Motion Control
Think Pictures is pleased to announce Motion Control capability on our RED ONE and Dslr line of cameras beginning August 2008.
Motion Control simply means motion that is very accurately, computer controlled, using electrical motors. In the film and Television industry, this has come to mean a field of filming where the camera movement is controlled by a computer so that the motion of the camera,in the studio or on location,can be repeated again and again for the generation of special effects, shots which are too complex or dangerous to be handled by an operator. It is essentially a camera robot, but in the industry these technical pieces of machinery are referred to using the more creative sounding term "motion control rigs"
Why use Motion Control?
By being able to program and repeat the camera movement very accurately one can suddenly do
a whole variety of special effects shots, that are either impossible to do without Motion
Control or one can only do using a non-moving camera (known as "locking-off" the camera).
But to achieve really natural and stunning looking shots one normally wants the camera to
move during a take or follow a subject or some action, and that is why Motion Control is
vital. Take one of the simplest special effects shots one could try and do, such as a scene
showing a man walking along a street and gradually disappearing into thin air as he walks.
This is done by doing 2 takes. The first one contains the man walking in the street and the s
econd one is just the street. Then during the editing process one starts with the man walking
and then gradually mixes to the second take, where the man isn't, so it appears the man has
gradually vanished into thin air. This maybe simple to achieve if the camera never moves, but
as soon as the camera is moving this shot is impossible without Motion Control as the 2 takes
would never match in perspective and speed and so a mix would never "mix". This would be just
one of countless different types of shots requiring Motion Control. Contact us for more
information regarding Motion Control and how it can be used on your production.
3D Stereography
What is 3D Stereography?
It's an optical technique by which images from two different cameras of the same object are
blended into one, giving a three-dimensional appearance to the single image. By using various
techniques, the viewer can see the image 3D, an approach to making the cinematic experience
seem more realistic. Contact us for more information regarding this technique for your
production.
