The Actor AI Can't Replace
Acting is an act of imagination…
…Putting yourself into another being's shoes, seeing their world, behaving from inside it. Most actors rarely, if ever, get there. To do this actors play close to their own personality. Safe. Predictable. Recognizable as themselves in a costume. But that actor is already being replaced by AI - not because AI is better, but because that actor was never fully doing the job - trapped in their heads, delivering good enough.
I know because I spent years perfecting a good impression of a good actor good at playing a role - but I wasn’t happy with “good enough” and wanted total transformation. What I learned, I now teach - how to build the the specific map that drives behaviour before thought, beneath the words: closing the gap between impulse and action. That's what GAP is.
Looking back at my castings over the past few years, I am proud of many of them. Because what I see is a professional actor who has worked on a scene well enough to be able to play - as someone else - occasionally surprising, always spontaneous. The words bubbling on top of deep wordless motivation beneath.
“He made me remember the joy of discovery in the process of acting, which I haven't experienced in a while.”
Working with an actor recently, using only the foundational first principles of the technique, brought these qualities out in the matter of an hour.
And it was fun, back to the childhood joy of immersed make-believe - without fear of judgement - a joy that so many techniques seem to squash.
Motion Capture provided the toughest medium to test my technique - and for years I couldn’t reveal the actors I replaced, the characters I embodied. But Hondo Ohnaka - as it was already voiced by Jim Cummings - meant there was no reason to hide I had done the mocap. It’s one of my best examples of the physical and psychological transformation possible in game. I am very little like the Weequay Pirate. (You can read the quick overview of my workflow HERE and watch one of the Cutscenes HERE.)
I am an inveterate teacher.
In “Performing for Motion Capture” I give practical exercises - rather than academic theory - meaning I get comments from students all around the world that this gave them a refreshing reminder of why they act. It feels odd for me to take credit - simply because I feel like I was relaying what acting teachers had been tackling for generations. I stand on the shoulders of giants.
But we are at a crossroads in the industry. Are witnessing the fall of the Hollywood model, the rise and increasing territory being taken by AI, the contraction of AAA games, and the growth of an indie and content creator economy: an increase in live entertainment attendance and tickets and a growth in live immersive experiences. So now is a good a time as any to re-examine why Act? Why tell stories? What do humans have that can’t be replaced by AI?
Now, more than ever, I believe we need actors, creators and storytellers to accept the burden and joy of vocation - the drive to create, and insist on creating what AI can’t compete with.
That starts with a desire to put the old rulebook of “good enough” to the side and joining a community dedicated to creating living characters that you can’t look away from, in scenes that you remember for years. Nothing less.
The Classes
I canvassed a number of actors about what they liked and didn’t like about current acting class offerings. As a result this is what is what I’m offering:
Small cohorts capped at 8
More time “On deck”
A 2nd space to work on notes before returning “on deck”
Strategic video reference to chart progress
Goal: Lean techniques that can be applied delivering compelling self tapes that are fun to work on.
Action to take now
1. New to GAP? Fill out this form and I will also subscribe you to my newsletter
2. Familiar with GAP? Fill out this form
Follow our progress on IG @pascallangdale and keep in the orbit of this growing community - where I will be posting videos and content documenting our journey - showing I teach from experience. Not from theory.
Because in a world increasingly beguiled by AI synthesis our job is to beat AI by becoming more human,
