The Future of Extended Reality. Shot on MARS.

Europe’s new state-of-the-art Mixed Augmented Reality Studio offers a ‘technology canvas’ for the filmmakers, entertainers, content designers and event organisers of tomorrow

MARS Studios, Europe’s most ambitious purpose-built Mixed Augmented Reality Studio, opens its doors to the global creative industries this month. On MARS, virtual 3D environments are mapped onto an LED stage, enabling performers, actors, presenters and products to be blended into a photo-real or imaginary virtual environment in real time.

Created by visual pioneers Bild Studios, MARS combines state-of-the-art video game engines, camera-tracking technology, xR workflows powered by disguise and LED screens to create a versatile and immersive performance stage and studio. The benefits of the natural lighting provided by the LED and the director’s ability to update any scene on the fly in real-time also help to give performers a visual reference and the means to easily orient themselves, in contrast to a traditional green screen, where visual elements are added in post-production.

MARS is the perfect environment to offer filmmakers, broadcasters, event and brand experience designers, games developers and others unparalleled access to the highest quality, state-of-the-art Extended Reality (xR), Mixed Reality (MR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Production studio facilities. A unique fusion of art and cutting-edge technologies, MARS provides a ‘technology canvas’ that revolutionises the way the creative industries can develop their craft.

To provide a taster of the kind of immersive art events of the future that will be shot on MARS, British art historian, BBC presenter and BAFTA nominated broadcaster, Dr James Fox worked closely with the creative team at The Experience Machine and the technical and production teams at Bild Studios. The piece, named “Masterpiece: Nighthawks” places James Fox within Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks, his famous 1942 oil on canvas painting that portrays four people in a downtown diner late at night as viewed through the diner’s window. In Masterpiece the 3D representation of Hopper’s painting was created as carefully extracted 3D geometry with detailed layers of texturing added; partly handmade, partly AI-generated, that would resemble the brush strokes and fine crafting of Edward Hopper’s unique painting style. Finally, the 3D scene was imported into the game engine Unreal Engine and rendered in real-time based on the position of the physical film camera on the MARS stage.

Commenting on “Masterpiece”, Christopher Pearson, founder and director of The Experience Machine (TEM) says: “Access to high-end xR platforms such as MARS alongside advances in game engine software has opened the opportunity to craft narrative journeys from an entirely new perspective; the inside of an artwork. Considering the painted canvas as an environment that a viewer can walk into has never been more possible. Working closely with Dr James Fox we have been able to reimagine how a painting could exist as a 3-dimensional world. This process has allowed the technology to reveal insights into the painting that have never been considered before.

“Our working practice focuses on the conception and creation of genuine digital and physical experiences. We approach this by merging real world phenomena with their digital counterparts, while engaging the participant within an immersive narrative journey. MARS supports this approach with the integration of real-world effects within the virtual world of Masterpiece, combining virtual and physical camera depth of field, dynamic environmental lighting and live properties controlled by the director via a mobile tablet. This unique stage allows us a more tactile connection with the scene and has given us a new perspective on directing within a virtual set.”

MARS is the creation of renowned media technologists Bild Studios. Bild Studios co-founder, David Bajt explains: “Over the last two decades, the Bild team has collectively worked on live experiences and high end productions for some of the world’s leading artists and brands, including Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Cirque du Soleil, Dubai Expo 2020, Ralph Lauren, Ferrari, Volvo, Samsung, BMW, Ed Sheeran, Nokia, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and many more. Since then we have been working hard behind the scenes to develop the world’s leading xR production technologies and know-how, working with globally renowned musicians, entertainers and presenters to break beyond the physical dimensions of the traditional film location, event venue or broadcast studio, through realising the full potential of xR”.

Furthermore, the technology on MARS is ideally suited to the COVID-19 era. Visual content can be produced without the need to travel to exotic locations and our work can be carried out while maintaining the social distancing practices that have become so important in recent months, not to mention the environmental benefits of dramatically reducing the need for power which large-scale onsite productions always consume.

Creativity has a new home. On MARS.
www.marsstudios.one

ENDS

Press contacts:
Charlotte Kelly or Christian Stevens, Spreckley / T: 0207 388 9988 / E: mars@spreckley.co.uk
Website: www.marsstudios.one
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marsstudios.social
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MARSstudios.social
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/marsstudios

Media Assets
MARS – Behind The Scenes, 1 minute teaser cut: please see link
MARS – Behind The Scenes, 3 min version: please see link
MARS – Behind The Scenes, 7 min version: please see link
Masterpiece: Nighthawks, Behind The Scenes please see link
Ellie Goulding Live xR case study: please see link
Rina Sawayama Music Video case study (coming soon)
Selected Photos: please see link
MARS Logos: please see link

Notes for Editors
MARS – Mixed Augmented Reality Studios, is the creation of renowned media technologists and visual pioneers Bild Studios and is the new leading xR and Virtual Production Studio based in London.

MARS fuses the latest real-time graphics technologies from the likes of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine and Notch with advanced camera-tracking technology from Mo-Sys Engineering, xR workflows powered by disguise, the most advanced LED screen technology supplied by Creative Technology UK and cinematic camera equipment from Focus 24.

Utilising video game engines, camera-tracking technology, state-of-the-art media servers and LED screens, at MARS we create virtual 3D environments and map them onto our large LED stage, allowing us to blend performers, presenters, actors and products inside photo-realistic or imaginative virtual worlds.

All processes are in real-time and captured live in camera for record or broadcast.

Technological Advantages
The advanced technology at MARS Studios allows film productions to capture scenes and environments in the studio instead of travelling to remote locations or building expensive sets. We can create scenes and ‘out of this world’ environments on MARS that are impossible to travel to and impossible to create as a traditional set.

This is both a major benefit for the environment and for production budgets as well as enabling film & events production to continue to produce amazing content despite the current c19 pandemic where travel and working conditions are extremely limited.

The xR technology at MARS also enables AR (Augmented Reality) graphics to seamlessly blend into the overall scene in camera and on stage. xR ‘set extension’ also enables our virtual worlds to extend into infinity beyond the physical dimensions of the studio. Powered by xR, MARS Studios is therefore also the perfect studio for music performances, broadcast shows and corporate events.

Video Game Technology meets Film Production
In contrast to a green-screen production where virtual backgrounds are composed during a long period of post-production, the 3D environments on MARS are created in advance of the shoot, then live-rendered from the camera perspective and mapped onto LED screens – all captured directly on camera.

In fact, at MARS, where our environments are created in a real-time video game engine, directors can update and change the virtual background environments on the fly, such as updating the time of the day or the weather conditions in a scene. This can even be updated directly by the director from a tablet while filming.

In addition, with the use of LED screens wrapping around the set, realistic lighting from the environment itself is provided automatically from the mapped content, allowing skin tones and reflections to appear natural when filmed in the virtual environments.

The talent on stage is also being given a visual reference to the environment and can easily orient themselves – something which is incredibly difficult in a green-screen environment.

About
MARS is the creation of renowned media technologists and visual pioneers Bild Studios, delivered in partnership with LED supplier Creative Technology UK and camera supplier Focus24.

Bild Studios: www.bildstudios.com
Creative Technology UK: www.ct-group.com/uk
Focus24: www.focus24.tv

Source: RealWire