Blog 3 - Day 2

Mylo McDonald in our 2023 production of The Changeling taken by Charlie Flint

We began the day by populating our set with virtual assets: guns, graffitied walls, Caesar’s bust. A technical issue emerged early on... With the current state of the tech, an actor can’t walk in front of a virtual asset without it looking pretty jarring to the audience. They can only pass behind.

Our first run involved two audience members wearing headsets, experiencing the virtual world overlaid on the real one. Brutus and I occasionally gestured toward assets—a war report on a virtual TV screen, the bust of Caesar, etc. Performing in this setup felt somewhat like acting against a green screen. It became a technical exercise, demanding an unfamiliar form of suspension of disbelief, but not overly obstructive. Still, the ‘depth occlusion’ problem persisted, forcing us to stay confined within a small portion of the stage to avoid stepping in front of the virtual assets and shattering the illusion. This raised the question of whether limiting an actor’s freedom of movement is a necessary trade-off for integrating AR scenery?

In a second go of the scene, after marking out the ‘safe zones,’ I felt a little freer, though still confined—an odd sensation of being squashed by something invisible.

Next, we experimented with a roaming camera. A phone equipped with AR strapped to Brutus’ chest. Performing this way felt unimpeded; neither of us felt the camera’s presence impacted our connection.

A discussion followed: could characters instead use AR/VR as a tool, as they might in real life—for military strategy, mapping, planning missions? This would mean not using AR as a substitute for real life—a hard trick to pull off. The approach could also have a thematic resonance, particularly in the second half, with the fraying of comms between Brutus and Cassius, linking their isolation to their immersion in solitary, virtual worlds. Something to have a look at tomorrow...

At the end of the day, we brought out the big Panasonic camera. We staged the scene first with the camera operator in the world of the play and after did a version treating them as non-diegetic. When the operator was present as a documentarian figure, Cassius and Brutus’ ability to reconcile was undercut. I was aware of crafting a narrative for the camera, turning what was previously sincere into propaganda. Conversely, treating the operator as non-diegetic let the words themselves carry the scene, which felt stronger in that moment. Still, the propaganda, in-world camera guy approach suggested exciting possibilities for other parts of the play.