How it all started...
BBDO New York wanted to shoot their new Gillette commercial with Bram Coppens in Brussels. A storyboard was agreed showing razors splashing through a surface of water skimming over the surface. This would mean, lots of close-ups of water, in high-speed with model-movers, and large aquaria. We set about developing these effects but by the time the commercial was to be shot, a competitor had released a razor commercial featuring water. All water shots were cut and the commercial changed radically...We made model-movers for a beautiful large scale model made by Brooklyn Model Works in New York. This 3-axis machine, as it came to be called, involved programmable stepper motors synchronized with the Milo motion control rig. Below we show all the stages we went through in this project for Caviar Film productions.

On the left is a movie of Patrick Otten checking the motion control run. Below one of the actors has a shave using the Milo. The razor is attached to the Milo so as to achieve an unusual shave shot.

Checking the move on the video, just in case....

These are images from the test shoot in Brussels where we tested the rigs before the final shoot. This was before the changes in the script involving the water shots. On the left is a "sketch" for the revers cheek shot, as if the camera is "point-of-view" cheek during shaving. Bram Coppens was looking for shots that hadn't been used before in a Gillette commercial.

We made a large aquarium to allow shooting from below of the meniscus around the razor while moving. The aquarium was also for following the "bow wake" of the razor as it skimmed through the water.