WarpCam®: The Camera, the Movement, the Unit

Ferdi Fischer

I have the entire WarpCam® ecosystem and the whole SlamArtist.com Universe in my head. I can apply that knowledge while the first creative decisions are being made, right there in the meeting.

Whether I am involved as a showrunner, director, Action Director, stunt coordinator, DoP or through a Floating Action Unit, I know what we can do with the entire ecosystem. When a filming problem comes up that other people in the room do not have a solution for, I can already explain how we can shoot it, how we should shoot it and what I would suggest.

That is an enormous consulting advantage. It has proved itself repeatedly on productions where I was involved creatively from the beginning, whether that was Fast & Furious, Jawan or The Gray Man. I can propose those possibilities because I know capabilities of our ecosystem that the others do not know.

Ferdi Fischer

Absolutely. I am sometimes in a meeting purely as the stunt coordinator. WarpCam® is not even part of the discussion: perhaps the production does not want it or does not have the budget for it.

Questions still come up that people really struggle with, even though they are completely straightforward for our ecosystem. They are trying to solve things that I do not have to think twice about. Knowing that those possibilities exist is incredibly valuable at the beginning, because I can bring the solution into the discussion.

Ferdi Fischer

Imagine an escape through a window onto one of those metal fire escapes on the back of an American building. The character runs down the stairs, and we want an adrenaline-filled chase, very close to the characters, with leading and following shots.

With conventional approaches, people may think of a wide shot from outside, a long lens or short sections filmed from a platform alongside the staircase. But that does not give them the close following or leading action they are imagining.

With the small WarpCam®, our Physical Operator can go straight through the window behind the performer and follow them down the stairs. Or the operator can go through first and lead them down, with the camera looking back. The Virtual Operator frames the images. We did exactly that on 21 Bridges.

We can create that kind of shot in minutes. Knowing during the meeting that we can do it changes the discussion immediately.

Ferdi Fischer

WarpCam® is a very broad, comprehensive ecosystem of platforms connected to camera systems. Think of it a little like Lego. I brought together the experiences I had on set and built a system around the problems I kept encountering.

A camera might take forever to mount on a car, with the whole production waiting. Or you rent another camera and spend hours going through enormous mounting procedures, only to shoot something completely unspectacular. Sometimes a camera cannot get low enough because there is so much underneath the sensor. Sometimes it is so large that the operator cannot hold it for long or move it quickly enough because of the inertia of that mass. Or it is too heavy to be carried by a fast FPV drone.

The whole system is stabilised, and every platform and mount works in a plug-and-play way within seconds. I combined the mounting systems with new sensors, new stabilisation and new technology to build that ecosystem.

Ferdi Fischer

I start with what fits the story, the composition, and the vibe and flow of the entire film or project. What are we trying to achieve? What do we want to tell, how do we want to tell it, and which audience do we want to reach?

Then it becomes a question of where the camera needs to go. How tight is the space? How fast do we need to be? How high do we need to reach? That determines the platform. Sometimes the platforms overlap, and sometimes we use them in parallel.

Ferdi Fischer

On The Gray Man, we decided to do almost everything handheld inside the tram because we wanted that flexibility.

Fast X is probably the easiest example at the other end, because we had practically the whole arsenal in use. We kept coming back to the same decisions: what do we want to tell, how do we want to tell it, and where does the camera have to get to?

Ferdi Fischer

That can be a very important part of the decision. Somebody says, “We have half an hour left for these two shots.” How do we get both of them in that half-hour?

We then choose the platform that lets us achieve that within the time. Having all these platforms and bringing that flexibility to the set gives us the freedom to make that decision.

Ferdi Fischer

Thousands of situations. I came to it as a performer, actor, stunt coordinator and action director. I kept seeing shots that a production could not get because of timing or technical restrictions.

It could be the timing of a fight. It could be a confined space where the camera could not reach the position that would make the action look best. It could be an operator who did not understand the choreography and was filming in the wrong place, reacting after something happened instead of moving towards where it was about to happen.

Then there were questions of camera quality, the frame rate we needed, and mounting restrictions: simply being unable to put a camera where we needed it on a vehicle. It was the combination of all those experiences.

Ferdi Fischer

We now have a very substantial range of lenses. Across our setups, we can essentially use any lens.

In my opinion, WarpCam® 8K itself covers around 90 to 95 percent of the lens and filter options you need to make films today.

Ferdi Fischer

Small differences in the way particular lenses render colour can practically always be adjusted in postproduction. I am not talking about one lens being better or worse. It may simply be a slightly different warmth, for example.

Ferdi Fischer

If somebody is very particular about certain lenses or a specific setup, I suggest switching to Hyper-WarpCam® with the Freefly Ember, or to a similar camera in our open gimbal.

We can put any camera into that modified open setup and use the corresponding lenses and filters: an ALEXA Mini, a Sony VENICE, the Freefly Ember, whatever camera is required. We are extremely focused on finding solutions, and that gives us an answer to those requirements.

Ferdi Fischer

The rig becomes a little heavier. We still have WarpCam® flexibility, but not all the flexibility of WarpCam® 8K. I would put it at roughly 80 percent. It also takes a little longer to assemble and dismantle.

That is something we discuss with the camera department, the director and the production. They can then decide which solution they want. We can accommodate the camera, lenses and filters, with those smaller restrictions in agility. It is not a problem; it is a choice we can make together beforehand.

Ferdi Fischer

The important change is that the operator stops being dependent on the monitor attached to the camera and starts working from an understanding of where the camera is in space.

Once you can move the camera freely without checking that monitor, you can take it farther away from your body: right, left, above or below you. You need to understand the lens, the angle and the position you are trying to reach. The Physical Operator brings the camera into that space. The Virtual Operator handles the precise framing and composition: where the character sits within the image, for example, rather than simply keeping them in the centre.

When that interaction works properly, there is no better way of operating, in my view, than on a pole. As the Physical Operator develops that spatial ability, the pole can be extended farther while retaining control of the camera's position.

