A late afternoon and al the more pressing work had been tackled, so I decided to try out our new motorised slider.
This week we received the second part of our awesome camera slider kit. We’d purchased the iFootage Shark Slider S1 for a client video shoot at the end of 2017. We were then fortunate enough to grab a great deal on eBay and buy the rather awesome wireless motion controller.
The potential for a motorised slider is huge. Complex VFX for corporate videos and creative projects with higher end camera moves now achievable without a blockbuster budget.
With the benefit of a repeatable moving camera shot, we’re now able to do all sorts of Visual FX trickery.
The above video clip was just a quick fun bit of R&D, which will hopefully allow for further more elaborate creative ideas to flourish as think about the production process.
A run through of what’s happening in the shot:
- The video shows a single UK animator appearing multiple times running Stormy Studio single-handedly. One animator carries a cup of tea and leaves stage right. The second animator moves from the foreground on the left of the screen, (where he’s working in Adobe After Effects), crosses the frame and collects the cup of tea and returns to his desk in the front. A third animator stays at his studio desk working away in Adobe Illustrator. A 4th animator gets up from his desk at the back right and walks to the shelves toward the back left of the studio. The final 5th animator sits up half way through the shot, looks around and then lays back down.
The video, of course, needs a lot of finessing to make it ready for the prime time, though the shooting and ‘dodgy’ compositing were all done in less than an hour. Plus that included a bit of time spent on some slapdash rotoscoping.
We’ve got a creative side project at the studio which we’re hoping to tackle this year. Where the motorised slider will allow us to really improve a lot of the shots, raising the production value no end.
The story we’re working on will allow for a great mix of live-action footage with a mix of hand-drawn and 3D animation to make for a great creative finish.
For those interested, we’re using is the iFootage Shark Slider S1, with an extension kit. Plus the recently acquired iFootage wireless motion controller. The last piece of the puzzle which is on our wish list is the iFootage Motion X2. The Motion X2 will allow us to pre-programme pan and tilt movements along with the motorised slider movement, meaning we can raise the production bar even further.