Discovering the need for "liveness" in virtual and digital theatre experiences

虚拟剧院和现场活动领域的先驱技术公司Copper Candle与罗斯布鲁福德学院（Rose Bruford College）、Golant Innovation和Playwerks的专家合作，提出了一项大胆的研究实验，以了解虚拟表演中“活力”的必要性，该实验将试图衡量观众与现场表演者作为数字化身的参与度。当把娱乐带到你的家里时，“现场”制作增加了成本，降低了质量，这项研究的挑衅是，“这值得吗？”在多种媒介中工作，如动作捕捉，直播流，游戏内，VR和AR，我们打算了解媒介中活跃性的必要性，以便我们可以为戏剧和现场活动创建一个“工具箱”。它将为现场表演建立最佳实践，以帮助制作人决定什么时候应该包括额外费用。由于新界直播的广播和传输成本占拍摄现场制作成本的73% (Nesta)，因此了解观众对现场表演者的渴望对戏剧行业来说是有价值的。如果我们想从诸如Fortnight这样的平台上不断增长的虚拟现场表演中获益，这是相关的。据报道，Travis Scott一场9分钟的演出就赚了2000万美元，比一场2小时的实体音乐会高出10倍。我们的实验将通过比较两个相同的作品，一个是现场表演，另一个是预先录制的，来帮助测试在虚拟体验中现场表演的必要性。我们将这样做，作为铜蜡烛的屡获殊荣和创新的新技术流直播动作捕捉数据和照明控制数据进入虚幻引擎的测试的一部分。我们希望，现场娱乐市场可以将该项目作为未来事件和体验的基准，使用Copper Candles技术和研究，可以在虚拟产品中产生，并更清楚地了解通过包括现场和预录制的表演数据对他们的项目有什么好处。随着行业向虚拟事件的制作方向发展，比如Abba的回归，使用预先录制的动作捕捉和预动画的移动灯光，对于那些拥有正确的生动模式的制作人来说，这种潜力可以大大增加他们的收入和利润。在表演行业进入虚拟世界的过程中，如何在这种背景下应用活跃性的发现是一个巨大的创新。

Copper Candle, a pioneering technology company for the virtual theatre and live events sector, working with expert support from Rose Bruford College, Golant Innovation and Playwerks are proposing a bold research experiment to understand the necessity of "liveness" for virtual performance which will attempt to measure an audience's engagement with live performers as digital avatars.When bringing entertainment to your home "live" production increases costs and reduces quality, the provocation of this research is, "is it worth it?".Working across several mediums such as motion capture, live streams, in-game, VR and AR, we intend to understand the necessity of liveness within the mediums so that we can create a "toolbox" for theatre and live events. It will establish best practices for live performance, to help producers decide when something should include the extra expense.With broadcast and transmission costs for NT Live being 73% (Nesta) of the costs for filming a live production, there is value to the theatre industry to understand an audience's desire for live performers. This is relevant if we want to benefit from the growing virtual, live performances in platforms such as Fortnight where Travis Scott reportedly made $20m for a 9-minute set, a 10 fold increase over a 2-hour physical concert.Our experiment will help to test the necessity of live performance in virtual experiences by comparing two identical productions, one performed live, the other pre-recorded. We will do this as part of a test of Copper Candle's award-winning and innovative new technology for streaming live motion capture data and lighting control data into Unreal Engine.It is our hope, that the live entertainment market can use this project as a benchmark for future events and experiences, using Copper Candles technology and research, that can be produced inside virtual products, with a clearer idea of what the benefit is for their projects by including live vs pre-recorded performance data.With the industry moving towards the production of virtual events, such as Abba's comeback, using pre-recorded motion capture and pre-animated moving lights, the potential for producers who have the right formula for liveness could greatly increase their revenues and profits. The discovery of how to apply liveness in this context is a huge innovation for the performance industry as it moves into the virtual world.