AMERICAN IDOL: KATY PERRY PERFORMS "DAISIES"

For the season finale of American Idol, Katy Perry performed ‘Daisies’ immersed in a live virtual world. Silent Partners Studio scripted and directed the content creation in XR, in collaboration with XR Studios and with creative direction and producing from Silent House Productions and Baz Halpin. Their goal was to reinterpret the illustrative aesthetic of the ‘Daisies’ lyric video directed by Vallée Duhamel. Silent Partners chose a Notch and C4D workflow to help them achieve this pop-art style for the virtual stage.

The team used Cinema 4D to model scenic elements based on Duhamel’s lyric video. At the same time, the composition was previsualized in Notch to determine camera framing, transitions, real prop placement and set extension. Once the foundations were in place, the C4D scenes were baked and imported into Notch, to be lit, textured and animated.

The C4D designers and Notch designers formed a symbiotic relationship, changes and refinements could be made in Cinema 4D and smoothly implemented into the Notch scenes. Alembic import and the transference of Morph Target data between the two programmes were key to the success of their workflow. Heath Saunders, Spencer Sterling and Patrick Goski worked simultaneously to design different aspects of the project. Notch’s project merging feature allowed all three artists to collaborate remotely on files and scale up the project in a short period.

In the real-world environment, the XR Studios team were able to make alignment adjustments and updates to the scene using Notch’s live network edit feature. The team flawlessly implemented the colourful illustrative style they envisaged into a virtual production that transformed the American Idol stage and surprised the unexpecting viewers at home.

Additional press coverage:

That Eric Alper, AV Interactive, Medium Virtual Library, Live Production, Live Design Online.