Command Post and Transfer is about to become the first post house Canada to own the newest in motion-control technology, the Milo Precision Control.

The Milo is a portable system fast enough for live-action shooting, with a fully featured, rotationally based camera system and cgi interface, giving production teams the option of planning camera moves in 3D animation software.

The completely portable system travels in five large boxes, takes less than an hour to set up, and will accurately and seamlessly integrate with the cgi environments created by animators.

While Andy Sykes, president of Command Post, is not willing to reveal the cost of the Milo, he says as the Cadillac of systems it is considerably more expensive than other units currently available.

‘The reason we went for it is because the integration of the hardware and the software makes it a powerful, self-sufficient unit that will allow great flexibility on set.’

A dop or director can watch the set on a big tv monitor, almost like a large video game. With a joystick in hand they can do a complete move deciding where they’d like something, and from there the computer takes over.

‘Or,’ says Sykes, ‘if everything is perfect but at the end they would like the camera to slow down, we put that into the computer.’

The flexibility of the Milo means things can be done on set or handled in cg prior to the shoot, allowing more time to be spent on post and more money to go on screen instead of fixing up mistakes in production. Sykes says they ‘can design the move based on a virtual computer set that we would have made.’

Running the system will be Tony Willis, who has been with Command Post since Christmas after spending a few years in Hong Kong setting up systems there.

Willis has around 18 years experience with all types of motion-control units, and according to Sykes is well versed in the various styles of visual effects for films. Willis currently is in the u.k. getting the final ‘shake down’ on the system before bringing it home to Toronto.

While this system may not be a typical acquisition for a post-production facility, Sykes believes it will help bring his company into a new territory.

‘What I see is a real market advantage for us; rather than being strictly a post facility we are much closer to the production community because we will actually be out on-set shooting stuff. It is a bit of a swing in the production world, but that is where we have to be to be an efficient production partner.’