News 2006
Breakdancers fly in for Bboy
Ambitious motion capture project completed for Sony’s Bboy 2006
Freestyle Games and SCEE embarked on a most difficult journey when it was decided that Bboys (breakdancers for the uninitiated) were to be brought from across the globe to Audiomotion in Oxford for their moves to be individually motion captured. Several weeks of shooting spread over two years involved the capture of Bboys from Korea, Japan, USA and Europe and presented some serious challenges, with guys spinning on their heads, backs, and elbows. In attendance for most of the sessions to make sure we were keeping it real was the man credited with the rebirth of the Bboy scene – Crazy Legs himself, from the Bronx’s RockSteady Crew.
The results are truly something to be proud of. Chris Lee from Freestyle Games said “AudioMotion have proven to be a first class partner throughout the development of Bboy at Freestyle Games. They're not only passionate and experienced at what they do, they provide a level of service beyond the call of duty.”
Freestyle Games site.
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Citroen on ice with a twist
 New Citroen C4 ad goes on the air – and on the ice – with speed skating motion capture from Audiomotion.
July 2006
As a follow up to their phenomenally popular break-dancing car ad, Citroen were looking to coax a repeat performance out of the famously transforming C4 carbot. But this time there was a twist – it was on ice, and skating at ridiculous speeds.
Motion capture on ice is notoriously difficult thanks to the highly reflective nature of the surface, but Audiomotion were able to get the required action shots in a single night.
Yes, night. Due to extremely tight deadlines filming had to be done overnight, with the Audiomotion crew setting up the mobile rig at 9pm and wrapping shooting at 6.30am.
 The skating was provided by British coach and Olympic speed skating medal winner Nicky Gooch, with the venue being provided by Sheffield’s Olympic-sized skating pad – one of the few places large enough to accommodate Nicky’s extreme speeds.
Mick Morris, managing director of Audiomotion, praised Gooch’s contribution to what was a particularly challenging shoot. “Even when the rest of us thought we’d got great footage he was determined to keep going to achieve the perfect shot.”
The finished ad, with CG by The Mill and live action footage shot on a frozen lake in Canada, certainly justifies the effort. “It was a great project to work on,” said Mick, “and the end result looks fantastic.”
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Blue Moves for Rogue Trooper.
 Audiomotion provided mocap for the latest recruit from the world of comics – Rebellion’s Rogue Trooper.
June 2006
Based on the 2000AD comic series, Rogue Trooper blends intense third person action and next generation stealth, featuring the ultimate soldier and last survivor of the massacred Genetic Infantrymen, hell-bent on revenge as he wanders through the blasted and apocalyptic landscape of Nu Earth… Rebellion wisely kept true to their beloved 2000AD character and with Eidos have created an excellent twist on a much-loved genre.
Reviews have been glowing (much like some of the inhabitants of Nu Earth, though thankfully for rather different reasons) with IGN.com giving the graphics 8/10.
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Take That Promo.
 Take That hit Audiomotion’s Oxford studios to record new tour visuals!
April 2006
Take That’s Jason, Mark, Gary and Howard donned the infamous lycra suits this spring to perform two full-length, choreographed dance routines which form an integral part of their sell out, one-off tour. The UK’s most grown up boy band required accurate digital replicas of themselves in order to create totally true to life computer generated images that could perform the dance routines on a huge screen, designed as a backdrop to their live stage performance.
Consummate professionals that they are, shooting of the sequences was successfully completed in a single day, and the resulting data converted into 3D graphics at Audiomotion within a week. It was then delivered to post-production house Absolute for rendering – with completed footage for both dance sequences being turned around in a total of just a fortnight.
Mick Morris, MD of Audiomotion, said: “Working with Take That was an excellent way to demonstrate what we can do. And the results were superb.” Those fortunate enough to have tickets will be able to see for themselves this summer – though Mick says he’s not parting with his for love nor money.
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The return of Crockett and Tubbs!
 Proudly riding the crest of the 80s nostalgia wave, Audiomotion delivered the mocap for Rebellion’s Miami Vice on PSP.
