COLOUR SCIENCE GEAR.
It’s just the sort of technology that might find its way into one of the sensory extravaganzas created by Disguise, a company whose demo reel suggests that its technologies could conjure something interesting out of more or less any piece of production technology that emits light. Disguise is, therefore, pretty much a natural fit for virtual production – but also for live and broadcast events, which increasingly leverage some of the same technology, if not in entirely the same way. The company draws together a huge number of disciplines from the large and small screens, as well as concert and theatrical work. It’s one of few places which mention projected images; if it worked for Oblivion , it ought to work for other situations too. While many of Disguise’s most spectacular set-ups have brought together a variety of techniques, virtual production is no less complicated in terms of integrating camera tracking, real-time 3D rendering and vast displays. The company’s portfolio includes a recent appearance at Cannes, simulating car chases for Anka , and a commercial for Shutterstock in which actors wander a world made from history’s prettiest stock footage. In the end, both virtual production displays and lights are trying to solve the same problems, as they cross over in capability. How good the results become depends not only on the technology, but also how good it needs to be. With the complexity of modern designs visibly increasing by the month, it’ll be interesting to see just how clever all this ends up becoming, before the famously fastidious film industry decides to relax and enjoy the show.
Randall puts it, “get as close to being able to emulate the warmth and depth of tungsten as we have ever been with an LED source”. “The problem with typical RGBW arrays is that the RGB portions are all narrow-band emitters, so you end up with gaps in the spectrum – colours simply not represented. Adding in a white helps to a certain extent, but not fully – there are still huge portions of the spectrum not represented,” Randall adds. One difficulty is that many of the protocols used to measure and assess colorimetry were designed to represent the human eye, and while some cameras represent the eye reasonably well, better colour quality makes unexpected problems less likely. “Not all camera sensors are created equal,” Randall explains. “Each manufacturer has its unique sensor recipe, which is what makes DOPs select a particular camera for a job. Having full-spectrum lights means – irrespective of camera – you can capture good light.”
“Not all sensors are created equal. Full-spectrum lights means – irrespective of camera – you can capture good light”
selling lights to rental houses never gets any easier. “We focus a lot on colour, but also build quality. We’re looking at a design for a future product and the question was: should we choose an engine that’s better in this and that way, and only lasts 7000 hours, or this one that’s a compromise in a few ways, but lasts 20-30,000 hours? We went the route of choosing not to drive our LEDs too hard.” PLUGGING THE GAPS Manufacturer ETC, with a foothold in both live events and screen work, released its fos/4 and Source Four LED Series 3 just before the pandemic. The eight- primary design includes a deep red intended to, as ETC’s Declan
Contacts Brompton Technology bromptontech.com Disguise disguise.one ETC etcconnect.com Megapixel megapixelvr.com Rosco emea.rosco.com
85. SEPTEMBER 2022
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