Friday, December 24, 2010

Motion Capture Shoot for the 'Five Lessons, The Modern Fundamentals of Golf' by Ben Hogan new Wii game and dvd

It finally happened!  The motion capture session last week was completed in Michigan, during a blizzard, with outstanding golf swing models and professional golfers Jared Isaacs and Maiya Tanaka.  Here is a link from the local Michigan CBS affiliate that came by the studio to film part of the events of the week.   The Detroit Free press sportswriter came by and also did a fine article on the proceedings. 

http://detroit.cbslocal.com/2010/12/16/ben-hogan-golf-game-made-in-troy-royal-oak/

The shoot was directed by a fantastic directer, Mark Soderwall, who brought a wealth of experience to the project from his previous work with Atari, EA Sports, and Lucas Films.  What a great professional.  I know the production is in great hands. 

I spent 3 1/2 days on site to help/assist the director on all things pertaining to Ben Hogan and provide intensive coaching to the golfers on matching subtle elements of Mr. Hogan's swing.  Jared is a long standing Master Instructor at the Jim McLean golf school at Doral in Miami, FL and was able to adjust his swing pattern to more close replicate the desired motions.  He achieved an excellent match that both I and Dave Kindred, the section President from Michigan's Southern PGA Section, were quite happy with. 

Maiya and Jared were terrific in their respective roles.  The director was able to elicit a wide array of golf movements for both on-course and off-course scenes for the Wii game and for the instructional dvd and interactive website.  They both were quite animated and their personalities will show through in the final product.  It was sure fun to watch.  Those reflective markers on their spandex suits glow quite nicely like light bulbs when taking flash photos!

Photos from the shoot will show up here on this blog in the near future as well as on our Facebook page.  Right now you can follow some of the threads on the current Facebook pages for the production company, Pixofactor.

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