Wally 2 Axes was conceived to assist a client who needed to mount a tracking system along the balcony wall of a theater without disturbing the sight line for the audience on the second floor. Their additional requirement was not to see a traveling camera or loops of cable running during the performance.
With Innovision’s input, Movie Engineering designed a motor control and camera platform that would run on a dual track mounted horizontally that could be hung on a wall, without disturbing the sight lines of the audience. Instead of cables on trolleys hanging on loops behind the Wally, the cable is hidden in a cable channel tray, hiding cables from sight as it travels back and forth along the track. The Wally 2 Axes allows a box camera and standard broadcast lens combination of up to 12 pounds to move along a path the shape of the wall or around a bend.
The operator can sit at a monitor located as far as half a mile from the installation. Connection is made via phone-line type data cable, and control is achieved by console and foot pedal through a PC running a software program specially designed for Wally 2 Axes.
This new system is installed in the newly designed Moody Theater in Austin, Texas for the PBS series Austin City Limits.
