Samsung Korea, Photos and Video
YouTube Video, in 6 parts. Intro, White, Yellow, Pink, Green and Wrap-up.
Some photos of the setup.
Samsung Corby Launch, Seoul
Basic Monkey's first venture outside of Europe has just come to an end, a very exciting 11 days in Seoul, Korea leading to a very successful event.
Following on from the Milan Fashion Week Launch, Jack Morton Worldwide were asked to travel to Seoul with the same team that created the holographic experience in Milan. Lighting, sound, set, staging and side screen video would be provided locally by Yonhanaro. XL Video provided the 16 Barco FLM HD 18 projectors, 2x Catalyst systems and processing, also bringing in James from Basic Monkey and Nev Bull of Pixels Plus to program and run the show. Basic Monkey provided a Jands Vista S3 lighting console, a high-spec Catalyst media server with suite of video software and network gear for content distribution.
Learning from the challenges encountered at Milan, James was involved from an early stage to design the pixel specification and consult with the rest of the team regarding Catalyst capabilities and methods. JMW also decided to help on three fronts to reduce workload and the chance of issues from Milan reoccurring: 1) Bring in a second Catalyst operator, Nev Bull 2) Supply a software producer (and body guard), Sharon Stansfield and 3) Ship the team out well in advance of the event and program offsite at the offices of D'strict (the graphics and content team).
The team worked really well. James would, as before, program and operate the show, with Nev acting as Catalyst technician, handling hardware issues and setting up the complex video input system. Sharon acted as intermediary between the team at D'strict and James and Nev, this meant that any content alterations wouldn't impact too much on programming and ensured a common schedule to work to. James was also responsible for processing the video files provided by D'strict and provided 'pixel crunching' and technical support to the local video team in charge of the side screen content.
For those that don't know, the holograms are created by projecting images onto the floor which then reflected using a very high-tech plastic stretched at 45 degrees along each side of the catwalk. This is provided my Musion, based in the UK and rigged by Steve from Nippy Industries. The technology is amazing and is best appreciated in person, please check out the YouTube videos.
All this technology is nothing without the amazing videos created by D'strict, along with their incredible 'Gesture' system that tracks the presenter's hand movements and also 'Vision Blob' which tracks dancers' movements along the catwalk and maps graphics which appear above or infront of them.
The team on the ground was as follows:
Rob Oliver - Senior Production Manager (JMW)
Jeavon Smith - Producer (JMW)
Tim Riley - Video HOD (XL)
Warren Galt - Projectionist (XL)
Sharon Stansfield - Software Producer
Nev Bull - Catalyst Technician (PP)
James Cooksey - Catalyst Operator (BM)
Samsung Corby launch in Milan with XL Video
This week James was in Milan to operate Catalyst for Samsung's new touch screen phone's European launch.
The phone, named "Corby" in Europe and "Genio Touch" in the UK is being pitched with the line "What colour is your life?". Jack Morton Worldwide produced the show with XL Video providing projection, Barco Encore, Catalyst and crew.
Catalyst was used to drive two independent four projector edge blends either side of the catwalk. These were projected from above onto the floor to show on the Musion screen flanking the catwalk. Musion gives the impression of a hologram on stage using the Pepper's Ghost principal. Four Catalyst machines were used to drive a pair of projectors each, with a fifth as backup and audio machine. These were controlled using Basic Monkey's Jands Vista S3 which James finds to be the best console to trigger Catalyst from, allowing quick alterations using the unique timeline editing.
The screens were used to play four intro videos, each demonstrating a different colour through virtual characters interacting with real dancers. Added to this was 'Vision Blob' where a calibrated camera was used to track a dancer's position on stage and use this information to let the dancers interact with balloons or produce a glow around them.
In the main show, Catalyst was used to play a series of video intros for each section which then became backgrounds for the presentation. Clips highlighting each section, including animated text and phone graphics were cued in line with the script. These Catalyst clips were intermixed with live 'Gesture' content.
For product demonstrations, the presenters were able to interact with the content using the 'Gesture' system designed and implemented by D'strict. Using infra-red sensors in the stage, the presenters could use hand movements to trigger and manipulate the phone images in front of them. This 'Gesture' interaction was generated from four computers, each fed into a DVI matrix, converted to HDSDI and then split into the Catalyst machines. James mixed the video cues and backgrounds with the 'Gesture' content live to allow for changes in show pace.
Due to the late sign off of the content, James only had access to the converted and sized video files the day before show. This meant rapid programming during the rehearsals and a rather late finish! Completion of programming in time is testament to the flexibility of the Catalyst and Jands Vista combination.
The vastly complex signal path was designed by Jonathan Bond of Vision Mill and implemented/adapted by James to meet the ever changing requirements of D'strict.
It was a pleasure to work on the event, despite the highly demanding show, content and time constraints. The show was well received by the press, prompting a standing ovation and an invitation from Samsung to repeat the show in Korea in November. Rob and the team from Jack Morton Worldwide have asked James to run Catalyst again in Korea.
For the technical among you:
5x Mac Pro G2, 3.0 GHz 4 dual 4 core