Corridor Digital is an American VFX studio and YouTube channel founded by Sam Gorski and Niko Pueringer. They are known for creating live-action skits and shorts but with professional visuals and special effects.
Daniel Fullwood, Shooter and Editor at Corridor Digital, reached out to eMotimo about trying out the SA2.6 in one of their studios. With a lot of talking-head interviews and multicamera shoots that could benefit from simple motion control shots, we were excited to play and get their feedback on our latest product.
We shipped them out a Beta Unit of our SA2.6 with no instructions to see what would happen. Moving too fast, we even shipped them a unit without the a gaming controller. Oops. So really:
- No eMotimo experience.
- No instructions or hand holding.
- SA2.6 with the RSI drops into their studio
- A couple weeks go by
Now they have now published their first content for an upcoming Corridor Crew video, with the second camera running the SA2.6 + DJI RS2 + the IFootage Shark S1 with our Direct Drive Motor kit - I am excited to see it!
I also asked a few questions of the content creator for the shoot (Daniel) to see what he thought. Here's his responses:
- How long did it take for you to set up an automated interview? Setting up a slider in the middle of a busy office is never easy, but once you're done with the rigging, setting up a motion control move only takes a few seconds.
- What cameras and lens did you use for this shoot? I shoot everything on two FX3s. I typically shoot a locked-off wide angle on a 20mm lens and a close up using a handheld 28-70mm zoom. The 20mm angle is the one I decided to make into my motion-controlled angle. That way, both angles have a little bit of movement and a little bit of life without requiring a second operator.
- Have you ever used any other motion control gear? If so, what has been your experience? I once bought into a very expensive motion control ecosystem that required me to use my phone as the controller. I packed it up and sent it back the same day. It was just too finicky.
- Have you ever shot a parallax interview shot manually? I've never shot a parallax interview shot manually. I rarely get the luxury of a second operator.
- Did you get the results you were looking for off cameras? Was any post processing of the footage required? My results didn't require any post-stabilization, although I'll typically add a dynamic zoom to a timelapse to add a little extra spice.
- Are you planning on using the SA2.6 and RS Gimbals for future interview shoots? I'll absolutely be using the SA2.6 wherever I can. Watch out for it in future videos.
- How else do you want to use this combo? So far, I've only used it for documentary-style shooting. I'd love to try using it for push-ins and dolly-zooms in a more cinematic context.
