Pacific Motion Control

Pacific Motion Control just completed work on the Impala motion control camera crane! The compact size and flexibility of the new Impala made shooting a recent independent short film possible. The project was shot at a very small house in Van Nuys, and because of the rig’s light weight, compact size, and relatively long arm the rig was able to acheive shots that no other motion control rig could. During one shoot day, 4 separate setups and very complicate shots were completed, with two setups in a very small kitchen, and two in a small living room, with the track laid in a very narrow space between a wall and a bed. The house had a very high step in the entry way, and the Impala’s light weight allowed it to be easily lifted in to the location by 2 men.

With a width of less than 32 inches, the Impala is able to pass through standard doorways. The light weight and compact frame of the Impala allow it to fit in standar elevators, or to be carried up stairs by a few people.

Newport Beach Film Festival Trailer
Filmed with the Graphlite motion control camera crane

Motion Control Operator: Paul Maples
Motion Control Tech: Adam Francis
In order to reach over the fence on the freeway overpass, it was necessary to use the arm extension and riser in the Graphlite.

Introducing Chrome for Android
Filmed with the Graphlite motion control camera crane
Motion Control Operator: Paul Maples
Motion Control Tech: Craig Shumard

On the set of a recent Tsubaki commercial, I had the opportunity to capture a few hundred pictures of the Gazelle Motion Control Camera Crane in action, in order to put together a couple of really good 3D photo sets on Microsoft’s Photosynth website. For someone unfamiliar with motion control equipment, this is a good opportunity to see what a motion control camera crane looks like, set up and ready to go.

For this shot, we were on a very long track run, and the rig needed to go about 13 feet per second, so we were using our large servo track motor, and a 5/1 gear ratio for the track drive. we also needed to pan very quickly, so we fitted our motion control pan/tilt head with a servo motor for pan, and a large servo amplifier rode on the rig.

At the time of this shoot, this was as fast as we could possibly make the Gazelle go, and it performed flawlessly. Since this time, we built a much faster track drive system. Originally built for the Cheetah dolly, this track drive system can be used on all of our rigs, giving them the fastest tracking speeds of any full motion control systems.

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.