New concert technology

[samhexum]

ABBA's virtual concert has opened and is getting raves for its realism. It sounds interesting and fun.  Who would've thought Industrial Light & Magic could pull off something like this?

https://www.companyofmen.org/topic/89515-a-pleasant-surprise-35-years-later/?do=findComment&comment=2007132

Edited May 28, 2022 by samhexum
just for the hell of it

[keefer]

Saw it in London tonight - absolutely brilliant.

There were a few scenes where you thought "... that avatar has had a lot of botox...", but 95% of the show was brilliant - amazing technology and almost seamless integration with live band and audience...    I suspect people are already working on bringing Beatles and other bands back to life to tour again with this technology.

 

[samhexum]

On 6/13/2022 at 6:06 PM, keefer said:

There were a few scenes where you thought "... that avatar has had a lot of botox..."

Or it's the ultimate realism. Maybe the ABBAtars (you got the terminology wrong) reflect real life.

On 6/13/2022 at 6:06 PM, keefer said:

I suspect people are already working on bringing Beatles and other bands back to life to tour again with this technology.

You need acts with every member still living, so you can capture their movements and record some dialogue.  I actually think it could be even better with an act that still performs.  As well as the ABBA show was done, they still used the original vocal recordings, so it's not like seeing a 'new' concert.

However, if (for example) The Rolling Stones actually sang songs over & over for the weeks it would take to make all the recordings and measurements necessary, they could market it as "We're too old to travel around the world anymore, so we did a special farewell concert for all our fans and all the people who never got a chance to see us."

Then again, I'm the only person in America who actually saw them in concert (Radio City Music Hall, 1979), so maybe that's affecting my opinion.

Edited June 19, 2022 by samhexum
just for the hell of it

[keefer]

On 6/19/2022 at 5:36 PM, samhexum said:

Maybe the ABBAtars (you got the terminology wrong) reflect real life.

<laughs> I think I was the only one at the concert who hadn't drank the cool-aide...  so if that's real life I need to start to panic... 

I agree the dominant use of the technology will be to capture still touring bands and time-travel them back to their peak;  I agree the next 2-5 years will be exploiting the concert, but wonder what comes next.

I believe there is also an argument for using the technology to bring back entertainment that were dominant in previous generations (Beatles, Elvis, Sinatra), and possibly apply it to remapping/colorization and avatar generation of entertainers, statesmen, and scientists none of us would ever have had the opportunity to have seen.  The technology will only improve over time, the manual digitization will be automated - and technology will exist to take grainy black and white footage and with AI remap/recolor and drape over (forgive me as I wretch) ABBAtars in near real-time.   

The future of this technology will be a lot of fun for us.