Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Meet the motion capture technology co-programme leader

04/10/2024

Connell Pavey, co-programme leader for the University of Salford's new course in motion capture technology tells TVBEurope how his passion for creativity led to becoming a teacher

By Contributor

Published: October 4, 2024 Updated: October 7, 2024

Connell Pavey, co-programme leader for the University of Salford's new course in motion capture technology tells TVBEurope how his passion for creativity led to becoming a teacher

target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> Connell Pavey, co-programme leader for the University of Salford's new course in motion capture technology tells TVBEurope how his passion for creativity led to becoming a teacher

https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/people/meet-the-motion-capture-technology-co-programme-leader title=Share via Email class=share-email>

Talk us through an average day in your role My role at the University of Salford is quite dynamic, which is something I truly enjoy. I am currently part of a two-person team that manages the Motion Capture space within the School of Arts, Media, and Creative Technology. This space is used by students across various disciplines performance, animation, dance, and games design. Ranging from undergraduate to postgraduate levels, including MA, MSc, and PhD students.

Connell Pavey, co-programme leader, motion capture technology at the University of Salford Our day-to-day work revolves around responding to the evolving needs of our students. We guide them through the intricacies of motion capture, helping them not only understand the technology but also apply it in ways that enhance their creative projects. Whether it's through capturing movement for animation or performance-based projects, we ensure they gain practical experience and leave with a deep understanding of how to leverage this technology.

When we're not directly supporting students, we focus on innovating and improving the ways our motion capture space can serve them better. We actively gather feedback and use it to develop new techniques and applications for the technology. Recently, we've collaborated with other university colleagues on a project that integrates motion capture with medical simulation. We ran a pilot project for a virtual patient system, where a simulated patient is controlled in real-time via motion capture and an iPhone for face tracking which allowed medical students to interact with the virtual patient, diagnosing ailments as part of their practical training.

How did you get started in the media industry? My journey into the media industry began during my time at university. I attended a masterclass led by the head of an independent film company, and I seized the opportunity to reach out afterward, which led to me working on their projects. The company specialised in low-budget horror feature films and heavy metal music videos, an ideal fit for me at the time!

Armed with nothing more than a basic SLR camera, some builders' lights, and a whole lot of enthusiasm, we set out to create. It was a small, tight-knit team, so I had the chance to explore various aspects of production, from cinematography to visual effects. One memorable experience was playing a creature in one of our films, spending a sweltering summer night running around in a heavy overcoat and rebreather as a demonic miner.

Although the days were long and the pay was minimal, the experience of working in eerie, unusual locations with total creative freedom was priceless. It was a fast-paced, high-energy environment where we could experiment and push boundaries, and I loved every moment of it!

What training did you have before entering the industry?

Before pursuing my degree, I worked in IT as a technician from the age of 18. I had always loved film and visual effects, but I tried to take a more pragmatic approach to my career by focusing on technology, a field where I excelled. While I enjoyed the technical aspects of IT, I quickly found it lacked the creativity I craved, and I began feeling unfulfilled.

Seeking another path, I initially enrolled in a course to teach English to speakers of other languages, alongside learning Japanese. My thought process was that having a second language would open up opportunities for travel, and teaching would allow me to work anywhere in the world. I thoroughly enjoyed learning Japanese, and teaching became a passion of mine. Watching students come to life when they grasped new concepts was incredibly rewarding, and I found great satisfaction in helping others learn. However, during this period, I experienced a personal loss, the death of a close friend, which led me to take time to reflect deeply on my life and career. I realised that while I had enjoyed certain aspects of my previous paths, I had never truly taken the leap to pursue my passion: film.

That moment of reflection was a turning point. I decided to take a gamble and enrolled in a degree in film production and media technology, chasing what I truly loved. My time at university gave me two invaluable things. First, it gave me the time and space to practice, research, and immerse myself in the skills I was developing. Second, it introduced me to a network of peers, people I could collaborate with, who helped me develop my ideas and challenged my ways of working, just as I did for them. This collaborative environment was essential for my growth, and I continue to value the power of teamwork and shared creativity.

Why do you enjoy working in the industry? Creativity, first and foremost. Even though my work involves technology, every interaction with students and academic staff is a creative process. We take the time to understand their goals and aspirations within the motion capture space, and from there, we develop engaging learning materials. Our process involves bringing students into a Game Engine in real
LINK: https://www.tvbeurope.com/business/people/meet-the-motion-capture-tech...
See more stories from tvb

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

09/10/2026

Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026

September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026 New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...

07/10/2026

Dalet Flex LTS Delivers Smarter Media Operations from Ingest to Distribution

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...

22/09/2026

New TVU Pocket Offers Broadcast Features In Phone-Sized Unit

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Operative Launches Unified Platform for Advertising and Broadcast Management

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Element Launches New TiVo-Powered Smart TVs in the U.S.

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

NOAA Taps Tomorrow.io for Improved U.S. Weather Forecasts

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Gray Media Promotes Tim Maloney to GM and Director of Sales at WBKO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Reports: Paramount Reaches Settlement with State AGs in Antitrust Suit

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

New Research Lays Out Streaming Services Best Defense Against Churn

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Sinclair Expands The National News Desk

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

Paramount Settles Antitrust Lawsuit over WBD Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

22/09/2026

U.S. Broadband Industry Investment Hits $92.6 Billion

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

21/09/2026

Manifold Taps Ryhaan Williams for North America COO Post

Manifold Technologies, developer of software-defined, FPGA-accelerated infrastructure for live production, has named Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer...

21/09/2026

SNS Wins IAMT Best Journal Article Award

Studio Network Solutions (SNS) has won Best Journal Article at the 2026 IAMT Impact Awards for What Video Editors Need When Everything Is Changing Around Them,...

21/09/2026

MLW Announces Streaming Deal with Tubi for Weekly FUSION Series

Major League Wrestling (MLW) has announced a streaming distribution agreement with Tubi for its weekly series MLW FUSION. Beginning September 17, new episodes w...

21/09/2026

Adam Smith Named Chairman of Direct-to-Consumer at Disney Entertainment

Disney Entertainment has announced that Adam Smith has been named Chairman, Direct-to-Consumer, with responsibility for Disney and Hulu including product, engi...

21/09/2026

United Airlines and DISH to Offer Live Football on Starlink-Enabled Seatback Screens

United Airlines and DISH have announced an agreement to bring live professional ...

21/09/2026

SES to Provide Satellite Distribution for JioStar Channels Across India

SES and JioStar have announced a multi-year agreement under which SES will provide satellite distribution services for JioStar's television channel portfoli...

21/09/2026

Detroit Red Wings Announce Detroit SportsNet Broadcast Details for 2026-27 Season

The Detroit Red Wings have announced details for their inaugural season on Detro...

21/09/2026

Manifold Technologies Appoints Ryhaan Williams as CCO for North America

Manifold Technologies has appointed Ryhaan Williams as Chief Commercial Officer for North America, effective October 1, 2026. Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Wi...

21/09/2026

DAZN Pick Up L.A. Kings DTC Streaming Rights; ABTV Will Continue as Local TV Home

Angels Broadcast Television (ABTV), the local television home of the Los Angeles...

21/09/2026

Inside ESPNs US Open Effort: Embracing the Cloud and a New 20,000 Sq. Ft. Broadcast Center

The 2026 US Open Tennis Championships marked a year of change with respect to TV...

21/09/2026

Behind The Mic: Andrs Cantor Joins Netflixs FIFA Womens World Cup Commentary Team; Doc Rivers Joins NBC Sports NBA Coverage

Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...

21/09/2026

iDrumTune from RT60

Drum-tuning app now available on Android RT60 describe their iDrumTune app as the world's most advanced, accurate and intelligent system for assisting ...

21/09/2026

SoundGhost release Orbit

Innovative multiband auto-panner introduced SoundGhost's latest plug-in takes an innovative approach to auto-panning, and divides incoming signals into ...

21/09/2026

Apple Mac Studio With M5 Max: First Impressions

We check out the M5 Max-equipped model The same, but different. The new Mac Studio models feature M5 Max and M5 Ultra silicon, dramatically improving the perf...

21/09/2026

From Graphic Novel to 30-Minute Animated Film: What I Learned Building an AI-Assisted Production Pipeline

From Graphic Novel to 30-Minute Animated Film: What I Learned Building an AI-Ass...

21/09/2026

Liam Hopkins Builds Recording Studio with Blackmagic Design

Liam Hopkins Builds Recording Studio with Blackmagic Design Brie Clayton September 20, 2026 0 Comments Video complements audio production with music v...

21/09/2026

Indigenous screen organisations from Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia launch new international co-production initiative

Indigenous screen organisations from Canada, Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia ...

