we wanted it special in this particular year. reporter: gregory doran was alerted to something on youtube, a presentation by the technology giant intel. this big whale swam to this huge screen behind the ceo s head, and then he said, we know we can do this, but what if we could do this. and the whale swam through the screen and swam over the audience s heads. i said, that s what i want for the tempest. reporter: so the rsc embraced digital magic, capturing an actor s movement with special cameras and computers, so-called motion capture. and they consulted an expert. sort of like a combination of theater, video game, and film making skills coming together really. and it s what we call at the imaginarium the birth of next-generation storytelling. reporter: many of the special effects were designed for one character the spirit aerial.