MOTIONAL EXPERIENCE

PHIL STILGOE and JOE ELLS of Centroid UK on the art of motion capture

- Luke Kemp

Centroid is a giant of the motion capture world, having worked on multiple blockbuster movies, streaming shows and globally successful games. Despite being CEO, Phil Stilgoe's route into that world wasn't quite what you might expect; once upon a time, he was working as a chef on cruise liners.

"I was interested in photography," explains Stilgoe, "so I understood cameras. We started as a family business many years ago, and it was just a bit of a passion project to begin with. And we went from strength to strength". Joe Ells meanwhile, the company's post production manager, started in the game industry, working on Guitar Hero-which was making use of Centroid's services at the time.

When it comes to games, the fundamental requirements for a motion capture job can vary from project to project. "Some games will require full performance capture," says Stilgoe, "and we're recording the audio, the body movements, everything. Then some games we'll have the audio tracks pre-recorded, and the actors perform to them."