Ferdi Fischer

You recognise it because the image is right. Take an over-the-shoulder composition. The camera has to occupy a particular position so that one person's head is on one side and the other person is placed correctly beyond them.

A traditional camera operator has to maintain a line between themselves, the camera and the subject. Move the operator to the side and ask them to create that same relationship without standing directly behind the camera. You quickly see whether they can place it in three-dimensional space using their knowledge of the lens, distances and proximity, without looking at a monitor.

The Physical Operator has no camera monitor or buttons and does not operate the gimbal. They move the camera through the world. The Virtual Operator moves the gimbal. That separation is what many people find difficult to understand until they see it demonstrated.

Ferdi Fischer

It is difficult to explain in one sentence, but very simple and quick to demonstrate. On Bad Boys, we showed it to Jerry Bruckheimer. He had not really understood it from the explanation either. We demonstrated it briefly, and he stood there with his mouth open and his eyes wide. He understood it then, but he had not expected that.

Ferdi Fischer

First, there are three people involved, because you also have the Focus Puller. Decisions can come from any of us. We are in constant voice contact.

The Physical Operator can see things beyond the camera's frame. If something starts happening outside what the Virtual Operator can see on the monitor, the Physical Operator can move to catch it and tell them what is coming. The Virtual Operator knows where to look as the camera moves. Both are responding to the same new information.

At the decisive moment, it has to function as a chain reaction. There is not time to discuss each adjustment. In the team I am describing here, all three are experienced stunt performers as well as specialists in their camera roles. They understand movement because they have been in those situations themselves. They can anticipate where the performer is likely to go, then respond to what actually happens. The focus follows the real action, not simply a memorised choreography or a set of memorised points.

Ferdi Fischer

We approach it in the same way as an action scene, only it is much easier. If you can stage action well and tell its story clearly, you can stage a normal dramatic scene too.

We can put WarpCam® on a tripod, a dolly or a crane when the scene requires it. When I operate it, what matters to me is what we call Biological Breathing. There is a little movement, as there would be if a person were standing in that room, listening and watching. But it is not the irritating shake that stops you seeing something at the moment you want to see it.

The intention is to give the viewer the feeling of being there. The image is neither completely static nor shaking around. It moves quietly and naturally. You know it is working when you do not notice it. It feels right without drawing attention to itself. We often demonstrate that quality because it is easier to feel in an image than to define in a sentence.

Ferdi Fischer

First, you always have to meet the audience where they are. You need to have the whole final edit in your head, so that you do not finish in the bottom-right corner and then start in the top-left. Those images have to connect.

At WarpCam®, we have a few operating rules for how we handle that. I cannot make those public because they are trade secrets. We have found some very smart solutions.

Ferdi Fischer

The answer is very simple: as long as it serves the narrative, a continuous camera movement is better, provided nothing suffers as a result. You want to bring the audience with you and keep them with you through that continuous movement.

But that changes the moment the speed suffers, the quality of the action suffers, the choreography suffers, or what is about to happen becomes predictable.

I see this very often, even in major Hollywood films. A lot of camera operators and DoPs make this mistake: they have a particular shot in their heads because they want to stand out, put their stamp on the scene, prove their uniqueness or impose their style. In the planning, it all sounds good. But while they are shooting, they often do not notice that the entire scene, the performances, the choreography and the action are suffering because of it.

Then the opposite of what they intended happens. It becomes more boring. And, worst of all, it becomes predictable.

Every viewer knows this: the camera moves into a particular angle and leaves one side of the frame open because something is about to happen there. If the timing is slightly off, or it takes too long, you get those pauses. The audience knows, “Okay, something is about to happen over there.” The whole scene suffers, including the narrative and the action.

Another example is a very complex piece of choreography. If the performers, whether stunt performers or actors, have run out of energy by the middle or end of an extremely long take, that does not help the scene either. You are better off making tighter, shorter blocks of action than a drawn-out, boring scene.

The camera movements you planned are a good baseline. But when you are there and realise that the plan is not working, you need other options.

One of the biggest mistakes people make is to say, “We are capturing reality. It has to be as realistic as possible,” and then make long, boring shots.

The problem is that reality captured by a camera never feels as spectacular as actually being there. You have to understand that difference and stage for it. You have to sustain the illusion that the audience is right in the middle of what is happening. Sometimes you can only achieve that with specific cuts, specific close-ups and the other choices that put the audience exactly where you want them.

Ferdi Fischer

This is where the understanding of movement and movement aesthetics I have accumulated throughout my career becomes extremely important. I look at the lead actor or action performer and train with them. I prepare them for the choreography. Sometimes I already have ideas because I know their work from other films, or I have met them and seen what they can do and how they move.

That lets me translate the qualities of their movement very precisely into the camera work. There are far more nuances to it than a simple example can explain, but we can use the camera and the performance together to bring the character closer to what is written in the script and what the director wants.

Ferdi Fischer

Take a very simple example. An actor moves their upper body well, can box or fight and has a good posture, but their footwork does not have the same finesse. The whole-body movement does not quite match what they can do with their upper body.

We might decide to stay a little closer with WarpCam®, using a slightly longer lens. For full-body images in extreme fight situations, particularly kicks or movements in which they are less accomplished, we use a double, or we continue to work closer to the actor.

Ferdi Fischer

If someone has an imposing presence as a complete figure, we stay a little lower and show more of their whole body. That does not mean losing the close-ups. With WarpCam®, we can briefly move farther out and let the audience register more of that physical presence.

We support and amplify the talents and movements that are already there. We can also reduce the prominence of movements that do not fit the character quite as well. That flexibility helps us guide the performance and the image towards the overall character of the film.

Ferdi Fischer

Yes, in real time. That has repeatedly proved invaluable on productions. If I am the Physical Operator and notice that an actor or stunt performer is too fast, too slow or not moving as skilfully as the image needs, I can respond during the movement itself, working with my Virtual Operator.

