December 2011

Warm Bodies:  A Case Study 

Stabilized Lambda System

Just like the Twilight saga, this film is not vampires, but zombies, with DOP Javier Augirresarobe doing the Twilight saga's films and Warm Bodies for Summit. With Key grip Kenneth McKenzie and great locations to shoot around Montreal, we had the Mo-Sys head working overtime on this dramatic zombie film.

Javier wanted the conventional 2 and 3 axis head with the addition of stabilization at different points of the shoot, and we gave him what he wanted every time. Some shots were on a GF8 crane with 2 axis for lock off shots others went from 3axis stabilized on a 50 foot super techno crane to a 2nd unit on a 30 foot techno to finish. It proved to be long days for both the Head tech and the Mo-Sys head.

Then we faced the next challenge which got a lot of people talking! Give McKenzie a challenge!!! Chase the actors across a stadium!

Introducing to Montreal the static Car-Pole Mini with stabilized head! The recipe; 1 golf cart, 1 Car Pole with remote head (stabilized ofcourse), a few key clamps and alu tubes, and hey presto - a golf cart on steroids doing an impressive shot! All in all we used 15, 30 and 50 foot techno cranes, a GF8, golf cart, and a pickup truck rig - a very busy 47 days of shooting!

Whilst filming we received news that there was a new software upgrade available for the gyro that truly gave the Mo-Sys head an impressive new performance; keeping the roll to a true horizon with elimination of drifting, and adding a cornering option! So while on set, a quick call to Handsome Rob, Mo-Sys resident geek, we uploaded the package. Our weekend away from Warm Bodies on yet another successful Nissan TV commercial, the head was again pushed to its limits! And what were the results of driving around the streets of Montreal for hours on end? A clear day and night difference, only once did I have to tell the roll to go to the horizon!

Back on Warm Bodies we continued to go from rig to rig, crane to crane, 1st to 2nd units, and with speed switched between different options for different applications.

This head has come a long way in the last few years. The hard work & vision from team Mo-Sys along with techs input has allowed an amazing versatile product come to light.

- Rhyce Langker (Grip, Montreal)

  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +1 514 262 2656

November 2010

ARRI Alexa:  A Case Study 

Smooth 2-axis Lambda Head

We shot this film with a prototype of the ARRI ALEXA in early June 2010. Stijn van der Veken (DoP) loves to push the limits - and he was asked to do so in this shoot to unveil the camera's possibilities. Knowing that I too enjoy filming on the edge of technical boundaries, Stijn called me to help shoot it. In the beginning, he only wanted to use the fixed car mount on the side and hood, but I convinced him to use the configuration with the Mo-Sys Lambda on the pick-up. Afterwards, he was glad I did so.

The Mo-Sys was the only option for me because after using several different heads in the past, I've discovered that this is by far the strongest, most stable, and easiest-to-use remote head out there. And the footage you see here was taken with the 2-axis version of the head, no gyro! I just rigged a shock absorber between the head and the jib to protect the head from any sudden shocks.

After the shoot, I worked on the feature film where I had the Mo-Sys on set every day and it never let me down. Not even in extremely wet conditions. I am a fan!

- Hans Reynaerts (Key-grip, Belgium)

  www.3sixty.be,  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , +32486/ 49 45 68

August 2010

Die Fernsehwerft:  A Case Study 

Installation of the Mo-Sys Tracking System

The Fernsehwerft is a Berlin-based company that specializes in producing TV programmes through the use of innovative tracking technology.  The company plays a unique role within the TV Broadcasting industry operating independently from TV Studios, often commissioned by the top names in the TV business to produce news, magazines, sports shows, and the like.

Inside their virtual studio, the physical environment and its objects are replaced by CG images to form a composite of the real world and virtual world.  Studio technology and computer graphics work closely together to produce a seamless, integrated reality: whenever the studio camera is moving, zooming, panning or tilting, the computer renders the data and presents the virtual scene in real time according to its relative perspective.  To avoid inaccuracies in the composite, it is therefore crucial that the camera position is tracked precisely.

Initially, the Fernsehwerft accomplished this using an optical system in which a camera is mounted on top of the studio camera looking up at the ceiling to find various reference points to locate its position.  In July 2009, the Fernsehwerft sought to improve their tracking system.  They looked at several systems before finally choosing Mo-Sys' – a completely different solution from anything they’d seen before.

Blue-i, made by Marlowe Graphics, is an ultra-precise X-Y floor tracking system for virtual sets that easily installs to most pedestals and dollies and finds its position and orientation using a uniquely-coded flooring material.  One of the advantages of this method is that there are no occlusions of markers – a common obstacle inherent in other optical tracking systems.  Blue-i is a component that is seamlessly integrated into the Mo-Sys tracking system, sending all tracking information down a single cable for ease of use and integration with the virtual set software.  In terms of robustness, Blue-i’s flooring material requires the same level of care as a painted floor to avoid scratches and other damage.

In September 2009, Ralf Preiniger (Broadcast Supporter, Fernsehwerft) contacted Mo-Sys to inquire about its tracking systems and its integration with Blue-i.  Mo-Sys offered a complete system including the Blue-i floor tracking, but also integrated its own encoding modules for Vinten heads and a Z-module for tracking the camera height on a pedestal.  Within one month, a test version was brought to Berlin. Before demo-ing the system, The Fersehwerft had two main concerns:

                        1. The flooring may not be robust enough for its application

                        2. The precision of the tracking would not meet their requirements

Despite their initial apprehensions, Blue-i performed extremely well.  They subsequently purchased a system to be installed in their studio.

We got a chance to sit down with Ralf Preiniger from The Fernsehwerft and asked him about the installation:

Before working with the Blue-i you used an optical tracking system. What was the reason for changing it?
The main reasons for changing were the imprecision and instability of the system which generated flawed images.

So what do you think are the advantages of Blue-i?
Well, in the beginning we thought that the carpet wouldn’t be stable enough, but it’s proven us wrong – it’s very robust. Another good thing about it is that we can be very creative. We can easily create something that doesn’t exist in reality or explain something with graphics that appear out of nowhere. And of course, we had to consider the price factor. With the Blue-i, we could retrofit our already existing camera technology for a good price.

What was your overall experience in dealing with Mo-Sys?
It worked out really well. We had some minor glitches with the Blue-i in January 2010, but it was never a major problem because Mo-Sys addressed the issue quickly. I'm happy to say that we're now installing another Blue-i system.