How Pixel Artworks delivered a broadcast first with New Year’s Eve ‘hologram’

How Pixel Artworks delivered a broadcast first with New Year’s Eve ‘hologram’
Pixel Artworks delivered a broadcast first at The Mayor of London’s famous New Year’s Eve celebrations. Reece Webb explores the method behind the magic.

2024’s London fireworks saw a special guest greet visitors during the celebration, as classic literary character and movie sensation, Paddington Bear, appeared in the centre of one of London’s most famous landmarks, the London Eye.

Pixel Artworks worked with Identity, the lead creative agency, and the Greater London Authority to give remote revellers a unique projection experience, as Paddington Bear appeared ‘holographically’ in the centre of the London Eye’s wheel to bring the famous fireworks show to a close with a show stopping finish.

This unique surprise was achieved by using Hologauze, a silvered projection gauze designed for creating large-scale ‘holographic’ media using projection technology. Paddington Bear appeared live to BBC viewers through the use of a locked off television camera set up to capture the ‘holographic’ experience.

Speaking exclusively to Inavate, Simon Graham, creative technology director, Pixel Artworks, explains: “This was the first application of Hologauze to augment a live broadcast. Previously, we have applied a locked-off camera scene that outputs images, or video taken of Hologauze in front of the subject that you’re focusing on beyond it, but this was the first live broadcast application of the forced perspective illusion type of hologram that was used during the show.

“A common misconception was that the Hologauze was hung on the London Eye. This wasn’t possible as it would essentially create a sail out of the structure which could be highly dangerous in high winds. Instead, a Hologauze screen was setup in front of a broadcast camera at a specific angle to create a perspective-based illusion.”

To achieve this unique, live experience, Pixel Artworks used a combination of Hologauze, kept under tension to prevent a wobbling effect, in conjunction with two Panasonic 32K laser projectors and disguise media servers. Pixel Artworks used one Panasonic projector, with the second kept as a backup which could be un-shuttered instantaneously if the live projector failed. The Hologauze setup itself was approximately 5 m x 4 m, creating an image less than a metre wide in the centre of the London Eye.

Graham adds: “With Hologauze, you lose a lot of the light that goes through it. However we had the projectors running at quite a low light output to allow the London Eye lighting and our hologram to be visible to the camera at similar levels, but we were able to adjust the light output of the projector should we need it. This was also balanced with the camera racking to get the colour levels right for broadcast. It turned out that we only needed to run the projectors at 50%, but we could ramp up the brightness to compete with the fireworks if we needed to.”

On the night, Pixel Artworks delivered an experience that wowed audiences around the world, generating national news headlines in the UK and breaking a boundary in large-scale event projection for broadcast audiences.

Graham continues: “The overall execution was fantastic, bringing all the different components together to retain the ‘hologram’ effect. Normally, you have an audience, and they will focus on the subject beyond the hologram, so to get that with a locked-off camera in a live environment, with everything going on around it was a challenge. Getting everybody involved happy with a project like this with content that is visible and looks like a hologram was no small feat and it’s something that we’re proud of.”

Main image credit: Pixel Artworks








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