Big, fast and flexible

Location: Microsoft Retail Stores Video Wall Screens in Sydney,
Australia Flagship Store
Client: Microsoft Retail Stores

For the store launch of the Microsoft Sydney flagship store we had to challenge technology, nature and ourselves. Initially, the background plates were shot as photo time-lapses at 16K resolution. At that time these were the largest time-lapses ever shot on camera. We used a special controller made in the Netherlands that allowed us to connect two 50Mpix DSLR cameras and shoot holy-grail time-lapses with ramped exposure control. The length of the theme required to shoot 3-4 hours in one location. We had to come back to some spots several times to reshoot as the weather did not always play along. Sunrise shots demanded us to wake up at 3 AM and set up all the gear in complete darkness, sometimes on the edge of a cliff in the ocean. As soon as the morning twilight illuminated the surroundings, we felt a little queasy. In the course of the project, the concept was changed a bit and we had to rethink. The time-lapses were reshot as live video backplates. The projected elements were created in CG, and some were shot as videos. The result was an outstanding video wall animation inspired by the the Sydney Harbour Light festival.