Virtual and augmented reality make the most ambitious Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos in history possible

NEP Spain produces the largest improvised rap competition in Spanish speaking, in a completely virtual environment with live augmented reality.

Many talk, few rhyme, only the best improvise and millions of fans followed the best rappers live on December 12 Red Bull Battle of the Roosters International Final most ambitious yet.

This record audience witnessed the victory of the Mexican Rapper about spanish Beautiful in the first rap championship in the world to be held in a completely virtual environment.

The International Final took the participants to a virtual space, to the dimension of flow. In the final battle, as a setting and theme, we were able to see Rapder and Skone compete first in the desert and then in an arctic space immersed in an augmented reality fantasy.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest tour of the National Finals of Battles of Roosters was produced remotely from cities around the world by the Spanish team of the international audiovisual services company. NEP Broadcast and the creative studio based in Cádiz, Babbla, specialized in launching all types of events.

For the grand final, the initial idea was to produce the event in Belgium or Holland, with the roosters traveling to Europe, and those who could not travel due to restrictions participating remotely thanks to a chromakey and teleportation. To test this solution, NEP carried out a series of tests, mainly regarding latencies, connecting Buenos Aires and Zurich with a set in Brussels. However, due to the new wave of COVID, Europe was shielded, and forced to look for an alternative.

Finally, the production team chose to take the final to the studios Pinewood in a country with open borders and availability of accommodations such as Dominican Republic, creating a bubble where technical staff and participants could interact safely.

RA in Pinewood Dominican Republic

NEP Spain (NEP Group) developed a complete event based on augmented reality (AR), where the challenge was not only the lack of public, but also, the participants would be immersed in a great chroma key, offering the viewer an entire virtual world that would leave more than one person with their mouths open. 15 million who followed the event live.

During 25 days of intense work by 70 professionals, NEP launched this ambitious project in terms of production and streaming, fighting against the clock and overcoming all the logistical challenges that the pandemic presented.

Although NEP Spain had already included augmented reality in the international final held in 2019, for this occasion it raised the bar with augmented reality in a study by 1,500 m² and 16 meters high.

At the head of the operation, Joel Master, director of NEP Spain and professional with extensive experience in the production of all types of events, recognizes that “without a doubt, it has been the most difficult production of my career.”

To make this ambitious project a reality in such extreme conditions, NEP had to pull all the strings at its disposal: from the NEP subsidiary in Singapore, specialized in the design and integration of flight packs, a “mobile studio” which included a Kayak mixer and several LDX 86N cameras Grass Valley. A console was in charge of the audio mixing Theirs.

To have an idea of ​​what a production of this magnitude entails in times of COVID, it is worth noting that for the lighting, a Hundred SkyPanel ARRI from New York to Pine Wood Dominican Republic that served to fill with light an immense chroma key measuring 24x16 meters and 12 meters deep, as well as another auxiliary one measuring 5x5x5 meters. The tens of liters of Rosco paint For this immense chroma they were sent against the clock from Connecticut (USA).

NEP's experience in large events, with a division specifically dedicated to logistics, SOS Global, made it possible for all the material to be on time, including the 9 tons of equipment from Singapore and Amsterdam.

Scenario design

The artistic direction of the Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos was left in the hands of NEP Netherlands with realization of Catalan Paulí will rise, who has extensive experience in virtual and augmented reality production over recent years at Televisió de Catalunya (TV3).

For the design of scenario content, the option was to work with Unreal Epic Games and software developed by NEP itself focused on virtual production for broadcast in real time. This tool allows the production of a set with virtual and augmented reality, being able to move all the tools by layers without the need to render. Together with Subirá he worked as a production assistant Fuco Vázquez.

The creative team saw the need to, in just a few days, develop the content, conceptualize everything and download it to the set, choosing dimensions, physical layout..., making everything fit together perfectly.

Mestre recognizes that "content and art direction in this event were very important. If we had had more time, we would have refined the concept, but the pandemic has complicated all phases of an ambitious project like this."

So that the participants in the Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos could move freely throughout the set “immersed” in virtual environments that ranged from the desert to the Arctic, a system from the German company was installed in the main studio of Pinewood Dominican Republic. Trackmen.

The camera tracking systems determine the position of the camera and the support system to represent the virtual image from the same perspective offered by each of the 5 tracked cameras used on this occasion. Its VioTrack system of markers are identified through image processing and located in 3D. As a surprising result, the virtual graphics ‘adhere’ precisely to the set. The result is a perfect key from any angle and camera movement.

Mestre concludes by stating that the organization of the Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos has once again trusted “NEP for top quality, results, service and, very importantly, human quality.”

This is how it was done...

Final 2020 Red Bull Battle of the Roosters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpfnHVUCSxk