The creature in the borrowed body

Text C: an original fiction extract.

Mina had expected the motion-capture suit to make her look important. It was a black stretch garment covered with small markers, and the technician spent ten minutes checking their positions before she was allowed to move. On the monitor, the creature she would animate had four enormous feet and a neck like a crane. Mina had been chosen from the drama club because she could walk as though carrying a weight nobody else could see. She wished the creature's face resembled hers more closely.

The technician, Hal, explained that the system recorded movement rather than inventing a performance. Mina would supply a reference walk for an imaginary animal in a student film. Another team would adapt the recording to the creature's different proportions. She could not simply expect her knees to become its knees. Hal asked her to begin with a plain walk so the team could compare later changes with a known starting point.

Mina made the first attempt magnificent. She rolled her shoulders, dragged one foot and swung her head from side to side. The creature on the screen appeared to be searching for a dropped earring. Two students laughed. Hal did not ask for less acting. He asked what the animal wanted. Mina said it was tired. He asked where it was going. She had not considered a destination. They placed an empty bowl beyond the recording area and she walked towards it as though expecting food.

The next pass was quieter and easier to believe. Halfway across, however, the creature's front leg jumped sideways. Mina repeated the walk, watching the monitor instead of the bowl, and lost the slow rhythm she had found. Hal stopped her. One marker had been hidden when her arm crossed her body. The team could repair the recording, but wanted another clean pass as reference. The jump was not a creative choice, and she did not need to perform an apology for it.

During the break, Mina's younger brother arrived with their mother. He watched her walk in the black suit and asked when the real acting would start. She pointed to the screen. He was impressed by the creature's size and then asked how much the computer had done. Mina began listing everything she had contributed. Hal turned off the creature display and replayed her movement as a simple outline. Her brother leaned forward. He could still see the effort of a hungry body approaching something it wanted.

By the final take, Mina no longer watched the creature while moving. She watched the bowl. Afterwards, the film team added a low sound beneath the walk, and the animal suddenly seemed older. Mina liked the effect without claiming she had produced it alone. When her mother offered to film her final bow, Mina laughed. There would be no bow in the scene. She asked her to record the walk instead, including the plain one with which they had started.

You are Mina. A school reporter interviews you after the recording session. Write your responses to these three questions only.

In your response:

• What did you initially misunderstand about the work?
• How did the difficulties and other people’s responses change your performance?
• What do you now think you and the technical team each contributed?

Base your response on Text C, developing its ideas in your own words. Write about 250 to 300 words. Up to 10 marks are available for reading and up to 10 marks for writing.