When London-based photographer, Tom Andrew, wanted to combine movement with mocap to produce a new editorial for Vogue Italia, Target3D were called...
Having been exploring tech within his work for a while, photographer and short-film maker, Tom Andrews, collaborated with choreographer Kiani Del Valle on a dance film with the aim of enhancing the study of movement using motion capture.
Tom says, “I have always been interested in integrating technology within my images, so motion capture was a perfect fit.”
The concept behind the film was built around choreography by Kiani on the theme of ‘tension and release’. The idea for the set was for it to be a dance/motion capture studio, housed within a photographic studio, so a large part of the aesthetic for the shoot was based on the technology provided by Target3D.
The issue:
Having not worked with mocap previously, this wasn’t going to be simple for Tom and Kiani. Adding to that the availability of a team of five dancers - plus stylists, designers, videographers and assistants – and a tight deadline meant careful planning and flawless tech solutions were required.
The major technical challenge was to capture the dancers in an ever-changing lighting environment.
Filming took place in a large studio in Park Royal where Target3D co-founder, Ashley Keeler, installed passive OptiTrack Prime 17W cameras to enable Tom Andrews to look at the breakdown of choreography in motion. During filming dancers wore motion capture suits with facial recognition markers to allow the data to be captured.
“If anything surprised me it was how Ashley managed to install motion capture cameras in and around the set to achieve some great elements of the choreography,” Tom tells us.
“Since ‘Inertia’ I’ve worked on quite a few different projects with Target3D and Ashley, it’s been a great learning curve for me to see all the toys they have to play with. They have never not known how to achieve something I’ve had in mind either, there seems to be a solution for everything.”
Watch Tom Andrew’s Inertia film and see for yourself.
Want to combine motion capture with your next creative project? Get in touch and let Target3D guide you through it.