I had a film in the Short Film Corner at Cannes. It’s not a feature film in competition for the Palme d’Or, but it’s a start. We submitted our film, received a “we are pleased to” email and set about planning our visit to the Croisette.

We learned that our participation grants us two Festival de Cannes badges, which are strictly reserved for members of the film's cast and crew. We figured that if we’re going to make the transatlantic journey, then we’ll go as a group, so I asked for the second badge to be assigned to our director of photography, then asked how much it would cost to buy two more badges.

Oops. Turns out they don’t sell badges, as per the very polite response I got telling me that you have to be invited. I figured since you can buy passes to Sundance you can buy passes to Cannes, but still, rookie mistake....

In the moment. You’re on set and your inner monologue becomes clear, your rhythm settles to perfection and your character begins to speak in its own voice … CUT! The camera needs adjusting. The lighting isn’t right. The sound wasn’t clean. Loved it but need you to do it again so we can get it in close-up … Just do exactly what you did, again. Ugh.

An impulse was just about to manifest itself in the fundamental truth of the role, stopped dead for reasons of technology and technique.

What if you could stay in the moment? What if you could escape the distractions and interruptions? Enter performance capture (pcap), a new solution to an old problem.

Existing motion capture (mocap) technology is the ancestor of pcap, but of course acting is about more than just motion -- acting is about emotion.

Truth is found in both the...