Written by Shona Smith on Sep 25, 2020. Posted in General Interest

New motion capture studio to be based at Bristol’s Bottleyard Studios

The innovation motion capture studio will occupy The Bottle Yard's Tank House 3 and will be devoted to to providing world leading research expertise in visual computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence, sports, rehabilitation, biomechanics, creative production and technical skills.

CAMERA is the latest company to join a thriving hub of twenty-five on-site tenants at The Bottle Yard Studios that covering creative, digital, technical and audio/visual expertise as well as grips, transport, fire and safety assistance. As the largest dedicated film and TV studio in the West of England The Bottle Yard regularly hosts UK and overseas productions with recent credits including The Pale Horse and The Spanish Princess.

Cllr Craig Cheney, Deputy Mayor with responsibility for Finance, Governance, Performance and Culture says: “Offering state-of-the-art technology combined with tailored resources and consultancy, it will create invaluable new production and post-production opportunities to a wide spectrum of companies in the region, not least of course our existing film, television, advertising and live broadcast clients”.

The studio will benefit the creative sector as well as digital healthcare SMEs through business support, training and product development. Specific collaboration areas will include; development of high end and affordable motion capture and analysis technologies for creative content generation for gaming, film, TV, VR and AR; dual location real time streaming of motion capture data for live performances; development of intelligent tools for post-production in VFX; development of next generation performance analysis and physical rehabilitation tools for the sports and healthcare sectors.

Darren Cosker, CAMERA Director says “The ambition is to significantly lower the barriers to adoption and exploitation of this technology for small companies in our region, and in doing so, increase their capacity for innovation and general productivity. All support is provided at no cost to the individual companies, thanks to funding received from the European Structural Investment Fund.”

In September, Laura Aviles was appointed Senior Film Manager by the Bristol City Council, responsible for the management of The Bottle Yard Studios and Bristol Film Office. Aviles noted that "“Having built my production career in Bristol producing content for many different commissioners and channels, I’ve worked with and witnessed the skills and professionalism of Bristol crew and facilities companies first-hand. I’ve watched the city’s reputation for filming rise, due in no small part to the hard work of the small teams at The Bottle Yard Studios and Bristol Film Office. I’m delighted to take on this new role and work with Natalie and Janine to bring the Film Office and Studios closer together. With production gearing up across the UK, my focus is firmly on ensuring that as a unified film team we can continue to build on past successes, to benefit Bristol’s crews, supply chains and partner businesses.”