Most of us remember the scene of Harry’s arrival at Hogwarts across the Great Lake with Hagrid, as the castle looms out at us from the darkness. Or have that legendary image in our minds of the Imperial Star Destroyer gliding ominously through deep space in Star Wars IV: A New Hope. But we also have most likely seen any of those commercials in which leaves of lettuce, slices of cheese and tomato and pieces of chicken fall exactly in place on top of a loaf of bread in slow motion. Funnily enough, all of these have something in common: they have been filmed using motion control.
What Is Motion Control?
The guys from Mark Roberts Motion Control, Peter Rush and Dorian Culmer, were there to tell us all about it. Motion control is a means to create difficult or “impossible” camera movements and special effects by accurately controlling the trajectory of the camera. Cameras are mounted onto robotic rigs controlled by a piece of software, and they’re able to move at very high speed with incredible precision. Therefore, the same movement can be repeated again and again, for example, to generate special and visual effects.
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