Thank you, Marit.
Thank you all for the opportunity to speak to you today.
Over the past few years, work opportunities for Canadian performers in video games have seen tremendous growth. As Marit mentioned, we've been lending our voices to video game characters ever since Ubisoft opened its offices in Montreal in 1997. More recently ,we've also been providing our performances through motion capture technology and our likenesses through 3-D facial scans.
As more and more companies come to Canada to set up shop, the number of work opportunities available to actors has exploded, as has the type of performances we are required to provide. New opportunities bring new challenges, and with this industry's unparalleled growth, we foresee some potential bumps in the road that we think the government can help us with.
I've worked with all the big game companies in Montreal. They all want to work with professional performers, because they realize that we save them money, we deliver high-calibre performances, and we understand how this business works. But these companies need more from us. They need a larger pool of professional talent who are skilled at the specialized requirements of video game production. It's a different set of skills, often in complete contradiction to what we were taught at theatre schools.
For example, when working on a motion capture studio, you have no sets, no makeup, no costumes. Your performance is being captured in 360 degrees by up to 200 sensors, all whilst you're wearing a helmet-mounted camera and a tight suit with dozens more sensors mounted to it. You have pages and pages of dialogue to deliver playing multiple characters, all done at a speed film sets couldn't even comprehend. I've been on film sets where they have been pretty happy to get three or four shots done in a day. I've been in motion capture studios where we've recorded over 100 in a day. The speed is completely different. Add to that the complexities of constantly changing technologies, and many actors find themselves suddenly in over their heads.
These kinds of working conditions require a very specialized skill set from actors, one that takes training that is just as specialized to acquire. To respond to this need, ACTRA has begun to offer video game-specific training and workshops for members so they can provide the very skills these companies are searching for.
In Montreal, in a cooperative venture with ACTRA, Eidos, Game On Audio, and the provincial government, we have just trained 32 performers in the art of acting for video games, but more needs to be done.
Theatre programs at our colleges and universities must start offering relevant training to their students, training that provides the kind of sturdy foundation that will be instantly applicable in the real world. They must step up to the plate. Likewise, governments should be providing access to mid-career training for performers in order to teach them the skills they are clamouring for. This would provide the gaming industry with the depth and variety they are searching for in their drive to develop, flourish, and compete globally.