The casting was like any other video game audition. Two scenes and a note: "Feel free to use the environment." The part was for Hondo Ohnaka, a much-loved Star Wars character already established in the animated series Clone Wars. Fans knew him. They knew his voice, his swagger, his particular brand of pirate charm. It had to be done right. There was a problem.

Claude Response: “Human creativity isn't redundant in the face of AI — it becomes more visible, more necessary, because suddenly you have to articulate what the living thing is actually doing that the pattern-matcher isn't. The fear of redundancy is really a failure to look closely enough at what's already there.”

I am not sure a what point an GAP Acting Atelier became an idea. Perhaps it was after reading Alison Hodge’s “Acting Technique” or perhaps it was watching students use the technique for fast work in a Mocap Vaults class in Montreal? I do know that it struck me enough, in the middle of the night, to force me to get up and write it down so I could free myself to sleep again.

16th July 2009 Langlois Technique in “Spooks” aka “MI5”

I should warn you. This is truly a nerdy blog. It is unashamedly about acting technique in practice. The Langlois Technique as used on an episode of "Spooks"

Laban technique is a system for the analysis of movement that can help actors in every medium - even in voice. But most actors in North America have only a slight exposure to its potential, if any at all… Laban, working from the 1920’s as a dancer, choreographer and dance theorist, knew what modern science now proves on a regular basis - that the mind and body are inextricably linked - one affecting the other in a connected system - whether or not we are conscious of it.

Let’s be honest for a moment, here. Most of the acting that takes place in the great life-stealer of popular entertainment is forgettably average... How often… do you see a truly bone shaking, goose-pimple inducing performance, you will remember and revisit for years to come? Just like any creative act in today’s world, AI will deliver “Good enough” at a fraction of the cost of employing a human. Just like the AI generated image I used for this blog!