Whilst the content and effects used in holographic projection platforms are thoroughly modern often incorporating mixes of CGI and live action footage, the platform itself is often a high tech version of the 'Pepper's Ghost' illusion which was invented by English engineer Henry Dircks in the 19th Century and introduced into theatres by it's namesake Professor John Henry Pepper. The illusion startled theatre goers with an effect that allowed live people or objects to slowly materialize into a scene.
We create content on a regular basis for the Musion® Eyeliner™ holographic projection system, creating content for brands and events such as Speedo, Toyota, BT, and even a barmitzvah to name a few. The life size holographic image screens have been installed at launches, trade-shows, parties, nightclubs and theatres around the world. Today’s commercial systems have developed that technique with tensioned foil replacing the previous glass, specialist lighting and powerful state-of-the-art projectors. The projection foil is of such high quality that it enables the true reproduction of high-definition video so that audiences viewing video images imagine them to be real. Using sets starting from just 2m² cubes, projected images range in size from 50cm², up to a massive 20m x 100m. Live or virtual stage presenters appear alongside and interact with virtual images, humans or animations. Even existing ‘made for TV’ 2D video material is transformed into compelling footage running in giant floating 3D virtual screens created by the Eyeliner™ system.
The beauty of the system is that you can create surreal experiences appear realistic, life size and lifelike as in our Toyota Auris launch where we had a life size car floating in mid air in Bluewater shopping centre. For Speedo we had Michael Phelps appear in four countries simultaneously, when he was only actually 'live' in New York. Prince Charles made a speech at an ecological conference in the Middle East without having to fly, David Blaine threw a phone across a stage to himself, Cisco transmitted a live hologram across the globe - you can have a lot of fun creating illusions using this platform.
We can have people on stage interacting with their own holographic alter-egos or animated characters in any world we want to create around them. In one set for Vodafone we had an individual talking ‘live’ to their artificially aged holographic-self in the year 2020. We can mix holographic images from different locations into each other enabling presentations, live debate or interaction, which we now term “tele-presence”. Another example would be bringing together a global management team to present their vision and to celebrate a corporate anniversary as we recently did for the Russian Telecom giant Rostelecom.
One of the more strangely popular and often repeated customer briefs is the ‘bring back’ genre – a result borne of the super-realism feature of these systems where the images are so lifelike – so whoever the subject is celebrity, singer, religious character or politician if they have mass appeal then their re-appearance as holograms is always an attractive option – it’s always struck me as both ironic and little gratifying that a Victorian theatre illusion is still hard at work today helping us to create new ‘ghosts’.
Other holographic technology SquareZero has mastered is aimed at creating true 3d depth on the smaller screen. Screen systems such as Philips WOWvx give a 3d depth illusion without the need for the use of special glasses, giving a solid looking, tangible image on-screen. Images can be created in animation software, filmed especially or converted from standard footage. The software uses a separate special hidden 'depth-channel' movie which allows the software to display the picture in 3d.
The holographic technologies have plenty of further prospects as we are experimenting with interactive touch-screen user interfaces, motion tracking, augmented reality (AR), customer product configurators, games and web-based content.
