disguise plays key role in Borsato shows
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To power the impressive visuals needed for this event, Michael Al-Far of MalfMedia and Jo Pauly of Visual Solutions turned to disguise servers. Six disguise vx 4 and four disguise gx 2 media servers played key roles in the production, driving the video content and facilitating real-time IMAG grading of the live feed and the integration of Notch VFX and multicam AR in the massive main screen graphics.
“As an artist and photographer Marco felt the time had come for him to be involved in every step of this exciting project, so we had creative freedom, but he had the final say. Together with set and lighting designer Carlo Zaenen we created the content book in which we outlined the look and feel of every song,” says MalfMedia founder Michael Al-Far.
“Marco Borsato was adamant that the live feed would be treated to fit better in the cinematographic content,” Michael notes. As a result, MalfMedia approached Lewis Kyle White to apply his vast experience in IMAG grading for live shows on this project.
The outdoor show posed a number of challenges: starting in daylight and transitioning to night; a canvas that was by some measures the largest screen ever used for an arena rock concert; the IMAG live feed embedded into the content and not shown on side screens; and a set list of 37 songs that all needed to have the same standard of quality.
The team partnered with Studio Regie’s Olav Verhoeven to deliver the cinematographic visuals that would meet Borsato’s mandate to create ‘more than a show’.
For the linear content, Jo Pauly and his Visual Solutions team selected six of the new disguise vx 4 servers. Jo Pauly notes that previous Marco Borsato shows had a history of “maxing out” disguise 4x4pro media servers in terms of performance. “For this show we were looking for some extra horsepower, some headroom, and more power on the Notch side with IMAG effects. We benefited from the extra performance of the vx 4s and the multitude of 3G live inputs and 4K inputs,” Jo explains. “The entire system was based on UHD outputs coming from the vx 4 system into the Barco E2 switcher. Whenever the AR images were being used, the vx 4 played out cut and fill layers into the E2 to perfectly accommodate the gx 2 footage onto the linear content.”
For the AR content lead operator Hans Cromheecke and systems integrator Maarten Francq decided to utilise disguise's gx 2 as servers that would be best suited to carry the AR and MR content.
Michael notes how he found a balance between using technology for the sake of it and using it to enhance and bring value to the show. He explains, “We’ve taken a couple of big steps towards blending techniques like 3D IMAG integration and AR into a well established workflow. Lots of systems out there will allow you to do AR, but what the brilliant team at disguise have perfectly grasped is the need for the AR elements to seamlessly integrate into the workflow. It needs to handle, feel and look like part of the content process.”
(Jim Evans)
