World’s First: Live-Action Capture with Bolt X at the Brit Awards

The MrMoco Rentals team were super excited to have joined forces with creative studio Tawbox to create the world’s first live-recorded motion control capture music video with Bolt X at the recent Brit Awards.

With many of the usual factors that make these projects challenging, what was unique about this shoot, was the fact it had to be done live in one take. Usually, motion control capture is done on sets or locations where multiple takes are done, moves amended on the go, and repeated with minor adjustment and corrections until the scene is captured.

The 11-day preparation phase involved 10 days of prep and rehearsals with 6 days of previz and 4 days of practical shooting. This is the first time Bolt X was used for a live show broadcast, but with careful and meticulous planning the show recording was a fantastic success.

The performance set was built only 3 days before the show, and with other musicians and performers also rehearsing, there was very little allocated time to prepare and rehearse on location. The MrMoco Rentals production team meticulously planned all the Bolt X’s moves prior to the shoot using 3D, with Simul8 refining the previz — provided by Tawbox.

Part of the choreography included capturing a ‘light corridor’ that was 18m away from the main performance. With such a long distance and range to travel, only the Bolt X with its 4.3m camera height capability, used with 6 lengths of 3m rail could execute such a move. To cap it off, Bolt X had to also travel this distance in under 5 seconds in order to hit all the correct timings for the routine to work.

For the final challenge of the live shoot, part of the Director’s vision was to capture a section of the live performance using a cinematic method traditionally known as a dolly zoom or vertigo effect. This cinematic device works by zooming in or out while tracking the position of the camera forward or backward, giving the illusion that the background is moving closer or further away in relation to the position of the subject. You can see this effect at 0:55 seconds of the video.