I can move to a lower angle to make the action feel bigger, or look down from a higher angle to make it feel smaller. These are small camera choices we can apply immediately to create the mood or effect that serves the character.

Ferdi Fischer

Imagine running alongside somebody at eye level with a 35 mm lens on a full-frame sensor. The movement looks slower. Move down to hip height and it already looks a little faster.

Then, within the same shot, I can move from eye level past the hip and briefly go low enough for the asphalt to rush through the bottom of the image. You see the texture of the asphalt streaking past in motion blur, and it can look as though we are moving at twice the speed.

Those are small camera tricks we can use in real time to make the character and the action read the way we want.

Ferdi Fischer

If a film is not very action-heavy but has one intense action sequence, the audience is not necessarily used to concentrating on extreme action through fifty cuts.

We can bring them into it by making the transitions physically with WarpCam®. We move around the characters so that the audience does not lose its orientation. When we do cut, we end on the information that matters: a block, a punch or a detail such as somebody taking the safety off a weapon.

Ferdi Fischer

We pick up the important information in the next shot where the audience was already looking. As a simple example, imagine a weapon lying diagonally in the frame, with the safety in the lower-right third. We know that most of the audience will have their eyes there.

If the next shot is the opponent reacting and taking the safety off their own weapon, we can pick up that important detail in the lower-right area as well, with the weapon facing the other way so that we understand it belongs to the opposing character. The audience does not have to search for the new information.

We can also arrive in the lower-right part of the image through a WarpCam® movement, make the transition, pick up there again and then move the camera upwards. Especially on a large cinema screen, we can lead the eyes across the screen with the action instead of making the audience's eyes and brain jump from the bottom right to the top left and then somewhere else.

Ferdi Fischer

Extremely quickly. When I arrive with WarpCam® and my Floating Action Unit, I can immediately recognise the workflow and camera style and adapt to it.

If the DoP is filming everything very calmly on dollies, the WarpCam® shots have to fit that pace. That is not difficult. I can recognise it as soon as I am on set.

The flexibility lets us move seamlessly through the whole range. We can support a traditional 1980s action style, or something as contemporary as the style of John Wick or Extraction 2. We can adjust continuously between those approaches.

Ferdi Fischer

With that Steadicam style, we have movement and more freedom than on a dolly, but still an extremely calm image, with much of the movement staying on one level. A Steadicam does not move from right up top to right down low in the way I am describing with WarpCam®. We can cover everything from somebody's toes to a top shot looking down onto their head in one movement.

But if most of the film's moving shots have been made with a Steadicam, I know we should not suddenly make extreme changes in height. That would stand out from the overall feel of the project.

We might use 180-degree moves and moving shots that stay at more or less the same height, or move slowly to a different level, so they do not differ too much from the surrounding images. The remarkable thing about WarpCam® is that we can adapt to all of these styles in real time. We can always make the action more intense, and we can also make it less intense.

Ferdi Fischer

In the moments where other cameras cannot do the job, it becomes the A-camera anyway. If the other cameras leave and we go inside to shoot a chase with Chadwick Boseman because WarpCam® is the camera that can work there, it is doing that job. The images then appear in the trailer and the film.

But I am not very interested in A-camera, B-camera or C-camera as a hierarchy. I feel the same about First Unit and Second Unit. I prefer descriptions such as Action Unit or Drama Unit. On films such as Fast & Furious and The Gray Man, the so-called Second Unit could be much bigger because of the action and the team it required.

I always ask whether we can be the W-camera, for Warp. I do not care where we sit in the alphabet. I know that the camera is immediately promoted to A-camera when people see what we can shoot.

Ferdi Fischer

Cyber Game is Josh Grothe's short film. It is essentially a love story, but a strange beat-'em-up love story with a lot of action, AI overlays and extreme camera angles.

Josh was the director. I was the Action Director and DoP, and I lit it as well. The look is strongly backlit and hazy, with very pronounced lighting. I used WarpCam® as the A-camera for that main action unit.

WarpCam® shot everything apart from a few dramatic scenes filmed by a separate Second Unit, with someone else at another location. Those were separate from the action work. Josh directed, and I handled action direction, cinematography and lighting for our unit.

Ferdi Fischer

We went through narrow openings in broken windows, underneath the seats and out towards the street. We moved with the performers as they came out of the tram. We ran through the tram at their speed while it was moving, fell with them and took the camera up to the ceiling and back down under the seats.

We could start outside, go through a window and continue filming inside. We ran along the roof with the principal actor into an explosion. We jumped from the tram to another vehicle, worked inside other vehicles and made POV and over-the-shoulder shots. We could be at tyre height, just above the road, or make a transition from the Audi into the tram.

My advice to a cinematographer planning this kind of movement is to open up their creativity. Do not let the limitations of the systems you have used before become the limits of what you imagine now.

Ferdi Fischer

You see the earlier limitations in the shot planning. The shot, or the entire shot list, is built around what someone knows from previous camera systems. When I suggest something else, they look at me in disbelief because they do not think it is possible.

You cannot really persuade someone of this verbally. If the camera is not there, I show footage of similar shots. If we have it with us, I can physically show them very quickly how we would do it.

The moment it changes is when they start saying, “You suggest something.” They give me the freedom to help them make stronger shots. That is when I know they are beginning to understand how much further this camera can go than the systems they have previously used.

Ferdi Fischer

It was an enormous step. On The Gray Man, there were three of us in the Floating Action Unit, and we worked almost entirely handheld with the First and Second Units. I also operated A-camera for some action work, but the WarpCam® work was mainly handheld.

For Fast X, we expanded to five people and brought a much broader range of equipment and camera positions. We used WarpCam® handheld, from the passenger position on a motorcycle, and from a quad for leading and following shots on stairs. We hard-mounted it on motorcycles and both outside and inside vehicles. We had it on the FPV drone, on the RC camera car and, at times, fixed on a tripod.

