Babe - Pig in the City
A Milo and crew and a Soft Image 3d system were flown to Australia for a 3 month shoot that involved many different shots. Replication of programmed moves allowed sequences involving many animals to be filmed as separate elements of individual animals. This meant that the trainers could be in the shot and during a take so that the animal would concentrate and perform better. One sequence required a series of animals to cross a pipe connecting two buildings. This was achieved by scanning and tracking original plate photography of the crane move of the two buildings some 50' up.
An area of replacement wall and an exact scale pipe and were constructed for the animals to cross at a low level. Move data from the plate photography could then be used to generate the motion control move, duplicating exactly the original crane shot.
Each animal was filmed separately and accurate on set triggering of the Motion Control camera allowed timings of the animals to be adjusted whilst being photographed. Over 350 separate passes were shot.
