Immersive Sport
Summary of Creative Intent
Our goal for sports coverage is not to cover the moment-by-moment unfolding of a game through events on the field (or court). Rather, our intent is to give the viewer the composite experience of attending the game. Some moments are shot from the best seat in the house, others are from general admission areas, and many are from perspectives that would be impossible for the average attendee. This includes shots on the sideline, on the court, from the press box, and more. The viewer's attention might shift from in-game events, to the spectacle of player introductions, to the band and cheerleaders, then back to the game. This captures the lived, in-person experience of a passionate crowd's energy better than any broadcast.
Tech
Shot on the Black Magic Ursa Cine Immersive for Apple Vision Pro
Edited and compressed in Davinci Resolve
Audio capture via multiple ambisonics and mono microphones
Audio mixed in Pro Tools and delivered in Apple Spatial Audio format (ASAF)
Quality control on Apple Vision Pro
Blackmagic Ursa Cine Immersive on the Gridiron
Technique and Production Notes
Video
One aim was to experiment with the different lighting setups present in a modern stadium environment from fully-lit nighttime gameplay to the darkness inside the tunnel as players run out.
Video post production for this specific camera and headset combination is a bit complex at the moment. The Apple Vision Pro has unprecedented visual fidelity, and to neglect the full potential of both the camera and the headset risks making the product look similar to other VR180 formats. With proper color management for the custom HDR space, custom compression settings, noise reduction, and color correction, the results far outshine even the best VR180 assets to such a degree, it seems like a completely different presentation format.
We experimented with several different compression methods including a full pro res bundle export to Apple’s proprietary compressor application, but at the moment it does not offer compression rates necessary to obtain anywhere near the quality we desire, and is not in fact the compression that Apple is using for their first party content. The downside of going the route we are using is that it takes a lot of render time, and it also unfortunately means that if there is any single problem with video OR audio, a complete overnight re-render is necessary.
Audio
These productions served as a test case for combining simultaneous ambisonics audio from multiple perspectives. One ambisonics setup traveled with the camera to capture the viewer's perspective, and one was planted in the crowd to capture a high energy environment regardless of the camera's placement.
We also experimented with using a parabolic dish to capture a narrow focus from the viewer’s perspective. This primarily serves as center fill to add a more familiar cinematic aspect to the immersive mix.
Timecode was run to four total destinations: the two ambisonics rigs, the parabolic dish rig, and the camera.
In the mix, the two ambisonics perspectives required careful rotation for spatial alignment, and additional time alignment. Even though accurate timecode was fed to each device, the distance between the two setups could potentially be hundreds of meters so the speed of sound becomes a concern on the scale of human perception (more than typical phase relationships between mics).
The mix was done in Dolby Atmos 9.1.6 and then encoded into 5th Order Ambisonics for use as a bed in ASAF. This preserved high definition head-tracking, while maintaining the highest possible sound quality that comes with a studio mix.
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Video files are provided for demonstration purposes only and are the intellectual property of Blackguard Immersive, The University of Central Florida, UCF Athletics, and Full Sail University. Unauthorized distribution is forbidden.