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Yoplait “Peach” Commercial – Behind the Scenes

Garritt — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:58:04 +0000

Yoplait “Peach” Commercial

Produced by Imaginary Forces
Shot with the Gazelle motion control camera crane, outfitted with our Cheetah track drive motor and a Phantom HD high-speed camera.

Kohler Flipside Handshower Commercial

Garritt — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 07:43:49 +0000

Pacific Motion Control recently had the opportunity to work on this commercial for the new Kohler Flipside Handshower. A motion control head, motion control model mover, and motion control bogey dolly were used to film the precise, choreographed movements of the shower head. While multiple passes were filmed to give the effect of multiple choreographed shower heads, motion control was also used for the precise camera movements highlighting the single shower head.

Motion control is often the perfect option when steady, precise camera movements are needed, which would be difficult to capture with a handheld camera, or manual dolly or jib. These beauty shots often can be captured in much less time using motion control, and motion control adds the luxury of precise repeatability for multiple takes.

“Live” and “Hand Held” Camera Feel with Motion Control

Garritt — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:16:51 +0000

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.

Pacific Motion Control Helps Capture Apolo Ohno’s Record Setting Slime Stunt

Garritt — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 05:50:27 +0000

Pacific Motion helped to capture a historic moment, as Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno set a slime world record at the Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards. A motion control Pan/Tilt head was used to capture the action.

Kids Choice Awards 2010: High-Flying Slime

Kids Choice Awards 2010

Motion Control Operator – Kevin Fitzgerald
Motion Control Tech – Craig Shumard

Grainger “Conveyer Belt” and “Hand Delivered” Commercials

Garritt — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 21:29:08 +0000

Grainger “Conveyor Belt” Commercial

Grainger “Hand Delivered” Commercial

At the end of 2009, we had the chance to work on two commercials that were a great example of how motion control can be used. These Grainger spots were filmed two at locations in the Los Angeles area, using the Zebra Motion Control Camera Dolly. Motion Control was used to give the look of continuous motion, and seamless transitions between widely varied locations and sets.

Produced by Kommitted Films
Agency - Two By Four
Director – Nathan McGuinness
Executive Producer – Marc Siegel
Producer – Jodi Fisher
D.P. – Amir Mokri
Motion Control Operator – Mike Leben
Motion Control Tech – Craig Shumard
Motion Control Tech – Garritt Hampton

Samsung/NFL Commercial – Pacific Motion Control Demo Reel

Garritt — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:43:48 +0000

These commercials for Samsung were filmed, using the Cheetah high-speed motion control dolly, and a custom built low-profile head. The client needed a fully repeatable motion control dolly, and an extremely low-profile head for this shoot, and the cheetah was the only dolly that would do the job. It was required to move at 20 feet per second, throughout the whole shoot, and did so without any problems. The Servo motor and geared track drive proved to be very accurate and fast, and the rig could repeat both slow and high-speed moves perfectly.

The custom low-profile head was constructed specifically for this commercial, and measured just 5″ from it’s base, to the top of the camera plate, yet it had fully repeatable pan, adjustable, locking tilt, and could hold a full sized 35mm camera package, but in this case, a Sony F23 CineAlta high-definition digital camera was used to film multiple passes at different frame rates.

Footage from this shoot was also used extensively for interactive content on the Samsung website.

View some behind the scenes footage from this commercial shoot on the Cheetah Dolly page.

The commercial was produced by Motion Theory.

Motion Control Operator – Rob Menapace

Motion Control Technician – Craig Shumard

Second Motion Control Technician – Garritt Hampton

Shiseido Tsubaki Shampoo Commercial – Motion Control by Pacific Motion Control

Garritt — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 23:56:02 +0000

Filmed in January, 2009 on a stage and on location in Los Angeles, using the Gazelle live-action motion control dolly and a motion control bogie dolly on circular track.
Motion Control Operator – Mike Leben
Motion Control Techs – Craig Shumard, Garritt Hampton, Adam Francis

Yuridia “Irremediable” Music Video Shot on Pacific Motion Stage, Filmed Using the Graphlite Motion Control Crane

