"This technology that you're using to film this, I believe you invented this, called The Beast. Can you talk about that and what this might mean for filmmaking?
Zebediah de Soto: Well, The Beast itself is a device that I actually designed along with a couple of other companies.
Basically what it allows you to do is it allows you to motion-capture. You're familiar with Avatar, correct?
Yes.
Zebediah de Soto: The system that Jim (Cameron) is using on that project is essentially this huge system that is locked down into this, essentially the largest motion-capture stage.
It's pretty cool, but unfortunately, his system is often dealing with issues of occlusion.
I'll just put it like this. He's got a big system that costs a lot of money and takes a lot of manpower going in.
So I designed my own system that fits in a two-by-two-foot pelican box, sets up in less than nine minutes, and I can capture all of my actors' performances in any environment and it's pretty f*&%ing amazing.
I was pretty surprised that nobody else had thought farther down the road, as far as my approach to solving some of these issues, as I started familiarizing myself with motion-capture.
It kind of blew me away, it really did.
I took a different approach because I had never been taught to do it one way.
Everybody is always trying to look for the back door.
Everybody tries to solve the same problem the same way and they all end up with the same conclusion.
I created that system that essentially enables us to captures actors performances in real-time.
You've seen 300 right? When they shot 300, they had some issues because there were some issues with what the end result is going to look like.
From what I understood, and what I was told, the production was almost halted a couple of times.
You look at the raw footage, what, you have 80 guys in front of a green-screen (Laughs).
It's not very encouraging, and you have to end up waiting 365 days in post to find out if it worked, and if the shots didn't work you would have to figure out how much would it cost to get back on that stage, get these people back up.
I designed this system so, if I wanted to, I could see the environments merge with the actual characters while I'm filming.
My DP can see it and I can see it on my monitor and the actors can see off-screen and see what they look like in these CG environments.
It's a huge, huge step forward.
That's what mine and Cameron's system meet eye-to-eye, but I'm the first person in history to actually be able to take my system outside.
Let's say I want to go outside and shoot Transformers, right?
I put little markers on you - oh, and another thing is my system is compatible with every single camera on the market, you name it.
And it only takes nine minutes to set up for each camera.
So, I'm going out to shoot Transformers, and I go, 'You're going to be Optimus Prime and I put little markers on you.
Then I point the camera out into the street, I want Optimus Prime to be in the street.
We turn on our system, and Optimus Prime is standing in the street.
Now, I can go handheld and walk around Optimus Prime, where his feet are physically touching the ground, and whatever you do, you see Optimus Prime perform the actual action.
Is it like a portable motion-capture system?
Zebediah de Soto: Well, it differs because, we developed a little lens that can hook onto any lens and you can actually go and record any metadata that you would need, for the post costs and The Beast would be able to capture X, Y and Z and know where the camera is at all times.
It's actually a really really cool little thing because now I can shoot a Transformers movie and I don't have to go to a company like Café Effects - and I love those companies, those guys are really amazing - but I don't have to outsource.
I don't have to go to people and say, 'Do this to the shot' or have to compromise.
You won't have, 'You can't do this with the camera or you can't shake it around.' Like in Cloverfield, they had guys in there that just had to find the camera.
They weren't creating the monsters or the explosions, but literally, trying to figure out where the camera was on the set.
They have to do all sorts of ridiculous things and my system sets up in nine minutes and I can run around with it and capture live-action peformances.
I can actually direct CG performances and the cool thing is I'm not married to that performance, because the tape records the green-screen but the computer records all the metadata.
You can actually see it as you do it. You don't have to hire 25 guys at anywhere from $60 an hour.
It sounds like it eliminates a lot of the legwork then.
Zebediah de Soto: Yeah, pretty much. It eliminates the stuff that ends up taking a lot of time and that scares people in post.
A lot of producers may know what it costs, but may not know exactly what it's going to look like, and my company can actually provide that.
You can literally see what you're going to shoot.
You can see your CG environment, you can be in the environment, you can make changes on the fly and you can direct a CG performance.
Whatever you decide to go with, you're not married to it with each shot.
It's a huge tool. I see a future one day, the vision that we have is we want to see the $100 million film come down to television budgets.
I see a future where every episode of Heroes was done like a Spider-Man movie. That's what I'm all about.
I'm always looking for ways to trim the fat so we can focus on the more important stuff. Yeah, that's what The Beast is.
I eventually want to release a consumer version of this, that's as easy to operate as a Mini-8 and as expensive as an X-Box.
I want to see indie filmmakers doing the kinds of things I wanted to do when I was starting out, because it's so difficult to get people to get on board to help you do this.
