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Toshiba TV Advert
£3 MILLION CAMPAIGN TO SUPPORT TOSHIBA´S UPSCALING TECHNOLOGY RANGE
Toshiba cements its commitment to leading innovation as it premieres the world’s first 3-D Timesculpture™ advert on national television.
To learn more about upscaling click here
3-D Timesculpture™ is a stunning progression of the ‘bullet time’ technique made famous by films such as The Matrix. Rather than showing a 3-D rotation of a still moment, this groundbreaking new filming process manipulates moving snapshots of time using Toshiba technology, redefining cinematic human movement.
The shoot was made possible via the construction of a purpose-built camera rig, weighing over half a tonne and housing 200 Toshiba Gigashot HD camcorders. Over 20 Terabytes – 20,000 Gigabytes – of video data was used, taking over 336 continuous hours to process.
The pioneering technique, created by Grey London, has been used to symbolise the step change of Toshiba’s new upscaling technology, itself an important development in television history. Toshiba’s new technology allows its new range of LCD TVs to ‘upscale’ standard-definition (SD) broadcast content - such as a Freeview TV signal or a DVD - to near high-definition (HD) quality.
With 99 percent of TV content still broadcast in standard-definition , thousands of consumers who have purchased ’HD Ready’ TVs have been left confused and dissatisfied at the lack of free-to-air high definition broadcasts. Toshiba’s upscaling solution bridges this gap in the market , allowing consumers to enjoy near high-definition image quality without incurring the expense of subscription-based high-definition content.
The advert has been filmed on Toshiba cameras, providing ultimate endorsement for its product range.
The Timesculpture™ technique itself uses an innovative, custom-designed circular construction, housing 200 Toshiba Gigashot video cameras, aligned and linked together to provide a 360 degree view of a set of seamlessly coordinated moving actions.
Each action performed within the ad was filmed separately and precisely within the custom-engineered rig of cameras, allowing editors and post production teams complete control of pre-recorded live action.
These actions are then composited together, to create flawless interacting loops working in harmony. The result is a perfectly choreographed collage of manipulated pieces of time, something that is completely impossible to achieve in reality. The film is beautifully cinematic, starting with a static shot of a single figure in a curious loop, before the viewer is launched into a circular, sweeping view of the action as the room fills gradually with the most incredible interactions, movement and colour.
Matt McDowell, Marketing Director at Toshiba comments: “Leading innovation is a philosophy that drives all parts of Toshiba’s business. Our new advertising campaign is a natural extension of this belief, and we’re absolutely delighted with the results. What is more, Toshiba’s technology made all this possible, providing ultimate endorsement for the range.”
“The case for upscaling technology is laid bare for all to see. As people rush out to buy their HD ready TVs, believing their investment will automatically deliver enhanced visual quality on-screen, they should consider that there’s actually very little HD content out there to view. Our TVs, whilst remaining future-proof, offer customers the chance to watch TV and DVDs at near HD quality at the touch of a button.”
Jon Williams, Chief Creative Officer at Grey London comments: “Toshiba's upscaling technology is breathtaking. Only a visual metaphor of the magnitude of Timesculpture™ could even hint at the step change you'll get from standard definition screens. It’s a celebration of the future of film, rather than the past.”
Facts about the shoot:
- The TV ad was shot using 200 Toshiba Gigashot Cameras: the highest number of moving image cameras ever used in a film sequence
- This particular technique, viewing looping action in 360 degrees, has never been done before
- The rig was custom built weighing approximately half a tonne, including 200 cameras and electronics
- The rig measures 14m diameter circle and 1.8m high
- The 200 cameras were all triggered using a single remote control
- Once the rig was built, 4 focus pullers spent 3 days focusing and aligning all 200 cameras
- The time spent processing footage from 200 cameras was over two weeks - 24 hours a day seven days a week!
- New offline and online editing software had to be specifically built for the job
- In terms of data, this is one of the biggest jobs a post-production house has ever taken on - 20TB of data. To put this in perspective NASA processes approx 1TB of data from all its satellites
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