Cutting-edge virtual reality technology is set to be used at a concert at the Taipei Arena today to honor the 20th anniversary of the death of famed singer Teresa Teng (鄧麗君). Teng died following an asthma attack aged 42 in May 1995 while on vacation in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
The Teresa Teng Foundation has collaborated with California-based Digital Domain 3.0 to hold the concert, which is set to feature a hologram of the singer.
Wearers of virtual reality headsets provided by the company will be able to see a stage, the audience on the back row if they look behind them and even the audience on either side, Digital Domain chief executive officer Daniel Seah (謝安) said, adding that the 3D images make viewers feel as if they are attending a live event.
Screen grab from Digital Domain Holdings Ltd’s Facebook account
Seah said that future developments in 3D technology would allow people to enjoy such concerts from their own homes, adding that the idea to make a virtual rendition of Teng came from watching the movie Tron: Legacy.
The movie, filmed using advanced 3D cameras, features then-61-year-old actor Jeff Bridges playing two characters, one a computer avatar that bears an image of his face altered to appear 35, which is grafted onto the body of a younger actor using special effects.
Using motion-capture technology, the company has managed to recreate a concert featuring late rap artist Tupac Shakur and a previous concert featuring Teng, Seah said.
A recording of the concert featuring a 3D hologram of Shakur at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California in 2012 received more than 6 million views on YouTube in one day, Seah said, while a representation of Teng featured on-stage with Mando-pop king Jay Chou (周杰倫) in 2013.
Digital Domain 3.0 was the company behind the computer imagery that transformed Brad Pitt in The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button filmed in 2008.
Pitt, ostensibly playing the lead role, actually performed for less than 20 percent of the time his character was on screen, Seah said, adding that the movie won Academy Awards for Best Achievement in Art Direction, Best Achievement in Makeup and Best Achievement in Visual Effects.
“Do you know why films about world destruction tend to be shot around the White House and New York? It’s because we’ve done [the virtual simulations] for both cities and they are ready to be implemented. It saves on production costs,” Seah said, adding that it was the reason the movies 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow had some similar scenes.
Seah said the company has video clips featuring volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, earthquakes and simulations of dinosaurs that are easy for them to turn into virtual reality backdrops.
Using the movie Jurassic World as an example, Seah said that an audience wearing the virtual headsets would see themselves sitting in cars used by the characters in the film and see dinosaurs running past them if they opened the car door.
Audiences watching a Los Angeles Lakers game, filmed by a camera in the VIP seats, would experience the game as if they were in those seats and could see Kobe Bryant or Jeremy Lin (林書豪) up close, Seah said.
Such an effect is achieved by the company’s understanding of “360° environmental direct playback technology,” Seah said, adding that such technology has not been mastered by competitors such as Google or Facebook.
Digital Domain 3.0 is working on signing more authorization deals from companies or family members of deceased celebrities, Seah said, adding that such technology could eventually be used to watch auroras in Iceland, exhibits in museums, or to attend a class at National Taiwan University by day and a seminar at Cambridge University by night, Seah said.
When the audience is exposed to virtual reality that gives them a 360° perspective, they might become more observant, Seah said, adding that the technology puts a new spin on the saying “seeing is believing.”
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