What motion control changes on a commercial product shoot

Most producers I work with already know what motion control is. The useful question is when it belongs in the budget, and what it changes once it's there. Here's how I think about it after a lot of jobs on robots, and a couple of early ones I'd rather forget.

When a robot earns its place

A robot repeats a move exactly, as many times as you need. That matters most when a shot is built in passes: a pour on one take, a clean plate on the next, a light sweep on a third, all lining up frame for frame in post. It matters when the move has to land on a beat, like a bubble popping or a shoe turning in the water, at the same moment every take. And it matters at high frame rates, where a move that looks smooth by hand at normal speed falls apart once it's slowed down.

If the shot is a locked-off hero with a slow push, you probably don't need one, and I'll say so in the bid.

The right rig for each setup

We run our own robots in more than one size. The smaller ones are faster to set up and handle tabletop detail and tight interiors. A big overhead move, twenty feet off the ground, needs a larger arm or a Technocrane. Matching the rig to each setup on the shot list is where a lot of schedule gets won or lost.

The light moves too

On a lot of my setups the lights are on robot arms as well, moving on their own path while the camera moves on its own. A highlight can travel across a bottle at the exact moment the camera passes it, and do it again on every take. That's very hard to get any other way.

What it does to the schedule

Moves get worked out before the shoot day in pre-vis software, so we arrive with the timing roughed in instead of finding it on the clock. On anything with liquid or motion control I build in a pre-light day. Robot moves and liquid timing take rehearsal, and the pre-light is where that happens, so the shoot days go to shooting.

We also run what we call jam sessions: test shoots in the studio to try a move or a liquid effect before a job needs it. When a pitch needs proof that something can be done for real, that's usually where it comes from.

Tools, not the point

The robots are tools, same as the camera, and same as CG when CG is the right call. What matters is the image. Most of what gets boarded as CG I'd rather shoot for real, in camera, and motion control is a big part of how that's possible.

If you're bidding something with a move in it, here's what to send me for a quote.

See also: Motion Control and Cinema Robots