The hologram of Whitney Houston goes on tour
The company BASE Hologram together with Estate of Whitney launched a world tour of the hologram of Whitney Houston, giving fans of the singer another chance to attend her concert and hear hits from the stage.
The first concerts were held in the British cities of Sheffield and Liverpool. "Evening with Whitney" gathered a lot of fans of her work. Along with the laser image of the pop diva, her original music group, backing vocalists and dancers performed on stage. So the effect of full presence was created, and the concert went off with a bang.
“Before she left, there was so much negativity around her name that it was no longer about music,” said the singer’s sister-in-law and her property manager Pat Houston. “But Whitney was America's sweetheart, and now we want to remind people of her legacy.”
In order not to disappoint the audience with a “cardboard” picture, the creators reviewed hundreds of concert videos and reproduced to the smallest details the facial expressions and movements of the singer in a virtual model.
The technology is based on an old trick of magicians called Pepper's Ghost. Thanks to him, the reflected image creates the illusion of the presence of anything in physical form. Light and mirrors. Or, as is the case with “Evening with Whitney,” recorded 2D visualizations. BASE records live actors with CGI mapping, and based on this picture creates its own stars.
But beyond that, BASE Hologram has brought something new to this system. The company "recreated" the screen on which the image is projected. Instead of bulky, fragile and therefore difficult to assemble equipment, it uses its own mesh screen, which greatly speeds up all processes. Together with the Epson projector used to generate 25,000 lumens of light, a hologram is created right on the screen.
“People demand nostalgia,” says Martin Tudor, founder and ideological inspirer of BASE Hologram. “I thought it would be great to see people whom I have never seen in my life.” This is what really pulled me.
Of course, technology has its limitations. Holograms embodied in this way remain flat. This is why tickets to the side rows and gallery are not for sale - the whole effect of the living, surround presence of the star is lost. Projections, like ghosts, can easily move on a horizontal surface, but they do not “know how” to go up and down, since the screen is static and its area is limited.
But this does not stop people from buying tickets for such virtual-real shows. So, “invited” stars at concerts are Tupac Shakur and Emmy Whitehouse, and Michael Jackson even gives full-scale performances.
After the UK show, Whitney Houston will travel to Europe - Belgium, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, etc. - and then debuts in the USA..
Altyn ASHIROVA
