Bridging the physical and the digital: Developing a Virtual Production pipeline for theatre affordances

Performance and technological innovation have always been linked. From the innovations of “spectacle” in the time of Aristotle to the ingenious multi-disciplinary innovations of George Melies, the “Stop Trick” technique of Alfred Clark or modern computer-generated effects in film and animation. Engineered effects have always merged with human performance to create a synthesis of visual storytelling.
Building on this historic connection between Theatre, Animation, Film, and VFX, this EPSRC and Network+ funded research investigates the application of Virtual Production (VP) techniques in live performances.
As part of the project’s dissemination of findings, this presentation outlines the practical methodologies and utilised technologies during the collaboration between researchers in Animation and Game Design at Ulster University and the team at PrimeCut Productions, a Belfast based independent theatre company.
The aims for the project were 1) to embed Virtual Production techniques and pipelines into theatre production and 2) develop a framework of animation principles for theatre affordances. To do this the teams collaborated from the early pre-production stages of a travelling play.
To achieve these goals, the teams utilised 3D animation software and real-time rendering technologies, including blender, Unreal Engine 5, to create the required assets, projections, and digital puppetry as a pilot exemplar for the theatre company to use for future projects.
As a process of cross collaboration this presentation also includes notes on working across artistic fields. Emerging points of interest include the use of asset libraries for low risk, time effective communication and a clear focus on theme and experiential outcomes over designing literal representation. Despite the fields of animation, game design and theatre having many historic connections, the researchers found that there were important hurdles in negotiating expectations and possibilities.