We were there longer, with more people, more equipment and more shots. We were involved throughout the action sequence in different configurations. Johnny FPV became part of that work after we had trained together in Los Angeles on flying WarpCam® as a narrative, dual-operator system.

Ferdi Fischer

We had working systems mirrored with the lenses, remotes and everything needed, so that we could swap parts or an entire camera very quickly and continue shooting. The specially built RC system was a separate configuration, with components we could also replace from the other systems.

That did not mean all the configurations were shooting simultaneously. There were five of us. Most of the time we concentrated on the WarpCam® work rather than trying to run everything in parallel.

Sometimes I would set up the WarpCam® shot, particularly an FPV shot, and then operate the Sony Venice 2 for a demanding A-camera action shot myself. My operators would carry out the WarpCam® work. Those were two different parts of what I was doing: leading the unit and its shots, and personally operating another camera close to the action.

Ferdi Fischer

It depends on how much of the work we are taking on. If a production only needs WarpCam®, the minimum from our side for a small, low-budget job is a two-person team: the Physical Operator and the Virtual Operator.

The production then supplies the Focus Puller, either the Focus Puller already working on that production or someone from its available pool.

That comes with the equipment, the WarpCam® unit and the redundancy system. Two Pelicases are the minimum setup.

Ferdi Fischer

We also provide action DoPs. On Fast X, for example, I often operated the A-camera for the most demanding shots, using the production's Sony Venice rather than WarpCam®.

The operating skills of a WarpCam® operator transfer very easily to conventional camera systems. If you have a really good WarpCam® operator, operating any other camera is child's play.

It is like putting an extremely professional rally driver into a normal car. Driving that normal car is easier for them than rally driving. That is roughly how I would explain it.

Ferdi Fischer

We now also provide drama units. The action directors within the SlamArtist.com Universe can direct drama and set up conventional scenes as well.

If you can stage extremely professional, high-resolution, high-quality action, drama scenes and conventional scenes are not harder to stage. You need to shift your priorities.

Creative action follows the same principle as a drama or dialogue sequence: you have a narrative to communicate. Modern action is not simply a wide shot in which you see action happening. The story and the narrative continue through the action.

You have to capture that narrative creatively while also doing justice to the action. If you have all of those skill sets, you can advance the narrative in a drama scene, a dialogue scene or conventional camera coverage very creatively and thoughtfully.

To create a high-quality action scene, you have to be proficient in the standard camera setups that filmmaking already uses.

Ferdi Fischer

The extent is completely fluid. We can provide stunt coordination, stunt performers, riggers, the action director, a second unit, a Floating Action Unit or an action unit. These different functions sit within the wider SlamArtist.com Universe.

In theory, the WarpCam® action team could replace an entire existing film crew. You could have the action crew, including the director, make a complete film. We have already made complete short films, taken over entire action units and also done some drama-unit work.

Together, SlamArtist.com and WarpCam® can assemble a complete film crew. You would still add the lighting crew and the other supporting jobs. The actual division of work depends on the assignment.

Ferdi Fischer

Take a hypothetical example: a production has an extremely demanding fight inside a real aircraft. It is not a mock-up with ceilings and walls removed to accommodate conventional cameras. They have tested the sequence and realised that they cannot capture it with traditional cameras at the same quality level as the rest of the film. They call the WarpCam® Action Unit.

In that scenario, we create the entire aircraft sequence. We make the previs, develop the choreography, supply the stunt performers and integrate the actors into the previsualisation.

We bring camera systems flexible enough to move between the seats, underneath them, above them, alongside them, through the aisles and even into the toilets. Those movements would never be possible with traditional camera systems.

The same idea applies to fights in cars, vans, buses, submarines, ships, narrow corridors, basements or trains. We have just filmed in train compartments in India.

We can take that work from action direction, development, stunt design, performance, coordination and shooting through data wrangling and the final edit. The production then receives the finished sequence to drop onto the timeline of the existing film. That is a service we provide through the SlamArtist.com Universe.

Ferdi Fischer

We have done this repeatedly on major productions, including The Gray Man, Fast X, Murder Mystery 2, Jawan, Bad Boys and 21 Bridges, as well as German productions, Otto advertising, Mercedes commercials and Tatort.

We provide a small crew, usually three people: Physical Operator, Virtual Operator and Focus Puller, with our mobile WarpCam® system. In quotation marks, we steal the extraordinary shots from within the production that is already running.

We integrate so seamlessly that we neither hold up the production nor require it to organise itself around us. Of course, it can choose to do that. In my experience it happens every time, because the production starts wanting more of the images we are already generating during its normal work.

The film crew continues shooting the coverage it had planned. Alongside that, the WarpCam® unit creates the striking packshots, trailer shots and images that the production could never generate with its own systems, and offers them as additional coverage.

That is why it has been so successful on major Hollywood productions. They are taking no risk with their planned film: it still gets shot as intended. There is a relatively small additional cost for the WarpCam® unit, and the additional value is exponentially greater.

Ferdi Fischer

Asphaltgorillas, with Detlev Buck in Germany, is a small but very precise example. We made several fight sequences as our own action unit. I was the Action Director, I handled the WarpCam® work, and I put together the entire stunt team.

The production gave us the actors. We developed and filmed the previs with them, prepared them, and then shot the sequences with them. The whole assignment had been discussed in the main production meeting, and Detlev handed those action sequences over to me and the SlamArtist.com Universe.

Ferdi Fischer

Detlev and the main unit filmed the dramatic scenes leading into the action and the material before and after it. We shot the complete action sequences independently, with our own unit, using only WarpCam®.

While we were doing that, the main unit could shoot other material: drama scenes and the other scenes it needed. We worked autonomously on the action.

Ferdi Fischer

A finished sequence that fits into the film, ready for the editor to drop onto the timeline.

