28th November 2025
Writer-director Edward Green set out to create his animated feature, Believing, entirely independently. With the right tools, the project is progressing from concept to screen at incredible speed.
Challenge
As a solo creator, Edward (GTshortStories) oversaw every stage of production, balancing creative ambition with the restricted time, budget, and resources.
Solution
Edward chose to produce all animation using inertial motion capture, enablingf him to play every character without multiple cameras or a rental stage.
Key takeaways
- Fuelling filmmaking: Indie filmmakers can achieve high-quality results by embracing accessible production methods to overcome budget and manpower constraints.
- Efficiency and creative freedom: Streamlined production workflows reduce manual tasks, enabling independent creators to focus more on storytelling and world-building rather than technical bottlenecks.
- Democratizing production value: The Xsens Indie Program means independent filmmakers have more affordable access to Xsens motion capture tools. They can produce work that rivals studio-level projects, narrowing the gap between passion-driven independents and large-scale productions.
Believing is Edward Green’s work-in-progress film. It follows an engineering mastermind father and a bullied son, whose biggest dream is to become a superhero. To create a rich world around the protagonists, Edward needed to stretch his filmmaking skills to their fullest potential.
Being a solo filmmaker
“There’s no team. It’s just me,” says Edward. “My wife helps behind the scenes sometimes, but ultimately, you have one person operating the entire thing. I wrote the script, and it’s financed by me. So I need to use realistic and self-sufficient production methods from concept to completion.”
From the beginning, one clear challenge stood in the way: animation. Keyframing and rotoscoping are highly time-consuming processes, especially when going it alone. Each character would be painstakingly animated, taking Edward a significant amount of time and effort to complete. So he turned to a method that enabled him to record data while acting out the parts: motion capture.
“As an indie creator, there are a lot of hats you have to wear,” he continues. “Motion capture is one of those hats. It would enable me to become every character, including extras, and record it entirely by myself. I needed to ensure it was as efficient as possible, which is why I opted for Xsens.”
Edward Green talking about his Indie journey
Ease of use
Inertial motion capture relies only on sensors within the suits and post-processing software. This empowers independent filmmakers like Edward to capture performance data virtually anywhere, without the constraints of a dedicated mocap stage or multi-camera setup.
“I needed a plug-and-play solution,” says Edward. “It was the only way I could create something of such scale. Using the Awinda suit and the Xsens Animate software meant that I could get to work straight away. I could also rely on the system to deliver high-quality data, making my job in post much simpler.”
Working solo and having restricted timelines, the motion capture data had to translate into production-ready animations in as few steps as possible. Xsens’ inertial sensors track joint rotation, acceleration, and velocity with pinpoint precision, ensuring minimal cleanup when in the editing stage.
Behind the scenes of Believing featuring Xsens motion capture technology
Competing on a Hollywood level
The resulting animation is smooth and natural, giving Believing a cinematic finish that stands alongside studio-level productions. This same technology is now available to indies pursuing similar results.
“Using Xsens for animation has enabled me to turn my dreams into reality,” Edward concludes. “Believing will be able to compete with some big names. That’s in part thanks to the writing, talented voice actors, and post-production, but it’s also down to the sheer quality of animation.”
The Xsens Indie Program offers inertial motion capture technology to those creating on a smaller budget. By sharing project work, creators are eligible for significant discounts on the suit and software, enabling them to create at a higher level than before.
Discover the Xsens Indie Program
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