In this video, each shot of Beatwave running on the device was filmed directly, with all footage coming straight out of the camera and no composite work.

The production was filmed using a Blackmagic Cinema Camera with just natural lighting from the windows of the room.

The main issue shooting direct in this case was getting a crisp shot of the screen. Because the device was quite close to the camera there was a degree of moiré pattern introduced into the footage.

Example of moiré pattern

A moiré pattern is an unwanted visual effect caused by interactions between the pixel grids of the camera’s sensor and the device’s screen.

The effect was initially reduced by a very slight unfocusing of the camera, but as the actor’s hand subtly moves, it would tend to reappear as the device went in and out of focus. The remaining moiré needed to be removed in post with some tricky After Effects work.

Some futher post production was required to fix colour and contrast issues, but overall the camera did a pretty amazing job of capturing Beatwave running on the device directly.

Getting the shots

The biggest constraint on the production was time, so we needed the shots as quick as possible. This meant being able to give clear and concise directions to the actor on the interactions required.

To assist this goal, I created a simple video player app that would playback a piece of recorded Beatwave footage. The idea was for the actor to simply mime the interactions instead of having to do them live.

This video player app was duplicated for each shot of him using Beatwave:

The process for filming was:

The actor would load the video player app for the interaction sequence that was being shot;

The video player app would play a pre-recorded video showing the interaction sequence (The video was created using the screen capture method detailed in the next section of this post.);

The actor would hear three tones, with the third tone signifying when they needed to perform the first tap / move; and

If the actor missed a queue or tap then the video could be restarted simply by reopening.

This clip shows the original footage from the final video, and then a demo of video player app in it’s raw form.

The actor still had to learn what ‘moves’ were to be done after the tone counted him in, but he was able to do this quite quickly, which resulted in a much faster shoot than if he were using Beatwave live.

If you’re producing a video that requires interactions that are more than a simple tap or swipe, having a way for the actor to mime the interactions is highly recommended.

Video 2 — Beatwave 2.1

Screen Capture

The second Beatwave video produced highlighted the new features of version 2.1: