It’s the question everyone is asking on Twitter & Facebook “How the hell did they bring back Tupac?”
Well we’ve nailed down a few new details + a possible tour! YEP I said 2pac- TOUR!
HOW’D THEY DO THAT?
Tupac Shakur is the first dead entertainer the company has presented “live.”
The hologram of Tupac was put together by video technology firm AV Concepts with the help of James Cameron’s visual effects company, Digital Domain, using a mix of previously recorded live footage and CGI, writes The New Scientist.
The hologram effect was created using a system developed by London-based Musion, which uses an advanced version of a 19th century magic trick called Pepper’s ghost to make virtual images appear live on stage.
While the traditional illusion uses light partially reflected off a pane of glass, Musion’s version involves a custom-developed foil to create more believable images.
Dr. Dre and his production team first approached Digital Domain a year ago to discuss the possibility of creating a virtual Tupac. They began work in earnest on the Coachella performance around four months ago.
First, the image was created on a computer, using physical characteristics and movements captured from recorded performances.
Advances in computer graphics and video projection allowed Sunday night’s illusion to be far more lifelike than other recent efforts.
For the projection aspect, a San Diego company called AV Concepts used a variation of a visual effect that was discovered in the 19th century, known as Pepper’s Ghost.
Though the projected image has been widely described as a “hologram,” it is a 2-D image and not a hologram, which is 3-D.
It used a mix of previously recorded live footage (thought to be from a 1996 Death Row concert), CGI and an 19th Century magic trick called Pepper’s Ghost.
Tupac appeared on stage alongside rappers Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg – who are very much alive – and greeted the crowd by naming the Coachella festival, despite the fact it had not been held prior to his death. It seems somewhat doubtful that anyone had tape of Shakur shouting “What up, Coachella!” lying around, since the festival did not begin until three years after his death in 1996.
The hologram of Tupac Shakur that “performed” at Coachella with Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre Sunday cost somewhere between $100,000 and $400,000, reports MTV News. The precise figure has not been disclosed but according to AV Concepts, the company that created and staged the hologram, that is the general amount required to produce a similar effect.
“We worked with Dr. Dre on this and it was Dre’s vision to bring this back to life,” Nick Smith, president of AV Concepts. “It was his idea from the very beginning and we worked with him and his camp to utilize the technology to make it come to life.”
To create a completely synthetic human being is the most complicated thing that can be done,” Digital Domain’s chief creative officer, Ed Ulbrich, said in a phone interview Monday.
He said that the performances of the rapper’s hits “Hail Mary” and “2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted” weren’t simply old ones captured on film and repurposed: “This is not found footage. This is not archival footage. This is an illusion.”
“This is just the beginning,” Mr. Ulbrich said. “Dre has a massive vision for this.”
Spokeswomen for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg declined to comment.
The creation of digital humans is becoming increasingly sophisticated and actors will soon be able to record their likeness, potentially allowing them to star in films long after their death. It won’t be long before the first all-digital lead actor hits our screen, Stephen Rosenbaum, a visual effects supervisor at Digital Domain, told New Scientist. “You look at the imagery and the performances and it’s absolutely believable. It just takes a director that’s going to be brave enough to cross that line.”
TOUR
Internet video of the Sunday evening show became an instant sensation on Monday morning. That response is helping push the possibility of a virtual Tupac tour in coming months.
Representatives for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg plan to discuss logistics for a tour involving the two performers and the virtual Tupac, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
One option would be a tour in stadiums, involving other hip-hop stars, including Eminem, 50 Cent and Wiz Khalifa. Alternately, they could stage a more limited tour, featuring only Dre, Snoop Dogg and the virtual Tupac, in smaller arenas.
If the tour were to proceed, it would take many months of creative and technical planning, this person added.
STOCK SCOOP:
For my stock lovers, Digital Domain is a publicly traded company that reported revenue last year of $98.6 million. The thinly-traded company has a market capitalization of $211 million. Its stock is down 15% year-to-date.
Let’s watch it one more time…simply amazing.
