Gorillaz shared their new album ‘Song Machine Season One: Strange Timez’ with fans in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. via a unique live-stream event. Broadcast from Park Row, London, the concert featured Damon Albarn and his band alongside their animated counterparts. Block 9 led the concert’s creative direction and production and worked closely with XR Studios to deliver the technical elements. Their goal was to translate Gorillaz iconic music videos into a live performance.
Case Study
GORILLAZ: SONG MACHINE LIVE STREAM
Block 9, XR Studios, and Pixels and Noise use live video FX and AR to re-imagine Gorillaz’s well-known music videos as a live stream performance.
Pixels & Noise lead the Notch design, under the creative direction of Block9, re-creating effects used in the Gorillaz music videos for real-time application in the live stream. Animated Gorillaz characters and holograms of featured artists were created using AR techniques rendered in Notch. Lighting was an essential part of the AR illusion. XR Studios built a virtual lighting rig in Notch which enabled the lighting team to control the virtual lights alongside the physical lights.
As well as being efficient for the lighting team, this process ensured the AR characters blended seamlessly into the live environment. The event was a ‘genre-straddling success’, and the team hope they can bring the design to festivals and arenas in the future.
Additional press coverage:
The Guardian, The Upcoming, Gigwise, The Fortyfive, Music mxdwn
