What the Victorians did for ‘The Matrix’

Associated media

Recent research reveals how Victorians made the first moves on motion capture, as Grethe Mitchell explains

Motion capture might have revolutionized cinema special effects and made computer games more realistic than ever before, but research revealed at an international conference shows how the Victorians were tinkering with the technology more than 100 years ago.

The University of Lincoln recently held a two-day symposium in London, bringing together an eclectic mix of researchers from the worlds of fine art, dance, cinema and computer games to discuss different techniques for capturing, recording and preserving movement.

The Victorians developed the first motion capture and animation systems as they pushed the boundaries of the new media of photography and film – and enterprising toymakers were even manufacturing ‘home movie systems’ before the dawn of the 20th century.

Stephen Herbert of Kingston University traced the ancestry of modern-day motion capture technologies back to the work of 19th-century pioneers, such as photographers Eadweard Muybridge (1830–1904) and Jules Etienne Marey (1830–1904), and scientists Sir Charles Vernon Boys (1855–1944) and Arthur Mason Worthington (1852–1916). Animation, ‘motion capture suits’ and even the spectacular ‘time-slice’ sequences made famous by ‘The Matrix’ films all have their Victorian predecessors, he explained.

Rémi Brun, of Mocaplab in Paris, discussed the importance of capturing eye-movement in facial motion capture and of avoiding the ‘uncanny valley’ effect.  This is when a ‘robot’ or animation seems almost but not quite human – this is said to produce ‘dip’ in one’s response to the image, generating a feeling of revulsion that is often not desirable. Vicon Motion Systems director Tom Shannon exhibited advanced high-end motion-capture technologies used in the latest computer games and movie special effects. Developer Andy Clarke demonstrated an innovative movement-tracking application for capturing children’s games and movement, made by modifying video game controllers such as the Nintendo Wii and the Microsoft Kinect. This application was developed as part of an earlier project investigating children’s playground games.

Psychologist and professor of vision science, George Mather, demonstrated how we ‘see’ movement with our brain rather than our eyes. Artist Susan Morris presented her work, featuring drawings produced by motion-capturing the movement of her own repetitive actions. Choreographer and dancer Jane Carr explained how video recording has changed the nature of rehearsals and dance practice, and researcher David Bennett talked about the development of the Archive of Siobhan Davies Dance, as well as the implications for future productions of such a comprehensive choreographic archive. Other presenters on dance and movement included digital artist and choreographer Thecla Schiporst, who had worked with Merce Cunningham, and Laban specialist Karen Bradley.

Further presentations discussed the importance of movement in interaction design; how still photography captures the movement of time, and how the ‘bullet-time’ of The Matrix was first popularized in comics and graphic novels. Motion capture is finding applications in some unexpected disciplines, including archaeology.

For me, the two-day symposium in London was the culmination of my research project investigating movement capture and preservation in the arts and humanities.

Film and computer games have brought motion capture into our living rooms, but the technology is finding many other uses in fields spanning the arts, humanities and sciences.

This research project has brought together experts from a rich array of disciplines to share their knowledge and ideas. It is fascinating to map the evolution of motion capture from those early Victorian pioneers making their first forays into animation, right up to the modern day where it is finding new applications in the most unexpected places.