21/09/2026

Why Deploying Physical AI at Scale Demands Safety at Every Layer

Physical AI is moving rapidly from research to large-scale deployment. By 2035, ABI Research projects an installed base of 49 million level 3-5 autonomous vehic...

21/09/2026

From Enablement to Execution, Egypt's AI Ecosystem Reaches Production Scale

Today, Egypt's AI builders gathered in the Grand Egyptian Museum for a reception that highlighted the nation's rapidly growing AI ecosystem - spanning A...

21/09/2026

NVIDIA Launches DSX Ready to Qualify Power and Cooling Products for AI Factories

Every AI factory needs power and cooling that fit its computing architecture. As AI infrastructure expands, power, cooling, water, site and grid constraints are...

21/09/2026

RT celebrates Irish Sign Language Awareness Week 2026

RT celebrates Irish Sign Language Awareness Week 2026 Special programmes across RT television, radio and online, plus special initiatives #ISL #IDSL #IWDP26...

21/09/2026

AI Security Is an Engineering Problem - How to Solve It at Every Layer of the Agent Stack

AI security is an engineering problem. That means defined security requirements,...

21/09/2026

5 Companies Using NVIDIA AI for Clean Energy

Clean energy isn't hard to come by, but the pace of large-scale adoption has historically been slow due to bottlenecks - including out-of-date infrastructur...

20/09/2026

Casio Sessions returns for 2026

Piano-playing singer-songwriter competition returns for fourth year Casio have officially revealed the list of 16 finalists who have earned their place in t...

20/09/2026

COW Jobs: Video Editor, Motion Designer - Remote, PT, 6 Months

COW Jobs: Video Editor, Motion Designer - Remote, PT, 6 Months Brie Clayton September 20, 2026 0 Comments Video Editor + Motion Designer (Remote | PT ...

19/09/2026

ART Pro Audio reveal the RPC Series

Three new rackmount power conditioners introduced Yorkville Sound have announce the upcoming launch of three new RPC rackmount power conditioners from ART P...

19/09/2026

Colorfront Elevates Workflow Versatility at IBC 2026

September 15, 2026 AMSTERDAM, SEPTEMBER 2026 - Colorfront (colorfront.com), the Academy and Emmy Award-winning developer of high-performance cinema mastering, ...

19/09/2026

Two High Profile Professional Sports Franchises Renew cre...

Two High-Profile Professional Sports Franchises Renew creative.space Contracts with DigitalGlue NFL team and Major League Soccer Club cite ease of use, secure ...

19/09/2026

Limited Edition Audio releases VoxSplit Pro for overlapping dialogue separation and cleanup on macOS

Limited Edition Audio releases VoxSplit Pro for overlapping dialogue separation ...

18/09/2026

IBC 2026 Tech Moves Beyond the Gloss and Into the Rack

IBC 2026 Tech Moves Beyond the Gloss and Into the Rack If you spent any time in the halls of the RAI this year, you noticed a clear shift in conversation. The c...

18/09/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 31: Seattle Mariners Tim Walsh - Creative Content in the Emerald City

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

18/09/2026

Qvest Appoints Jens Miedek as SVP Sales, Media and Entertainment

Qvest has appointed Jens Miedek as Senior Vice President Sales, Media and Entertainment. Before joining Qvest, Miedek spent 16 years at Riedel Communications an...

18/09/2026

Fonn Group Acquires everviz, Relaunches as Teikna Graphics Platform

Fonn Group has acquired full ownership of everviz, a cloud-native platform for interactive charts, maps, and data-driven graphics, and will rebrand it as Teikna...

18/09/2026

OWC Acquires OpenDrives to Expand Enterprise Storage Portfolio

Other World Computing (OWC) has announced the acquisition of OpenDrives, a provider of software-defined video and rich media storage management solutions. The a...

18/09/2026

Kaltura and Verimatrix Partner on Content Security for OTT and Cloud TV

Kaltura and Verimatrix have announced a partnership integrating Verimatrix's Digital Rights Management and security capabilities into Kaltura's Cloud TV...

18/09/2026

Movicom's Robycam Aerial Cable System Deployed at World Nomad Games

The sixth edition of the World Nomad Games combined traditional sports, large-scale cultural performances, and some decidedly modern broadcast technology. Held ...

18/09/2026

DAZN and Super League Basketball Extend Partnership for 2026-27 Season

DAZN and Super League Basketball (SLB) have extended their partnership for the 2026-27 season. Every Championship, Cup, and Play-Off fixture will be available l...