Garritt — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:26:17 +0000

Mexican pop singer Yuridia is an international sensation, with 2 Diamond albums in Mexico, 18 Platinum albums in Mexico, 2 Platinum albums in the Unites States, 23 Gold certified albums in Mexico, 3 Gold certified albums in the United States, and 2 Gold albums in Central America. She recently spent a day at Pacific Motion Control, filming the music video for the song “Irremediable”. The London Alley Entertainment production was directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada, and produced by Christian Heuer. The crew spent two days at Pacific Motion, unloading props and dressing the set on the first day, and filming on the second. With a relatively short time spent on production, the video looks amazingly LARGE!!! Production on the video is top notch, and in just a few weeks since it’s publication on YouTube, the video has received over 1,983,563 views (it is receiving an average of 10,500 views per day!!! This only counts the official version on Yuridia’s channel. There are many copies, with tens of thousands of additional views).

The video was filmed using a Red One camera on the Graphlite motion control crane. The production made very good use of the Pacific Motion stage, and this video is a good example of what can be done in the space.

Yuridia “Irremediable”

Making-Of Yuridia “Irremediable”

Visit Yuridia’s Official YouTube Channel

Visit Yuridia’s official website – www.yuridia.tv

The Maine “Into Your Arms” Production Featured in American Cinematographer Magazine

Garritt — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 18:47:13 +0000

In their October 2009 issue, American Cinematographer Magazine featured a three page article on the production of The Maine’s music video for the song “Into Your Arms”. The video was directed by Aaron Platt, produced by Justin Cronkite, and edited by Hank Friedmann. It was shot in one day, at Ontario International Airport. The production used a Red One camera on a motion control dolly provided by Pacific Motion Control, and featured three separate setups with 80′ of track each. Joshua Cushner served as the motion control operator, and Adam Francis and Garritt Hampton were the motion control technicians.

The Maine “Into Your Arms”

The Maine “Into Your Arms” – Behind The Scenes

Read the American Cinematographer article

Visit Aaron Platt’s YouTube Channel

Visit Aaron Platt’s Official Website

Visit The Maine’s Official YouTube Channel

Visit The Maine’s Official Website

New High-Speed Cheetah Motion Control Dolly Gets a Workout on a Samsung/NFL Commercial Shoot

Garritt — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:07:09 +0000

Pacific Motion recently got a call for a fast motion control dolly. That isn’t so extraordinary, but this client wanted to go REALLY fast! They needed a dolly that could track a professional athlete (and not a bowler or golfer), running at full speed. The client had contacted a few other motion control companies and been told to call Pacific Motion. The truth was, that no one had a dolly fast enough to pull off the shot that the client wanted. At the time, even Pacific Motion didn’t have a dolly that was fast enough to do what the client wanted. That’s where the fun started.

At Pacific Motion Control, we pride ourselves on being able to meet clients’ needs, whatever they may be, and this was the perfect opportunity to show our stuff. Within 2 weeks, with the help of Academy award winners, Mike Sorensen (creator of the Zebra, Graphlite, and Gazelle motion control rigs) and Al Miller (Aerohead and Talon Heads), we built and tested The Cheetah. The Cheetah is a gear-driven (for precision and repeatability) motion control dolly, capable of traveling 18 feet per second (and easily pacing a runner), while outfitted with a Pan/Tilt/Roll head and full-size motion picture camera.

We built and tested The Cheetah motion control dolly in our shop, and we were sure that it would meet the client’s requirements, but we were excited to get the dolly on a stage, and test it under real-world circumstances. The first job that The Cheetah went out on required approximately 12 hours of continuous, precision repeat passes, on 100′ of track, at a top speed of 18′ per second. This was a torture test, and The Cheetah performed flawlessly. Throughout the shoot, The Cheetah never malfunctioned. It repeated every move with frame-accurate precision, and accelerated and decelerated even quicker than we expected. The client was thrilled, and so were we.

Check out the final product!

Motion Control Operator – Rob Menapace
Motion Control Tech – Craig Shumard
Second Tech – Garritt Hampton

We look forward to many more FAST shots with The Cheetah. If you need to film a fast-moving motion control shot, call Pacific Motion, at 818-768-1573, and if you need to do something that no one else has ever done, don’t wait, call us now.

Cheetah Dolly Specs