Sony and Verizon have imagined a VR concert with a hyper realistic avatar.
Crédits photos : Sony
No need to be in the same room to collaborate together anymore. Remote collaboration has a bright future. The health crisis has of course accelerated its development. Today, its goes beyond the work environment that we all know. Remote collaboration embraces all business sectors, including the artistic field.
Imagine two artists collaborating at distance
Is it possible to create a work or a performance with several people at a distance? Sony is proving it with its campaign “Boundless by Sony“. Launched during the CES 2021 in Las Vegas, the goal of this campaign is to highlight the particular relationship between Sony and its creators and how they work together to bring together technology and entertainment.
Among the creators of this said campaign, there is Madison Beer, an American pop singer. Supported by Sony Music Entertainment and Verizon, Madison Beer wants to offer her fans a virtual reality concert. The three entities then created together a fully immersive musical experience. “Technology should be used to create a really postive, creative and fun experience for people. I’ve been relying on technology a lot more in regards of connecting with my fans“, Madison Beer explains.
Directing a hyper realistic concert in virtual reality
As part of the “Boundless by Sony” campaign, we learn more about the use of virtual reality in the creation of this project. Technology is not only the distribution medium, but also an artistic collaboration tool. VR enabled to connect Madison with the director of the immersive concert. How was the process done?
The director wears a virtual reality headset that allows him to follow Madison Beer. The singer is equipped with a motion capture suit that allows her to be transcribed into a virtual universe. Madison’s ultra-realistic avatar is displayed in the VR headset in front of the director’s eyes, who has never met her in real life. “It gave me incredible insight about how she performs because I was able to teleport instantly to any part of the musical to be able to watch her performance“, said Remington Scott.
To transcribe her into the virtual universe, the singer Madison Beer had to be scanned several thousand times. All the angles of her face and all the movements of her body were scanned. This allowed the construction of an immersive experience that was as close as possible to a real concert, with a disturbing realistic avatar. With this new project, Sony defies the laws of the virtual and crosses the boundaries of the real in order to offer a new kind of entertainment.
This project allows us to glimpse the possibilities of virtual reality for collaboration between artistic creators. No need to be in the same room, the same studio, the same film set to work on the same project. Remote collaboration is now free from our offices and daily uses. Virtual reality could give rise to prestigious artistic collaborations, even in these times of pandemic. A way to continue the production of music and performances, even thousands of miles away from its producer, its collaborator, its fans.