If the editor is already cutting while the film is being shot, they can leave a space for that fight sequence. If the edit starts later, the finished sequence is there when they begin. In either case, the production receives the complete action sequence.

Ferdi Fischer

The production did not have to organise all those people individually, source the equipment, find the team to operate it, assemble the stunt performers, oversee whether the action edit worked, make the previs, arrange the preparation and training, train the actors or develop the choreography. We took care of all of that.

We discussed the work together in the main meeting and then made those sequences as our own unit. The production saved money, time and effort, and it received distinctive images that it could never have obtained that way itself.

Ferdi Fischer

It is a case-by-case decision. We can build the entire thing with WarpCam®, our skills and the SlamArtist.com Universe, take on small parts of it, or simply support the existing production.

If I am in an early meeting and hear that a particular amount is available for an action sequence, I might suggest separating it into its own action unit: a very small, compact WarpCam® unit. For that budget, we could save money, get more shots and make better-quality images than if the sequence were filmed with the large main unit. That is one example of how I would decide.

Ferdi Fischer

We might keep all the filming the production had already planned and add WarpCam® inside the car to capture the inserts during the real action.

We shoot the exterior material, then film the interior shots immediately afterwards or alongside it, depending on whether we would appear in one another's images. We can work with the actors inside the real car on a real, closed road.

We are agile and save time because we do not have to build enormous rigs inside it. We do not have to move the car into a greenscreen studio, take the doors off and film everything from outside. That is another possible way of dividing the work.

Ferdi Fischer

There is a chase through a kitchen. The man being pursued knocks a shelf of pots over behind him. It falls at an angle against the other wall, blocking the route without lying completely flat on the floor.

Chadwick Boseman's character slides underneath it in one movement, then gets up and keeps running. The performer in the shot we are discussing was his double. We follow the double from behind, so you cannot see that it is not Chadwick, drop down with him, and take WarpCam® straight underneath the shelf behind him.

We filmed that as one shot. When I hear that kind of idea in a meeting, I immediately know we can do it with WarpCam® without any problem. I can suggest that we take on that section because we can shoot it quickly and it will look incredible.

Ferdi Fischer

A director might say they want three hard-mounted cameras inside a car, recording cinema-quality images, while the exterior cameras are also filming it.

I can say that WarpCam® is small enough to hide those three cameras inside the car. We can shoot with them and still film the car from outside without the cameras being visible.

Ferdi Fischer

Imagine a production planning an intense action sequence inside a submarine. They can film their ordinary dramatic scenes there in the way they had planned, where they do not need unusual angles or running sequences.

We can take over the action with WarpCam®: running, jumping, moving through the hatches and working with the actors in those tight spaces. That could be our own unit, or we could work while the existing crew is there, depending on what the production wants.

That is where I might suggest bringing in the Floating Action Unit for the demanding shots. There are so many possible combinations. The decision comes from the specific case.

Ferdi Fischer

No department has to become unnecessary. All the departments work together and support one another. WarpCam® can then add another layer, or sometimes five layers, on top.

We can replace the camera, action and directing team within a separate unit, or within the main unit, depending on the assignment. But the departments still work together and pass the work between them. WarpCam® can add that further level when it is needed or wanted.

Ferdi Fischer

Because the story needed it. In Fast X, a small RC vehicle goes underneath the larger vehicles in the convoy. It is part of the action involving gas being introduced into one of the vehicles. The audience needed to understand what was happening down there, so the DoP needed the camera at that height.

That was the reason for developing our camera vehicle specifically for the film. It was not an arbitrary angle. We needed to film the story from the same level as the small vehicle in the scene. We have continued using that camera system for other productions as well.

Ferdi Fischer

I wanted to decide for myself, looking at the images on that screen. WarpCam® is so minimal, small and light that people who have not really looked into it can mistake it for a toy. I have repeatedly heard, particularly in Germany, that its images will not match a Sony Venice or an ARRI Alexa. They do match.

The newer compact WarpCam® setup weighs 1.2 kilos fully rigged: battery, lens, wireless transmission, focus control, the carbon structure, everything. People do not immediately understand that this small camera has a highly developed full-frame 35 mm sensor recording 8K.

I sat in the front third of the auditorium so I could really examine our shots. Fast X had been shot with our earlier 6K generation; the newer 8K system came afterwards.

I could not see the slightest technical drop between the WarpCam® shots and the Alexa and Venice material. I would even say that some of our shots looked better to me because they were better stabilised and framed. The camera was built for this action work, and I could see the experience of the stunt operators in the way it was handled.

Whether I prefer that stabilisation and framing is my judgement. But the picture was definitely not inferior to the other cameras. That was clear to me on the screen.

Ferdi Fischer

The frame rates, and the larger sensor. We moved from Super 35 to full-frame 35 mm. It is a new generation of sensor, with improvements that matter for the image and for grading.

The recording format also matters in actual production. An 8K CinemaDNG workflow generates an enormous amount of data. We use ProRes RAW at 8K or lower-resolution CinemaDNG modes depending on the production. The improvement is not just more pixels; it is the combination of the sensor, frame rates, recording options and the workflow that follows.

Ferdi Fischer

The Ember 5K needed a different gimbal system. It is five times as heavy and uses different lenses, much heavier and larger lenses. In terms of speed, up to 800 frames, it is the most extreme version we have. But it is also by far the heaviest WarpCam®.

Ferdi Fischer

From the beginning, it was clear to me that this was a completely different kind of filmmaking. With Hyper-WarpCam®, we usually shoot somewhere between 300 and 600 frames per second, depending on what we are doing. At those frame rates, you have to build many more layers into the image.

In ordinary action, you generally have one, two or at most three layers. The main layer is the action itself: a punch, someone getting hit with a bottle, a gunshot or a shootout. You might have something in the foreground, either for a narrative reason or simply because you do not want the bottom-right corner of the frame to be empty. Sometimes there is a third layer in the background, preparing the next scene or the place the camera will move to.

