AMS's Star Treatment

Camera support calls AMS for a fast turnaround system

Hollywood, CA - When Academy Awards producers wanted the widest presentation venue they could get, but were not receptive to increasing the amount of camera gear cluttering the immediate
stage area, they came to Camera Support.  The resulting suggestion was a flexible semi-automated rail-mounted camera system capable of both fully manual positioning as well as fully automatic positioning.

One month before the awards, AMS received a call from Camera Support, the lead vendor supplying the Academy Awards with camera production equipment. Camera Support had a tall order: could we help them--and fast--develop a system to maximize their desire for the widest camera angle possible? Our answer: yes! We put our best minds to work designing a fully self-contained controller console designed around the Delta Tau PMAC Mini motion controller.
We chose this product because of its ability to read in analog joystick signals as well as its built-in LCD display driver port. We also designed, machined, anodized, and assembled a custom aluminum housing for the system, all in short
order.

The AMS camera system overlooking the Academy Awards!

All the while, AMS engineers worked with the Camera Support crew to define the rail-cam drivetrain, control features, and overall system design details. Frequent phone calls, e-mails, and digital images went back and forth for clarification of ideas and design details. When all the components were ready, the system was assembled, tested and shipped within just three days--all due to the extraordinary efforts of the AMS team. Time from the first call to the final ship date? Less than four weeks!

The camera and related equipment weighed nearly 250 pounds and needed to travel along the camera rail at speeds of up to 15 feet per second. A home reference prox provided on-the-fly position re-referencing in case the drive wheel lost traction with the rail. When completed, the system operated flawlessly over 200 feet of travel. Camera Support used a special "silent" energy chain design by IGUS for cable management; the operators could program and select up to a dozen separate tally positions. The control system was a (and we quote) "dream" to operate and fast became the technological gee-whiz attraction for the various crews filming the event.

After the awards, Gary Taillon of Camera Support said:

"Thanks for all of your help! If I won an Oscar last night I would have said 'I owe it all to Applied Motion Systems' . . ."

Thanks, Gary!

It was a lot of fun to work on this system and a lot of fun to work with you and your people!