Mondo Knows Facts

Motion control rigs repeat a move exactly

A computer records the camera path so separate passes line up frame for frame Industrial Light and Magic built motion control rigs for Star Wars in 1977 so a miniature could be filmed several times with identical camera moves. The takes were combined into one shot. The same technique lets one actor play twins in a single frame. It sits in Mondo's movies & tv collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Tags: effects, cameras, miniatures

Motion control rigs repeat a move exactly: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
A computer records the camera path so separate passes line up frame for frame. The figure is taken from Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a movies & tv fact?
Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.