Pacific Motion Control

NBC “Believe” Promo 2 “Feel It”

NBC “Believe” Promo 2 “Feel It” – Behind the Scenes

This promo is called “Feel It” and was filmed with the Cheetah high-speed motion control Dolly from Pacific Motion Control. The Cheetah dolly was used to film multiple passes, including background plates, special effects (cars falling), and actor passes. In a shot like this, many times actors are filmed separately from special effects for safety. These multiple passes are then combined in post for a seamless effect. In order to ensure that all passes match, Kuper motion control software provides camera sync, via a shutter pulse from film or professional digital cameras (Red Epic, Arri Alexa), or through video sync (Genlock) by using a converter. Kuper can also be slaved to timecode to allow for synced audio. The spot was filmed at Disney’s Golden Oak Ranch on a Phantom high-speed camera.

Promo for NBC’s new J.J. Abrams show, “Believe”, features Kelly Sweet’s cover of Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”.

Many people assume that because motion control equipment is precise and repeatable, that shots filmed with motion control will feel sterile or mechanical. The two commercials below illustrate how motion control can be used to capture a “live” or “hand held” camera feel, while still allowing for precise repeatability for filming multiple passes and background plates.

Pacific Motion Control can provide handwheels or panbar encoders for live control of our motion control pan/tilt, or pan/tilt/roll heads. Additionally, we can provide encoders for dolly/track, all crane axes, and focus, iris and zoom, which allow for complete control of the rig and camera lens when designing shots. This means that very organic moves can be recorded live, then repeated precisely. In addition to our standard encoder package, Pacific Motion Control can provide a Preston FIZ motion control interface or a full Preston kit including wireless hand controller, receiver, and motors.