The British & Irish Lions Men’s Tour officially begins tonight with the team facing Argentina in Dublin before they head off to Australia to face the Wallabies.
Sky Sports has the exclusive rights to the tour and is broadcasting every Test in 4K Ultra HD.
To anchor its coverage, Sky Sports is utilising its Monday Night Football studio, which will have a new look, blending indigenous art with visual effects to create a cinematic experience. Real-time augmented reality graphics will allow pundits to break down key player stats and match insights live on air. The studio is also Ultra HD, enabling it to deliver the best visual experience to Sky Sports’ viewers.
The key evolution of the studio is the development of a Virtual Window, Jason Landau, creative director at Sky Sports tells TVBEurope. “We wanted to punch through the central LED screen, allowing us to see the depth and to use that space to bring in our augmented reality player lineups.
“With the Virtual Window, we now have the ability for our presenters to stand in front of the screen, creating that illusion of depth and allowing them to be immersed in the space.”
The creative team worked with a First Nations artist to create a distinctive and authentic visual identity for the coverage, adds Harry Ward, creative director Sports and News. “Our aim was to co-create a culturally respectful look rooted in Australia, celebrating First Nations art and storytelling. The result brings vibrancy, depth and meaning across all of Sky’s broadcast, digital, social and advertising platforms.”
The studio is using Unreal Engine with a Viz pipeline to deliver the AR graphics, while Mo-Sys technology is being employed for camera tracking. The LED screen graphics are being driven by Viz Multiplay. “Our real time designers work very closely with the sports broadcast designers to ensure we deliver the original vision for the graphics,” states Landau.
“Three-quarters of the studio is real with what we call the 4th wall as our virtual extension, giving us a full 360 studio,” he adds. “All the LED screens are real, including the LED floor, but above them, the AR ticker creates a divide between the real and virtual canopy.”
All cameras are being manually operated, with a jib and Steadicam among the technology on the studio floor.
Many of the key graphics are being created in AR with an operator sitting in the gallery. “Working with AR adds technical implications such as sound delays and camera tracking, but our skilled teams have plenty of experience with this and will support throughout the Lions Tour. It also means our director, operations and presentation teams will factor in spending more time rehearsing the segments,” says Landau.
Delivering the Virtual Window has proved to be the biggest challenge of preparing the studio for the tour, says Landau, with Sky Creative collaborating the graphics and data team. “From PoC to delivery, the team worked so well together to deliver a new aspect of the studio, which will now be used in new ways for other productions.”
