3D installation takes the Australian Chamber Orchestra on a global tour as a virtual orchestra

A thirteen-camera 3D-shoot took place on Saturday 26 March at Fox Studios, Sydney.

It was produced byMOD Productions and Diorama Films as part of an advanced digital project forthe Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Conceived and directed by media artist, Michela Ledwidge and produced by Mish Sparks and Cristina Dio, the shoot captured images and audio in high fidelity to be usedin “The Virtual Orchestra”, an immersive interactive 3D installationthat will tour around the globe.

It will allow people to experience being surrounded by the ACO’s virtuoso musicians as they perform.

@font-face { font-family: “Times New Roman”;}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }table.MsoNormalTable { font-size: 10pt; font-family: “Times New Roman”; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }“Becausean orchestra’s process relies on each musician hearing and seeing each other toproduce their music, the challenge was to shoot all musicians simultaneouslywhile capturing each one’s audio and video separately,” said Sparks.

As theorchestra performed, each musician was individually shot against greenscreen,using a DSLR camera and custom-built stereo mirror rig.  To handle and quality check the amountof data recorded for each take, a special web-based asset management tool wasdeveloped by Ledwidge.

The projecthas been in development for over a year, involving extensive R&D and anearlier pilot by MOD Productions and collaborators.

Click here for a PDF download of the pilot findings.