That is about the maximum amount of information you can ask an audience to take in during an action sequence at normal speed. In high speed, those three layers are far too few. The audience understands the main action immediately because everything is unfolding in slow motion. Their attention starts travelling across the whole image. You have to give them more information to discover.

Depending on how long you hold the image in super slow motion, you might build five, six, seven or even ten layers.

Ferdi Fischer

Layers that were static, or carried very little information at normal speed, can now carry story.

Take a large fight, just as an example. At normal speed, you might only register that people are fighting in the foreground and background. You cannot necessarily see who is doing what or exactly what happens. In slow motion, two or three of those layers can develop simultaneously, and all of them can matter to the narrative because the audience has time to understand them.

Or imagine someone crashing into a table. At normal speed, you see the crash. In super slow motion, the table can be designed so that particular objects break spectacularly. Behind it, the hero is already moving into position for his hero shot. Things are falling through the foreground. Farther back, somebody is starting to attack the hero, establishing the transition into the next fight.

That is an example, but it shows the difference. You can put information into the image that you could not communicate in the same way at normal speed.

Ferdi Fischer

Hyper-WarpCam® is built so that we can move the camera through those layers. That is the main difference.

The Phantom cameras and high-speed setups we had before were mounted statically, on a Russian Arm that moved them, or on a robot arm that could move very quickly. With Hyper-WarpCam®, we can push through the layers and connect the different layers, spaces and transitions, just as we do with a normal WarpCam®.

That was not possible before, and it is still not possible today, except perhaps with a Russian Arm in car scenes. But not in close-quarter action.

Ferdi Fischer

The first is agility and the minimal footprint. It might not sound spectacular, but on set it is enormous. We have one case per camera setup, containing what we need for a whole day: batteries, remotes, telescopic poles, lenses and the camera. We have two cases with us for a complete redundant system.

In the setup I am describing, we arrive and are ready to shoot in under five minutes. We can pack in one or two minutes, move location and be ready again in under five. We do not need a camera cart covered in equipment. We can work from the boot of a vehicle. On the big productions, nobody had to wait for us; we were the ones waiting for the other cameras.

The second advantage is framing and transitions. We can connect movements that otherwise suggest a crane, a dolly, handheld or Steadicam work. Imagine a runner: start at shoe level, lead them, let them pass, wrap around while rising and finish over the shoulder for the next narrative beat. Or reverse it and finish on the face. The camera can travel from near the ground to above the head while the movement continues.

That runner is an example of the range, not a particular film shot. The same freedom applies to passing through windows or small openings and continuing into a different kind of movement. This exceeds what many DoPs and directors initially imagine because they have not worked with that freedom before.

The third advantage is the team. You get a highly trained camera team that is already used to working together. The Physical Operator and Virtual Operator have to trust each other completely. You cannot simply recreate that relationship by putting together whoever happens to be available. It shows in the workflow, the speed and the quality of the shots.

Ferdi Fischer

The camera itself is self-contained. You do not have to connect external power or antennas. With our quick releases and a prepared vehicle, moving from the pole to the vehicle can take twenty to thirty seconds; the mount changes I am describing take under a minute.

That applies across the prepared carriers. The especially low RC version is a separate design, with WarpCam® integrated sideways so the whole assembly can pass underneath other vehicles. It should not be confused with simply taking the pole-mounted camera and clicking it onto a standard RC platform.

Ferdi Fischer

It is the incredible combination of time savings, cost savings, simplicity and the extreme results. That combination is unbeatable.

The technology now gives us tools and possibilities that would have been unthinkable five or ten years ago. We can make something complex so simple that it almost feels like magic.

Ferdi Fischer

It is a calculation. Imagine bringing together a helicopter camera team, a large drone team, a Russian Arm or another camera crane on a vehicle, second and third cameras for exterior car mounts, smaller cameras for the interiors, and the equipment and people to operate all of them.

Precision drivers and stunt performers are a separate department in this example. I am talking about the camera work. Instead of assembling all those camera components separately, the production can book WarpCam®, WarpSpeed®, WarpDrive® and handheld WarpCam® together.

For the example I am describing, we arrive with an FPV pilot and three operators. Those four people can cover the camera tasks I have just listed and go much further with the images. We can also create transitions between those different kinds of shots.

Ferdi Fischer

For example, I can offer a production a fixed package price for the WarpCam® Action Unit: the entire team and the equipment together.

A proposal could be: you save 40 percent compared with obtaining the cameras, gimbals, lenses, transmission equipment, Focus Puller, camera operator, Steadicam operator and gimbal operator separately. We bring the complete package for that price, and you get more images. That is the kind of straightforward calculation I mean.

Ferdi Fischer

Say a production has one week of important action in Prague. It needs the narrative coverage, but it also wants the images that will make people want to watch the film: striking trailer shots that pull the intended audience into the movement and action.

We can be there with a small core team, perhaps three or four people, or as few as two from our side on a small, low-budget production. While the normal shoot continues, we create those packshots, candy shots and moments that make people ask, “How did they do that?” The production would not get those images with its existing setup.

We quote a package price for the team and equipment for that week. There can also be a discount for booking the full week instead of individual days. It is a very simple calculation.

Ferdi Fischer

A lens change takes us twenty seconds, and we can keep shooting.

With a conventional camera, I would put even the lens change and the adjustments around it at five minutes. Add a Steadicam or gimbal that needs rebalancing, and a fast production can be looking at five to ten minutes. An involved lens change on a Steadicam or gimbal that needs balancing can normally take twenty minutes. That is one place where the time difference starts.

Ferdi Fischer

The compact, fully rigged WarpCam® setup I am describing weighs only 1.2 kilos. We can keep carrying it over the shoulder. We need far fewer people to take the camera from us and deal with it between takes.

This has shown itself again and again on productions: we are always the first to be ready for a reset. We are faster than the actors or stunt performers resetting. The production never has to wait for WarpCam®.

