What do Artificial Intelligence and digital technology mean for actors and their relationship with audiences?
Leading acting coach Geoffrey Colman, who has spent his working life on the sets of Hollywood movies, in theatrical rehearsal spaces, and teaching in the UK's most prestigious classrooms, wants to find out.
AI, he says, may represent the most profound change to the acting business since the move from silent films to talkies. But does it, and if so how are actors dealing with it? What does that mean for the connection between actors and audiences?
Geoffrey's concern is rooted in acting process: the idea that the construction of a complex inner thinking architecture resonates with audiences in an authentic almost magical way. But if performance capture and AI just creates the outer facial or physical expression, what happens to the inner joy or pain of a character’s thinking? The implications for the actor’s technique are profound.
To get to the bottom of these questions Geoffrey visits some of those at the cutting edge of developing this new technology. On the storied Pinewood lot he visits Imaginarium Studios, and is shown around their 'volume', where actors' every movement is captured. In East London he talks to the head of another studio about his new AI actor - made up from different actors' body parts. And at a leading acting school he speaks to students and teachers about what this new digital era means for them. He discusses concerns about ethical questions, hears from an actor fresh from the set of a major new movie, quizzes a tech expert already using AI to create avatars of herself, and speaks to Star Wars fans about how this technology has allowed beloved characters to be rejuvenated, and even resuscitated.
Producer: Giles Edwards
Across the Divide - Episode 1
Scorchio! The Story of the Weather Girl
Battle Grounds: Culture Wars in the Countryside - Vegans
The Reinvention of Italy
Military Ink
How to Spot Potential - Sporting Success
Archive on 4 - The Greyhound Diaries 2023
How Safe is Maternity Care?
Redeeming Ricky
Hoax - The Planted Plants of Rum
The Great Replacement
Memorial No More? A History of Russian Forgetting
Lego Overboard
Archive on 4 - The Holy Blood
The Murder of Kelso Cochrane
Bug in the System: The Past, Present and Future of Cancer - Episode 1
BFFs: A Life Built on Friendship
An Almanac for Anxiety: In Search of a Calmer Mind - Episode 1
The Trouble with Sheep
Fever: The Hunt for Covid's Origin - Episode 1
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Global News Podcast
The Infinite Monkey Cage
Friday Night Comedy from BBC Radio 4
You’re Dead to Me
Elis James and John Robins