Animatrik’s Horse Motion Capture

The client

Animatrik is a world-leading provider of performance capture and virtual cinematography services, home to the largest independent motion capture stage in North America. Their expert team of technicians and visual effects artists deliver true-to-life motion data across TV, film, video games, VR and beyond.

Look behind the curtain of most VFX-heavy Hollywood hits and you’ll find Animatrik’s name in the credits; including Deadpool 2, Avengers: Infinity War, Ready Player One, Star Wars;The Last Jedi and The Academy-recognised installation Carne y Arena.

The brief

Achieving true-to-life motion for a horse no small feat, but Animatrik was approached to deliver just that for a much-anticipated video game release still under NDA. The team was brought in to gather raw size, rotation information and decide on an artistic level how to add each creature into the game engine. With no horsing around.

One stable, four horses and 44 drill-mounted cameras later, Animatrik had gathered some truly breathtaking behind the scenes material – at least 200 shots of choreographed trotting, galloping, jumping and falling.

Grammatik’s task was to bundle those behind-the-scenes shots into a comprehensive press pack in line with NDA, then pitch the work and story to a wide variety of technology, creative and mainstream contacts.

The strategy

Online coverage

We targeted high-value outlets that would act as catalysts for wider pick-up. VICE, VentureBeat, 80 Level, Cinefex and many more wrote stories which were adapted into far-reaching visibility across various online magazines.

Social strategy

We planned and launched a social media campaign using carefully considered tags to attract attention from vfx outlets, project partners and technology developers. The campaign achieved a combined social reach of over 2,700,000 across Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Content creation

Working with the video game developer, we balanced NDA for a much-anticipated video game with juicy production details, redrafting copy to avoid any hints as to the game title. Yet, we were still able to construct a high-profile pony show through fun facts and vibrant copywriting.

Video editing

After receiving interest in a video feature from the BBC, we got to work editing behind the scenes clips into a fun, sneak peek short film – careful to avoid any shots of high profile staff that might hint at the game title.