Ferdi Fischer

In a confined space or a sensitive location, such as a museum, an old building or a protected historic site, you need fewer people and less equipment. You do not need to bring large trucks to the location or have five camera assistants around the camera.

We can do that work with a minimal footprint.

Ferdi Fischer

They need to understand everything they can save compared with a traditional production approach. That is what makes their eyes open wide.

When we arrive on set and they realise what they can do with us, it opens entirely new possibilities. I see it repeatedly: the producers, directors and DoPs who recognise it, accept it and are not intimidated by it become incredibly excited.

Ferdi Fischer

Ideally, WarpCam®, the Floating Action Unit or whichever part of the SlamArtist.com Universe is involved should be included from the beginning, during planning. That is the ideal situation.

But we have often found that a production has not assessed its planned action sequences optimally. We have always had to be flexible and make new decisions on set. I understood very early that flexibility is the most important thing on a film set, and that is how we built the whole approach.

What I am describing is experience, not a hypothetical situation: the WarpCam® unit can arrive because a production has spent two days or two weeks failing to get particular shots, and we deliver those shots within minutes.

We can do that because we are so flexible and can work independently of the limitations of conventional systems, teams and setups. We can provide additional value at any stage. The earlier we are contacted or integrated, the more precise and the greater that value can become.

Ferdi Fischer

We have done everything from extensive preparation to none at all. It works without problems.

On some productions, we showed the DoP test material weeks or months in advance, discussed the resolution and sent test recordings to the DIT. On set, we have also measured all the lenses again using grids and worked through the colour variations.

That allows the DIT to build a LUT for playback or the live output, so that the camera is already matched to the other cameras in real time. That might be an Alexa or a Sony Venice. On Fast X, for example, it was the Sony Venice.

The result is that the images are already matched in the live feed.

Ferdi Fischer

We can feed in a common timecode and synchronise the camera. We can do that, but often do not need to; in practice, we hardly ever do it.

Very often, our action sequences use separately recorded sound. Sometimes they are shot without sound. With dialogue scenes, the picture and sound are aligned using a slate and timecode, so sound is not a problem.

There is not much we need to do differently with the sound department.

Ferdi Fischer

Postproduction needs the files in the relevant codecs and test material. We are extremely flexible because we record RAW and have different frame-rate and format options, including ProRes RAW and CinemaDNG.

Grading and matching are not a problem. The material matches without any problems. The quality is high enough that we can pull stills for billboards thirty or fifty metres high.

Ferdi Fischer

WarpCam® is deliberately built so that there are no mandatory prerequisites. If the conditions work for a conventional camera team or camera system, we meet them or exceed them. There are, of course, discussions and agreements.

If a production wants a very extreme, specific WarpCam® sequence, we develop it and recommend the workflow and conditions that will make it run most smoothly. But remember: the camera adapts to the performance. The performers do not have to adapt to the camera.

We can recommend a workflow that optimises the result even further, but it is not mandatory. I have never been on a set where WarpCam® could not have improved the work. For me, there are no compulsory prerequisites, only recommendations if the production wants to take it even further.

Tight spaces are precisely where WarpCam® is the solution. We always have the transmission paths we need, with ten times the range of the systems the production already has on set. We have transmission over several kilometres. We never have to move the transmission setup along behind us or lay cables, so there is much less rebuilding as we move. For rain, dust or extreme temperatures, the requirements are the same, or our system is even better than what they already have.

We do not need special preparation. Whatever the set, we arrive with our Pelicase and are ready to shoot within five minutes.

Ferdi Fischer

Underwater is the one situation I might single out. I have already designed a concept for an underwater WarpCam® system.

But underwater, WarpCam® would not really offer an advantage in the same way, because you cannot move or change position as quickly. The physics of the water does not really allow it.

If someone wanted an underwater WarpCam®, I would build it without any problem. I have already worked out a concept.

Ferdi Fischer

I can start at any stage of a production and adapt the work. In the worst case, a production has worked with the wrong stunt coordinator or Action Director, nothing has worked, and the action sequence has destroyed the film's feel. They come to me and ask whether I can fix it.

I look at the other scenes, speak with the director and camera department, and examine the images they have made. Then I can rebuild the action sequence so that it fits the feel of the complete film. That is the worst-case situation because they have already shot it once and it has not worked.

I can also improve the edit. Or I can use the production's camera system without WarpCam®. The flexibility is limitless.

Ferdi Fischer

We have already done tests with AI-generated environments. The funny thing is that we do not even have to shoot something new. We can take material we shot ten years ago and put that scene into a completely different room.

The first tests were mainly fight scenes that would work in an enclosed space. We changed the location, the clothing and the surfaces. We gave people different costumes, hats and masks. What immediately struck me was how much more convincing it looked. To me, it looked a hundred times better. Why? Because the physics was right.

Those were real people in the original scene. They really fell, threw the punches and made the movements. We started with that physical performance and changed the visual world around it.

Ferdi Fischer

We have turned the approach around. Instead of generating the shot in VFX and then trying to make it look real, we have filmed the shot for real and then changed it digitally. That is a completely different approach.

The movement and the camera movement already exist. They came from actual performers and stunt performers. That is why the WarpCam® material looks so good in these tests.

AI can make an image look incredibly good. But the biggest problem with AI and VFX is the physics. That is not just something I am assuming; it is a clearly known problem. Look at the proportions when somebody falls, the relationship between the fall and the timing, the speed and the slow motion. It can look very impressive and still feel artificial. In our tests, it felt real even though the image had been generated again, because it was based on the original movement.

Ferdi Fischer

The costs, the mistakes and the amount of trial and error. You keep prompting, changing things and prompting again. If you want exactly what you have in your head, getting all the way there is almost impossible.

At a certain point, you accept what the AI gives you. It goes in the direction you wanted. It looks something like what you imagined. But it is never one hundred per cent the image in your head. That precision is the problem.

