Q & A: Shocap’s Athomas Goldberg shares his experience at PXR 2020
A landmark event for Shocap Entertainment, PXR 2020 was the very first live preview of The 7 Fingers collaborative project, LiViCi. While not the complete showing (there’s a lot more to be announced!) the PXR presentation provided an exciting taster, exemplifying real-time CG characters that were driven by live circus performers. The performance merged cutting-edge motion capture technology and XR tools with Epic Games’ powerful Unreal Engine. The performance itself was streamed live on YouTube and via PC using the Oculus Quest headset.
7 Fingers (Les 7 Doigts) is a world-renowned, contemporary circus arts collective with over 18 years’ experience creating original productions varying from intimate one-man shows to large-scale arena performances, Broadway musicals, Olympic ceremonies, televised performances, and much more. The showing saw the dynamic, death-defying, actions of the performers drive the movement of digital characters, and animated effects in a fully-realized interactive virtual world.
It was a great opportunity to test the application of multiple technologies simultaneously using Shocap’s proprietary software, Ringmaster, which allows for the control of both real-world and digital lighting cues. All technologies and the performance seamlessly play out in front of a live audience. Athomas Goldberg, Shocap Entertainment’s co-founder and executive director, shares some post-PXR thoughts in this blog.
How did you find PXR 2020 overall and what does it mean for Shocap?
It was pretty exciting for us (Shocap) because it was the first time that we’ve live-streamed to a remote audience – something that’s been in the works for a while. Everything we’ve done before has been in front of a live, in-studio audience instead. The dream has always been to simultaneously reach remote audiences.
It was also the first time we had integrated live video inside the performance. It’s a real milestone for Shocap Entertainment.
How did viewers respond to the presentation?
We had a great response. People outside of the conference who watched the stream on YouTube loved it. One of the organizers said he spent the entire presentation with his mouth on the floor! And during the Q&A afterward, people were really excited about what we were doing.
How was the preparation for the event?
I won’t say it wasn’t stressful – we only had two days with the performers! We had some setup time before rehearsals, but you’re never sure until you’ve got the performers on the stage. However, we were able to get right to work straight away. The Ringmaster software that we’ve been developing since January has really helped and it’s a testament to the team and performers that we can have something ready in such a short space of time.
Was it a good test for the final performance?
It had almost all of the components for the final LiVici. The next component will be the immersive, interactive experience part which we’re aiming to have worked on by January. In terms of the integration between the live and digital components, it was a very successful test.
Is there anything you would have done differently?
It’s always nice to have more time to rehearse for sure. It’s so easy to iterate on things when the performers are there, so another day or two to rehearse would have been amazing and shed light on a range of new discoveries. The difference even a few hours can make is huge.
What was the biggest takeaway from the event?
The audience for PXR was primarily made up of theatre-makers and people who are interested in the field of multi-disciplinary performance. So it was great to get what we’re doing in front of relevant individuals. It was a largely technical audience too, so they’re looking at it from the standpoint of a producer. Hearing their excitement was very motivating!
