The Sony brand encapsulates entertainment. Not only do they make movies, music and games, they create also hardware and devices, using forward-thinking technology. To showcase this, Sony explored what the ultimate movie watching experience could be. By combining new technology and some classic props and production techniques they created a unique experience.
The target audience was anyone interested in films and entertainment and those who view content online. With movies as the starting point Sony pushed the brand outside of the traditional channels. Three high impact promos were created using 'immersive imaging' which were inspired by well known movies. This technique uses 3D projection mapping as its starting point and combines it with traditional special effects, giving the viewer a supercharged experience.
Each film was carefully choreographed and timed to the animation sequence so that the films could be captured all in one take, with no cuts, no post production and all in real time. The project combined real life props, pyrotechnics and ninja puppeteers in order to blur the boundaries between the virtual and real.
The living room set wascovered with projectors, so that they could project on all surfaces. There were also various rigged props in the set with pyrotechnics, triggers, and booby traps, all synchronised to the projected effects. For example, a projected deformation in the table could knock over a real glass of water which in turn spills projected water, blurring the boundaries of virtual vs. physical.
It was filmed with a moving camera, a steadicam, to enhance the effect of spatial deformation and false perspective on the projections. To be able to alter the false perspective Sony created all of the content so that it runs and renders in real time. They did this by developing their own software using a combination of proprietary in-house software, open-source software, and the Unity game engine. To track the camera they used Playstation Move Controllers strapped onto the steadicam, multiple Playstation EyeToy cameras scattered around the set tracked the cameraman and custom software adjusted the projections in real time accordingly. The brand also needed to track the hero of the film so they could adjust the projections, this was done using custom software developed in the open-source toolkit open Frameworks and opencv.
Results
The project was uploaded to YouTube and across the three virals and ‘making of’ has gained over 3.5 million hits.
A bespoke landing page was created for Great Films Fill Rooms http://www.greatfilmsfillrooms.com which houses the three films and a 'Making of' and drives awareness of the Video Store service. Awareness rose both in the UK and internationally, with 75% of visits to the site coming from international users.
A subsequent series of virals commissioned for 2012.