Ferdi Fischer

That is still taking shape. The models change so quickly, and the different tiers, what you pay and the quality you receive, vary so much. It is difficult to give one precise answer about what AI can and cannot do.

Sometimes you look at a shot and think, “There is no way it will manage that.” Then it works perfectly, exactly in the direction you wanted. Another time you think something will be easy, and it still does not work after you have prompted it a hundred times.

We are in the middle of a transition. I cannot neatly define where all of those boundaries are right now.

Ferdi Fischer

I would use a hotel-lobby or bar-fight scene. It would have acting as well as fighting, different interactions with the environment, breakage, good lighting and possibly haze. I would shoot it with Hyper-WarpCam® or with WarpCam® at 120 frames, so that we could examine different layers of the result.

I would want to see what happens to the objects and fragments in the image, how the movement translates and how well the environment holds together. We would measure the space and give the process spatial references. Then we could see how good the results actually are across that scene.

Ferdi Fischer

Yes. We have already tried provisional cardboard forms representing parts of the set. When the AI understands the outline and understands that this shape is supposed to be a table, it has something to work with, and it can work very well.

It becomes more difficult when you ask it to invent the object's position and shape while the real movement does not match that geometry. We saw that when the physical landing surface and the imagined floor or table did not line up. Then it struggled to understand the relationship.

That is why I would give a larger test a measured space, clear distances and tracking points. I want to find out how well the result works, not just whether the image can be changed at all.

Ferdi Fischer

The vision. The director's vision, the DoP's vision, the showrunner's vision. Because WarpCam® is so flexible, the first thing is to understand the style and the feeling the filmmakers want.

There is no point shooting everything at 120 frames, with incredible detail on the action and the effects, if the rest of the film has a completely different feel. There is also no point concentrating on the brutality of every hit if the film is being made for children. Those approaches would clash.

We need to understand the intended style from the beginning so that we work in the right direction. That is no problem for WarpCam®, but the vision has to be clear.

Ferdi Fischer

Say the action is that a woman throws a man to the ground. You can show that very simply and quickly, without giving it much impact. Or you can make it theatrical, make it look incredibly cool and make her look like a powerful hero.

WarpCam® can support that extremely well once we understand the vision.

Ferdi Fischer

One example is a mini-submarine chase I developed for a series and then kept for my own series. It is a concept for a sequence, and it shows how I think about the action and the audience's experience together.

Imagine small submarines with a transparent dome, with two or three people sitting inside and a view in almost every direction. At the beginning, that environment is new to the audience. I would start outside the submarines and give the chase that scale: moving through reefs, underneath boats, with bubbles and strong sound effects.

The progression takes us from above the water into the water with the submarines, and then deeper into a darker, more claustrophobic environment. We are initially experiencing that movement mainly from outside. The way we show the chase changes as it becomes more intense.

Ferdi Fischer

The more intense the chase becomes, the more I would go inside those small submarines, into the transparent dome with the characters. Eventually, we would be almost entirely inside, moving between the two sides of the pursuit in shots and reverse shots.

We would see the characters' emotional reactions. The chase is getting darker and more intense, and the audience is staying closer to the people experiencing it. We keep increasing that proximity, all the way towards a final disaster that I do not want to reveal here.

The limited space, the pressure underwater, the lack of air, panic, countdowns and lighting all become part of how the sequence grows more intense. Those elements work together with the action.

Ferdi Fischer

I want people to understand how much thought goes into bringing the audience into the sequence visually and through the sense of claustrophobia, in combination with the action.

The image becomes darker, more oppressive and more intense. The space feels more claustrophobic and the pressure increases. That escalation also has to happen in the storytelling.

The submarine idea is an example of how I would make the narrative progressively more intense through those confined surroundings, the pressure underwater, the lack of air, panic, countdowns and light. The camera's changing relationship to the characters is part of that progression.

Ferdi Fischer

First, I would bring the directors, DoPs and units onto the same page. That has to happen anyway. Everybody needs to understand how much action we want and which direction we are taking.

You would not normally make one episode with a completely different camera style and feel from all the others, because that would pull the audience out of the series. You can do it deliberately as a stylistic choice, of course. But suppose we are making a Western series with a continuous overall approach. We should first agree on that direction.

The individual units, directors and DoPs can still bring their own qualities and ideas to their work. The action should develop within the direction we have agreed together.

Ferdi Fischer

If it is an action series, I would plan individual islands of particularly high-quality action, perhaps in every episode or at selected points. I would develop recurring signature shots and styles that help carry the season.

I would use them in as many places as they work, without overusing them. Those recurring images remind the viewer that we are still within the same overall feel, while individual passages can break out into more extreme action.

We would discuss how much of that should be created by the Floating Action Unit. The amount depends on the production, the style we develop together and how prominent those signature shots should be.

Ferdi Fischer

We now have several Floating Action Units. We can therefore create those signature shots and that overall feel with WarpCam® at several units simultaneously.

It does not have to be one fixed level of involvement. It can be all WarpCam®, a minimal WarpCam® contribution or WarpCam® returning at particular moments. The amount can change fluidly according to how much the production wants, the style we have agreed and how present those images should be.

Ferdi Fischer

I have repeatedly seen directors immediately ask for more of those signature shots once they see what we can do. WarpCam® can serve certain visual qualities extremely well.

One strong example is that we can show very extreme action in such an uncomplicated way that it remains spectacular without the audience losing its orientation. That lets us bring intense action into a film and a particular overall feel where traditional camera methods would have pulled the audience out of the narrative.

Those are very individual decisions: the production, character, scene, film, showrunner and script all matter. We can adjust those nuances continuously in the first creative discussions.

Ferdi Fischer

The WarpCam® ecosystem can shoot an entire season with multiple units, multiple DoPs and multiple directors and showrunners. It can also work entirely independently on individual specialist assignments or shots the production cannot otherwise achieve.

We can develop particular signature shots that recur, or we can shoot the whole production in that approach. The working method can run throughout a season. How much we do is a decision for that particular production.