything like me.

  • Richard: So for Grux, we want

  • this big, hulking character, right?

  • But we've now gotta bring the weight and the heaviness

  • to this character 'cause he's vicious character.

  • So it's all about how you center yourself,

  • how you center your weight.

  • Walking is really important.

  • We wanna figure out how,

  • how he moves.

  • How we can stay center.

  • And

  • you're holding your breath.

  • Yeah.

  • You need to breathe.

  • Your breath should help... I'm nervous.

  • It's gonna help create this character, you know?

  • Caroline: It was a little nerve-racking

  • at first, but after a while,

  • I started to get the hang of it.

  • So I should breathe heavily. How does he breathe?

  • Caroline: Dorton told me to find the animal that Grux

  • is most similar to and try to imitate

  • what that real-life animal is like.

  • We landed on a rhino.

  • Once I could walk like a mocap monster, I had to adjust

  • to holding weapons.

  • So let's give you something to swing.

  • Oh.

  • OK, wow, I'm sweating.

  • And now, because these are lighter weight, lightweight,

  • you have to bring the weight to them.

  • You have to make them heavy.

  • But you're a big, you're a big creature, so it's gonna...

  • I have zero arm strength, so they're pretty heavy.

  • This is good.

  • But let's just take a,

  • let's just take a swing to the right.

  • And to the left.

  • Caroline: Maybe the most important part,

  • a trademark roar.

  • Oh, OK.

  • You gotta have your

  • big growl.

  • It's gonna be loud.

  • That's why we're here.

  • We just have to find where, where this monster

  • is inside of you.

  • You're a very happy, nice person.

  • You've gotta get angry. You've gotta get a little tough.

  • You gotta get a little meaner.

  • Caroline: Once I felt more comfortable

  • and found a character motivation, I was ready to fight!

  • Richard: What the hell is that?

  • Easy.

  • Don't, don't, don't make, please don't.

  • Caroline: [Growling]

  • Richard: So creating that kind of monster, heavy characters,

  • that's one thing that we do.

  • Now, you have to be a believable person.

  • OK, well now I'm gonna be the soldier.

  • God, I'm losing my voice already.

  • I really got into character there.

  • Caroline: There were some key differences

  • to playing the soldier.

  • This time, my breaths had to be quieter.

  • Rather than being big and intimidating,

  • my body movements needed to express plausible fear.

  • Richard: [Growling]

  • And up, T-pose.

  • Caroline: The real key to giving a great mocap performance

  • is actually pretty straightforward.

  • Richard: The technology has really

  • helped performance capture.

  • There were certain things we couldn't do early on.

  • We couldn't cross our arms because the markers

  • would get blocked.

  • I tell my students, "Don't let the technology interfere

  • with your performance. That's not your job.

  • Your job is to perform, and the postproduction,

  • it's their job to fix it if they need to."

  • Caroline: This was awesome.

  • This was unlike anything I've ever tried before.

  • I am exhausted.

  • I'm losing my voice from all the growling

  • and all the movements that I was doing.

  • But once you kinda get into the character,

  • you feel like it's, it comes like second nature to you.

  • With, like, you don't feel like you're wearing a suit

  • or anything, and, like, your weapons

  • become your actual weapons.

  • I think the most important thing Richard taught me

  • was to really get in character and just imagine everything.

  • Like imagine where I am,

  • imagine where the character is, and just go for it.

  • This is my runway walk.

Easy.

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