She's Not There: When New Illusions Meet Ol' Time RealTtime; Mo-cap, Virtuality and Live Music Performance

Abstract

She’s Not There: new illusions meet ol’ time real time opened the CILECT (Centre International de Liaison des Ecoles de Cinéma et de Télévision) congress, Queensland Conservatorium Theatre, Brisbane, on the morning of November 20, 2016 (see Figure 1). Conceived and directed by the authors, Louise Harvey and Peter Moyes, and produced by Peter, the project used motion capture of a vocal performance by Christine Johnston for the 3D animation of our fictional cabaret singer, “Ms. Burly Chassis.” Louise modelled Burly and was assisted in the animation by Griffith Film School graduate Jessica O’Neill. Retaining the vocal track laid down by Christine, composer Cameron Patrick arranged the music for The Zombie’s 1965 hit She’s Not There with reference to a first pass of animation to assist with synchronisation and the creation of musical highlights. Re-presenting this animation on a screen aloft an empty theatrical stage, a virtual camera operator traverses this space, his movements in replication on the screen above, tracked by the motion capture cameras surrounding ‘the volume’ of the stage. The live orchestra accompaniment further embeds the sense of immediacy created by the virtual camera in its affectation of a ‘live broadcast’. Real confronts virtual towards the end of the song as Christine enters the physical stage to take up the refrain (and the accolades) as Burly’s attempts to hit a high note descend into uncontrollable coughing.