Petersen Automotive Museum

Camera Rig Creation

The Thrill of Motosports is a large scale immersive experimental video installation displayed on an 180 degree arced wall that measures 7 feet high and 134 feet wide.  Located in the Charles Nearburg Family Gallery this piece is a panoramic look at race day.

I was tasked with developing a camera rig that would deliver a 27k x 1k resolution panoramic to fit on the 134 ft wide wall. After researching different cameras and resolutions the 4k GoPro was the best choice.  However the standard fish eye lens would not work for the amount of resolution we needed to incorporate over such a narrow Field of View.  We modified the GoPro bodies to handle a c-mount lens.  Once we could swap out lenses for any varying focal length we started to work in 3d, building the layout of the cameras.  Utilizing 3d tests we were able to settle on the proper focal length and camera layout.

The next step was to build out multiple mock ups out of wood using the 3d layout as the blueprints.  Once we confirmed the proper layout we commissioned an aluminum rig to be built.