In Call of Duty: Black Ops II, the actor worked in full performance capture gear with other actors to bring the epic campaign story to life. James C Burns talks about the process in this exclusive interview.
What’s it been like doing the performance capture with other actors in this game?
Part of the success of Woods’ character is the fact that all his scenes are live action. I have to act with other people in the room and that creates the magic. Now the whole cast is doing this. Everybody is going life action. So you have these moments of magic because people are actually bouncing off of each other. You have an idea and it escalates. So much more can happen when you’re dealing with one or two or three other actors in the room, as opposed to by yourself in a box. That idea was really exciting. We started working like that and seeing the performances that were generated. And with the storyline, you can manipulate the story while you’re playing it. Your skill level, your morality level, and your perceptions will all dictate how you end up in the game. You get to control your environment as you play, and that’s a great idea.
How did this video game gig compare to other Hollywood work?
If you’re an actor and you can hit your mark and say your line and be authentic, then nothing changes. Every medium has requirements. If you’re in a theater you’ve got to project voice. If you’re in film, you’ve got to understand your lens size. On TV you have one camera, two camera, three camera, four – you’ve got to know your environment. So every environment has requirements, and the same thing with performance capture. It’s infrared. You appear on a computer as this mannequin of white dots, so you have certain requirements like keep your head up and certain movements. You hit your marks, say your line. You have choreography. It’s just one more thing you’ve got to pay attention to, and if you have skill, it’s not something that is an issue.
