LOS ANGELES – The team behind XiteLabs, renowned content creator Greg Russell and iconic visual artist Vello Virkhaus (formerly of V Squared Labs, transformed the iconic Hollywood Bowl. In celebration of the L.A. Phil’s 100th anniversary, they created projection mapping responsive to the music in real time using digital programs such as Notch and Touch Designer using more than 17,420,000 pixels.
More details from XiteLabs (https://xitelabs.com):
For the past two months, XiteLabs and its team of 12 computer animators, programmers, and digital artists have been working to create more than 16 digital looks to accompany performers such as Katy Perry, Herbie Hancock, Gustavo Dudamel and Kali Uchis and others. More than half the show ran in real time allowing the team to improvise just as the performers on stage did.
Russell and Virkhaus have a well-earned reputation for excellence in the industry, with more than two decades of experience working on cutting-edge events and performances.
Challenges on site
- Not having an actual rehearsal even once with projection and the LA Phil and guests. In essence, the show was a rehearsal, so pulling it off with a successful result is pretty amazing, not to mention stressful on the team
- Working around the physical constraints of the stage, players, etc., when trying to position our interactive camera system.
- Running fiber cable all the way to the top of the Hollywood Bowl – 800 feet in that direction and another 300 feet of fiber onto the stage to get the Kinect camera system to work.
- Having only about 1.5 hours to ‘warp’ and ‘map’ our visuals onto the Bowl. What would normally be given half a day or so we had to do in 90 minutes. This is the process of aligning our visuals to properly hit the surfaces of the Bowl geometry. A mesh is put up and then points get pulled around to make the mesh fit properly onto the bowl. (Images of these are attached). Once that mesh looks good then you know the images we project will line up properly.
The future of live projection mapping, Greg Russell
“We are integrating more real-time response, interactivity and general integration with live performers than other creators in our space. At this event, as in others, performers are part of the live mapping, blending in pre-produced elements to produce a more refined look and feel, so that it’s not just loose and live, but tight and live.”
Photo Credit: Suzanne Teresa, photographed at the Hollywood Bowl, courtesy of the LA Phil