I see a day where, maybe a couple of years from now, where people will be able to actually go and do the same sh*t that the studios are doing."
link
Zebediah de Soto: Well, The Beast itself is a device that I actually designed along with a couple of other companies.
Basically what it allows you to do is it allows you to motion-capture. You're familiar with Avatar, correct?
Yes.
Zebediah de Soto: The system that Jim (Cameron) is using on that project is essentially this huge system that is locked down into this, essentially the largest motion-capture stage.
It's pretty cool, but unfortunately, his system is often dealing with issues of occlusion.
I'll just put it like this. He's got a big system that costs a lot of money and takes a lot of manpower going in.
So I designed my own system that fits in a two-by-two-foot pelican box, sets up in less than nine minutes, and I can capture all of my actors' performances in any environment and it's pretty f*&%ing amazing.
I was pretty surprised that nobody else had thought farther down the road, as far as my approach to solving some of these issues, as I started familiarizing myself with motion-capture.
It kind of blew me away, it really did.
I took a different approach because I had never been taught to do it one way.
Everybody is always trying to look for the back door.
Everybody tries to solve the same problem the same way and they all end up with the same conclusion.
I created that system that essentially enables us to captures actors performances in real-time.
You've seen 300 right? When they shot 300, they had some issues because there were some issues with what the end result is going to look like.
From what I understood, and what I was told, the production was almost halted a couple of times.
You look at the raw footage, what, you have 80 guys in front of a green-screen (Laughs).
It's not very encouraging, and you have to end up waiting 365 days in post to find out if it worked, and if the shots didn't work you would have to figure out how much would it cost to get back on that stage, get these people back up.
I designed this system so, if I wanted to, I could see the environments merge with the actual characters while I'm filming.
My DP can see it and I can see it on my monitor and the actors can see off-screen and see what they look like in these CG environments.
It's a huge, huge step forward.
That's what mine and Cameron's system meet eye-to-eye, but I'm the first person in history to actually be able to take my system outside.
Let's say I want to go outside and shoot Transformers, right?
I put little markers on you - oh, and another thing is my system is compatible with every single camera on the market, you name it.
And it only takes nine minutes to set up for each camera.
So, I'm going out to shoot Transformers, and I go, 'You're going to be Optimus Prime and I put little markers on you.
Then I point the camera out into the street, I want Optimus Prime to be in the street.
We turn on our system, and Optimus Prime is standing in the street.
Now, I can go handheld and walk around Optimus Prime, where his feet are physically touching the ground, and whatever you do, you see Optimus Prime perform the actual action.
Is it like a portable motion-capture system?
Zebediah de Soto: Well, it differs because, we developed a little lens that can hook onto any lens and you can actually go and record any metadata that you would need, for the post costs and The Beast would be able to capture X, Y and Z and know where the camera is at all times.
It's actually a really really cool little thing because now I can shoot a Transformers movie and I don't have to go to a company like Café Effects - and I love those companies, those guys are really amazing - but I don't have to outsource.
I don't have to go to people and say, 'Do this to the shot' or have to compromise.
You won't have, 'You can't do this with the camera or you can't shake it around.' Like in Cloverfield, they had guys in there that just had to find the camera.
They weren't creating the monsters or the explosions, but literally, trying to figure out where the camera was on the set.
They have to do all sorts of ridiculous things and my system sets up in nine minutes and I can run around with it and capture live-action peformances.
I can actually direct CG performances and the cool thing is I'm not married to that performance, because the tape records the green-screen but the computer records all the metadata.
You can actually see it as you do it. You don't have to hire 25 guys at anywhere from $60 an hour.
It sounds like it eliminates a lot of the legwork then.
Zebediah de Soto: Yeah, pretty much. It eliminates the stuff that ends up taking a lot of time and that scares people in post.
A lot of producers may know what it costs, but may not know exactly what it's going to look like, and my company can actually provide that.
You can literally see what you're going to shoot.
You can see your CG environment, you can be in the environment, you can make changes on the fly and you can direct a CG performance.
Whatever you decide to go with, you're not married to it with each shot.
It's a huge tool. I see a future one day, the vision that we have is we want to see the $100 million film come down to television budgets.
I see a future where every episode of Heroes was done like a Spider-Man movie. That's what I'm all about.
I'm always looking for ways to trim the fat so we can focus on the more important stuff. Yeah, that's what The Beast is.
I eventually want to release a consumer version of this, that's as easy to operate as a Mini-8 and as expensive as an X-Box.
I want to see indie filmmakers doing the kinds of things I wanted to do when I was starting out, because it's so difficult to get people to get on board to help you do this.
I see a day where, maybe a couple of years from now, where people will be able to actually go and do the same sh*t that the studios are doing."
link
