MILO Captures 2.5 Minutes in a Single Shot

The Gift, Kaufland’s Mother’s Day commercial |

The creative team over at visual distractions created a 2.5-minute continuous camera move with the Milo to tell the story of a woman’s life starting in the mid-60s from childhood to adult, covering the various stages of her life, ultimately portraying the declaration of love and gratitude for all mothers.
“Central to the concept was to show the passage of time connecting the moments emotionally with one another without losing sight of our protagonist, the mother. This almost ‘dance around the characters with the camera’ spanning 60 years would really not have been possible without the MILO. I knew that going in and was lucky enough to have a team that built on that vision.” says Director Sinem Sakaoglu.
The intricate play between the camera work and the acting was choreographed and rehearsed with stand-in actors in a 1:1 dummy set well ahead of the shoot.
“We were aware that everything we would have prepared as a 3d animatic or 2D storyboard would not have matched the realities of the set and acting. So we decided instead to invest this time in a live-action previs, which served as the backbone of the shoot. The level of improvisation and creative play this approach allowed us is one that’s usually not associated with motion control shoots.”  says Motion Control Supervisor Julian Hermannsen.

Making Of

The team created some ideas based on the camera movement, on transitions they wanted to achieve and on the actors’ interactions.  This resulted in being able to take this locked final camera move to the set and focus on other creative and demanding aspects of the shoot. Here you can see parts of the previs side by side with the final result.

Previs Making of

Final Commerical

Sinem Sakaoglu concluded:
“I feel the MILO was so central to this concept, that it was almost like one of the actors. This put an immense amount of responsibility on our motion control team and I’m quite proud of their unique achievement.”
To learn more about the Milo motion control rig click here
Credits
Director: Sinem Sakaoglu
DoP: Frank Griebe
Motion Control Supervisor: Julian Hermannsen