Visual Engineering: G6 Motion Control makes the impossible a reality Meet the leader of the next revolution in filmmaking Rammy Anwar of G6 Motion Control makes the impossible a reality every time he steps on set.
Manchester, UK – 19th October 2021
IN THE WORLD of filmmaking, innovation is everything. In just a couple of years, Rammy Anwar has built G6 Motion Control to become one of the most disruptive companies in the industry. He has recently been shortlisted as Tech Entrepreneur of the Year in the Prolific North Tech Awards and Digital, Media or Creative Professional of the Year in the Manchester Young Talent Awards. G6 MoCo was inspired by trying to create shots that seemed impossible. With a background in engineering and computer games design, Anwar fell in love with filmmaking and put his skills into developing his own cinema robot to achieve these shots. He describes himself as a Visual Engineer – a filmmaker with an engineering mindset.
“I’m in the business of making dreams a reality. Visual engineering and it’s endless possibilities”,
Anwar explains.
“Often we are approached by a director with a vision but they don’t know how to execute a particular shot or if it’s even possible. Our role is to collaborate with them on the creative concept and bring lots of ideas to the table of what’s possible with our specialist tools. We understand the full scope of possibilities, capabilities and limits of our tools and can custom make all kinds of solutions, pneumatics and props. Our creative team works as a translator between the technical and the Director. We want to make sure they feel at ease working with us and new technologies so it’s not overwhelming. Even when we’re hired for rental jobs, we bring a lot of creative input – the possibilities are endless!”
Since Anwar built his first cinema robot in 2019, G6MoCo now offers robots of various sizes as well as custom built linear tracks. The company’s offices and studio are based in Manchester at The Sharp Project but the team frequently travel across the country and abroad for shoots. G6 MoCo has worked with Paramount Pictures, number 1 music videos for Little Mix and Russ Millions, as well as commercials for Oreo, Audible x Idris Elba, Wagamama, JD Sports and Man City. “Being trusted by these big productions is incredible.” Anwar continues, “They recognise that we’re working so far outside the box, and that’s really what we pride ourselves on.”
Beyond high-speed motion control, Anwar has expanded the company into other exciting avenues. “We’ve found other natural areas of expertise, like vehicle tracking. Our fully equipped chase car is one of the only ones available here in the north of England.” “We’ve been using our advanced robotic arms for virtual production and found that we can use much smaller LED volumes, making it a viable option for smaller-budget shoots. Normally there’s a 7-12 frame delay with this technology when the camera moves within the Unreal Games environment on the video wall. With our robots we’ve managed to reverse the delay in our motion control programming path so we now have a 0-frame delay, meaning we have more freedom with virtual production shoots which is a game changer!”
“Thirdly, we’ve just invested in one of the best Steadicam rigs available on the market, so we can deliver the less advanced, but equally essential, shots that way.” It’s no surprise that G6MoCo’s unique offerings are being snapped up within the industry but that doesn’t mean Anwar is any less in awe of it. “Half the lifetime of our company has seen lockdowns and industry setbacks. It’s overwhelming that we’ve been able to thrive against those odds.”
“This line of work has never been about going after big budgets and clients – it’s chasing the original creative that excites me. I’ve always enjoyed discovering new ways to use tools, just because I can,”
Anwar laughs. “You have to have fun with these things!”
“I suppose I’d put it down to our passion for innovation. A huge part of what we do is R&D. We like to work towards results that are completely unique and, in many cases, total one-offs.”
“We’re lucky that most of our work comes from direct enquiries. What we do is so unique, it’s spread like wildfire and has been picked up by word of mouth from other production companies. Our Instagram account has also gained a lot of traction, people love seeing behind the scenes of how we made our shots.”
Anwar’s vision is to become the world leader in visual engineering and emerging tech within film. “I want to keep expanding our solutions beyond the cinebots and virtual productions to other innovative uses with the technology.” he continues, “I’ve recently started working on Hollywood productions which is beyond my wildest dreams.”
“I want to bring the best-in-class filmmaking here to the north”, Anwar concludes. “We’re at the cutting edge of the next revolution in filmmaking. I’m just scratching the surface of what is possible within this space.”