January 2005
Just when you thought it was safe to go to the menswear shop – and the big screen is getting geared up for a new incarnation of Miami’s finest – those icons of 80s cool and fashion sense Crockett and Tubbs make a triumphant return to the small screen. The small screen of the PSP, that is.
The game resurrects all the slickness and sleaze of the original series as the besuited boys set about cleaning up Miami’s drug-drenched underbelly. Bringing Michael Mann’s cult and highly influential show to life for the PSP involved multiple actors over several days, with Matt “Crockett” Rank and Tim “Tubbs” Doubleday winning the admiration of all by rolling up their jacket sleeves and delivering the goods in style and on schedule.
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Dancing on the ceiling for Poseidon
 Audiomotion mocap panicking passengers of the stricken liner Poseidon for Wolfgang Petersen’s even more epic remake of the already epic disaster movie
June 2006
Often, mocapped CG figures are used in movies to achieve a grander sense of scale, giving the appearance of thousands of extras (such as the battle sequences in Lord Of The Rings). At other times, there may be situations that you simply couldn’t put actors into. Poseidon, from German director Wolfgang Petersen (Das Boot, The Perfect Storm, Troy) had both.
Audiomotion were commissioned to create mocap for a sequence showing stricken passengers of the ocean liner struggling in the chaos of the inverted ballroom – just as the pressure of the water forces its way in through the windows. For this, a 10m X 10m wooden set was created to represent the ballroom ceiling, across which actors gamely tripped, staggered and generally panicked among the obstacles of their upside-down environment. Much effort was made in the production of the movie to move away from the usual ‘rag doll’ style digital stunt doubles, and using mocap gave every figure its own unique character and more realistic motion. CG for the sequence was completed by MPC and drew special praise from Wolfgang Petersen for “pushing the technological envelope to the edge (and occasionally beyond)!”
The action-packed results went on public show on 1 June when Poseidon opened at cinemas in the UK – giving new meaning to the term “all hands on deck”. Or should that be “ceiling”?
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Reservoir Dogs captured
 Audiomotion were called upon to provide mocap for Volatile Games eagerly awaited Reservoir Dogs title – and for once, the director was reluctant to shout “cut”.
June 2006
Several weeks shooting in 2005 saw the delivery of all of the animation for the game, based closely on Tarantino’s cult heist movie. All of the classic scenes were captured, from “Stop pointing that gun at my Dad” to “Torture you? Torture you? That’s a great idea!” The finished product even got a nod of approval from Michael Madsen at this year’s E3 (which was a good thing – we like our ears where they are).
 Following the sessions, Volatile’s lead artist Jason Tassell said: “Audiomotion have always provided us with the highest quality of service; they never fail to impress us with their professionalism and depth of knowledge."
No cops were injured during the filming of this motion capture.
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Bringing the mountain to the mocap: Winter Olympics
 In a case of mocap meets snowcap, Audiomotion provided motion capture for the latest in the Winter Olympics titles – using a baffling array.
June 2006
Top German studio 49 Games needed the most experienced crew for the mocap for the official title of the Winter Olympics – Torino 2006, published by 2K Sports. Having previously delivered all of the mocap for the last Winter Olympics – Salt Lake 2002 Audiomotion were the natural choice. To achieve the necessary levels of realism a bobsleigh was specially built for the sessions, and a unique
 ski machine brought in that allowed authentic professional ski moves to be accurately replicated inside a dark studio in snow-free Oxford.
We didn’t see the need to hire Eddie the Eagle this time around – but the game nonetheless soared gracefully to No. 1 in the charts.
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Sniper Elite
Shooting for Sniper Elite
Rebellion commissioned Audiomotion to provide all of the mocap for their eagerly anticipated WWII shooter Sniper Elite.
 In many ways, we at Audiomotion have much in common with the hero of Sniper Elite. We shoot things for a living, maintain a low profile, talk a lot about “targets” and only rarely emerge from the shadows. The Rebellion production required extensive use of motion capture, largely to create the death throes of the OSS sniper’s unfortunate victims, and were completed in a series of highly successful sessions (happily our own subjects walked away entirely unscathed).
The game has scored top marks for animation in what has been described as “the most realistic sniper action ever”, with Xbox World proclaiming “We can’t see this being anything other than essential gaming”.
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