Rental house Brandlink in Thailand recently shot a fast-paced action short film that demonstrates the capabilities of its motion control equipment, the MRMC Robotic Camera Rig.
Rental house Brandlink in Thailand recently shot a fast-paced action short film, titled Shugyȯ and the Art of High Speed, that demonstrates the capabilities of its motion control equipment. They choreographed a series of dramatic, complex sequences, and hired two stunt actors to perform them, using motion control to capture the action in a clear, fluid manner.
The project would be a challenge, needing a specialised studio set-up that could achieve the complex, high-speed camera movements they wanted, with enough precision. Furthermore, the production was working against a tight deadline that only allocated them three days to complete the shoot. Ahead of this, pre-production time had also been limited. The director Niccolo De La Fére and stunt coordinator Jay J Jakkrit had only planned out the camera moves a few days earlier, requiring the studio team to adapt quickly and create the complex motion control data almost on the fly.
First, the choreographed stunts needed to be carefully coordinated and captured with precise camera movements. From there, making sure each shot was perfectly in focus and accurately timed was also critical.
Robotic Camera Rig
The MRMC Bolt robotic camera rig was chosen to capture the dynamic movements envisioned by director and stunt coordinator Jay J Jakkrit. With its ability to maintain perfect focus while moving at high speeds, it successfully recorded the sharp imagery they wanted, even with an extremely shallow depth of field. Traversing over 9 metres of track, the Bolt delivered the wide, sweeping shots necessary to keep pace with the fast action.
Motion Control projects are designed and loaded into the Bolt robot using MRMC’s software, Flair, which includes a level of automation. By setting the start and end positions and identifying the subject, Flair’s target tracking automatically calculates the individual axis movements. It includes guides to calibrate the lens focus, zoom and iris control, plus 2D or 3D editors to edit the move paths or axis positions.
Importing and exporting moves is done in various ways. With the MRMC Tracker App on a device, you can feed in live moves, directly to the rig or via Flair. Flair can also import and export moves from 3D software like Blender or Maya, which integrates it into existing workflows. Input and output devices – such as joysticks, servo motors and Ethernet channels – can be connected to Flair as well. Or, users can record manual motion like pushing a rig or turning a motor by hand, and then play it back.
Because any repeat pass shot relies on each frame being exactly the same for compositing in post, camera synchronisation is essential in a live-action shoot. Flair can read in and synchronise to the pulse signals of the camera, and then start the move at the precise moment needed for each repeat pass to line up.
For focus, instead of manual measurements, Flair’s Focus Assist feature automatically measures the distance from target to camera, which saves time when creating moves. Focus Assist knows the object’s distance and the user can adjust the focus as needed through the live video view.
Real-time Camera Move Adjustment
Owing to the short pre-production time, the team needed to adjust camera movements in real-time. In such cases, Flair also helps users monitor what they are doing as the shoot proceeds – camera signals are fed directly into Flair and displayed in the live view. As the move is created, Flair continuously checks it against the limits of each axis, and updates the 3D rig view and 2D graph views interactively. Users can visualise the move in a virtual scene without having to move the physical rig, and use the editing tools for quick adjustments as the scene changes.
Flair’s features such as keyframe preview and pass-speed graphing became crucial. These tools allowed Bolt Operator Michael deAnthony to quickly fine-tune movements efficiently, without slowing the production down. He said, “Motion control is truly capable of enhancing action sequences, movies, and commercials, achieving exceptional results with the right preparation, team, and timing. It’s incredibly efficient and precise. If the planning is thorough and you have the right people involved, everything can be executed effectively.”
The project also showed the importance of a well-coordinated team. Michael was working with a skilled grip team, whose role in setting up and adjusting the rig was vital for seamless transitions between shots, despite the constraints and complexity of the sequences.
In the end, Brandlink not only met the technical demands of the project but also showcased the Bolt’s ability to produce high-speed action scenes that are both fluid and visually spectacular, resulting in a short film that exemplifies the potential of advanced motion control. www.mrmoco.com
