DENVER, CO, October 31, 2012 -- A new group of
actors is now available nationwide for active shooter drills and mall
shooting full-scale exercises, announced Visionbox, Denver's leading
professional actors studio.
Visionbox Crisis Actors are trained in criminal and victim behavior,
and bring intense realism to simulated mass casualty incidents in public
places.
See latest video productions here
The actors’ stage acting experience, ranging from Shakespeare to
contemporary American theater, enables them to "stay in character"
throughout an exercise, and improvise scenes of extreme stress while
strictly following official exercise scenarios.
The actors regularly rehearse scenarios involving the Incident
Command System and crisis communications, and appear in interactive
training films produced in both 2D and stereoscopic 3D.
Producers Jennifer McCray Rincon and John Simmons formed the group to
demonstrate emerging security technologies, help first responders
visualize life-saving procedures, and assist trainers in delivering
superior hands-on crisis response training.
For example, with a large shopping center, the producers review all
security camera views and design dramatic scenes specifically for
existing camera angles, robotic camera sweeps, and manually-controlled
camera moves.
The producers then work with the trainers to create a "prompt book"
for the actors so that key scenario developments can be triggered
throughout the mall shooting simulation, and caught on tape.
The actors can play the part of the shooters, mall employees,
shoppers in the mall, shoppers who continue to arrive at the mall, media
reporters and others rushing to the mall, and persons in motor vehicles
around the mall.
Visionbox Crisis Actors can also play the role of citizens calling
911 or mall management, or posting comments on social media websites.
During the exercise, the producers use two-way radio to co-direct the
Crisis Actors team from the mall dispatch center and at actors’
locations.
Within this framework, the exercise can test the mall's monitoring
and communications systems, the mall's safety plan including lockdown
and evacuation procedures, the ability of first responders and the mall
to coordinate an effective response, and their joint ability to respond
to the media and information posted on the Internet.
Security camera footage is edited for after-action reports and future training.
For more information visit
www.Visionbox.org and
www.CrisisActors.org.
