Mapping Motion: The Principles of Motion Capture and the Law of Projection

Motion capture is, in a sense, the ultimate escape from Flatland. Computer technology for representing 3D movements on 2D surfaces by mapping data captured from moving forms to representations on the big screens of filmmaking and small screens of computer monitors has revolutionized film animation, CGI actor/creatures, such as Peter Jackson’s groundbreaking direction of Gollum in The Lord of the Rings and James Cameron’s NaVi in Avatar , mapped more and more of the human actor’s performance into the CG character. I will analyze the role of motion and performance capture in these two films to determine what common principles might inform their creative techniques. In “Wittgenstein and Tufte on Thinking in 3D?” I argued that the mapping relation captured by the law of projection in Wittgenstein^ Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus could contribute to our understanding of Edward Tuftess theories of envisioning information. There, the projective relation mapping information to visual data displays is central to representation. In this talk, I will explore whether such a mapping relation, and the law of projection informing it, can also ground principles of representation in motion capture as it functions creatively in filmmaking.