Satore Tech, the new venture from multi-disciplinary creative studio Satore Studio, have revealed that they have completed their first virtual reality (VR) project. This project saw the team stitching together footage for the Philharmonia Orchestra‘s Mahler 3: Live from London film. This VR experience was debuted at the Royal Festival Hall last week alongside the opening two concerts of the Philharmonia’s new season and marks the start of more work for the team.
This 360-degree film was captured in 4K by Google using its latest Jump Odyssy VR camera, that players used at the heart of the Orchestra during the final ten minutes of Mahler’s epic Third Symphony, which was filmed in October 2017. The stitching project was completed by creative technologist, SFX and VR expert, Sergio Ochoa, who leads Satore Tech. The post-production suite SGO Mistika technology was used to completed the project which is employed by Hollywood studios for numerous blockbuster film franchises, which Ochoa helped to develop during his time in that company.
“We’ve been working with VR since 2015, it’s a fantastic technology to connect new audiences with the Orchestra in an entirely new way. VR allows you to sit at the heart of the Orchestra, and our VR experiences can transform audiences’ preconceptions of orchestral performance – whether they’re new to Classical music or
are a die-hard fan.” Explains Luke Ritchie, Head of Innovation & Partnerships at the Philharmonia Orchestra.
“We decided to continue our tradition of staging the VR experience alongside the first concerts in our new season. Obviously it’s really important we get it right, so we work with some of the biggest names in the technology space, this year including Google, NASA and Satore Tech.” Ritchie continues to explain.
The project was a technically demanding one for Satore Tech, as the concert was filmed live in full 360-degrees, with no retakes. This meant that Ochoa was working with four to five different depth layers at any one time and was having to ensure everything lined up correctly across the whole length of the experience. The amount of fast movement in the footage also meant that the resolution of the footage needed to be up-scaled from 4K to 8K to ensue it was suitable for VR.
“The guiding principle for Satore Tech is we aspire to constantly push the boundaries, both in terms of what we
produce and the technologies we develop to achieve that vision. It was challenging given the issues that arise with any live recording, but the ambition and complexity is what makes it such a very suitable initial project for us. It certainly paid off, we’re proud of what we’ve achieved and this film shows what can happen when tradition is married with ground-breaking technology.” Comments Sergio Ochoa.
Satore Tech are currently already hard at work on their next project with development currently happening in Mexico, using experimental volumetric capture techniques with some of the world’s most famous dancers. The project is planned to release early next year. VRFocus will be sure to bring you more on this project and the work of Satore Tech in the future, so stay tuned for more.
