As if this election weren’t exciting enough already, CNN has plans to sex up its coverage with 3-D holographic projections of its correspondents.
But CNN is not the only TV network relying on whiz-bang technology to help carry the day. After almost two years of mudslinging primaries, debates and
endless punditry, the Presidential election is finally here and there’s
a lot at stake for everyone, including the networks. The main question the TV networks face is this: How they will match the event’s historic importance with a presentation that is comprehensive, useful and visually dynamic at the same time?
With gadgets, of course! ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox will use everything from touchscreens to
supersized high-def plasma screens to help display election returns,
maps and an endless parade of commentators.
Here’s a look at some of the new tech you’ll see on the small screen on Tuesday.
Virtual Reality and 3-D Design
Fox News is doing things a little bit differently. The network designed two virtual reality studios (one for the Fox News Channel and one for Fox
Broadcast) with a giant wall of touchscreens, connected together to
provide electoral map results as they are released.
Fox is also taking the 3-D theme into the physical world by
attaching large, square displays to hanging cubes in the studio. With mounted
projectors overhead, the steady cam will be able to follow the anchors
around the studio, as each cube panel, with 1440 x 1440 pixel resolution, follows different
races. Nothing too high tech there, but the visual motion it will
create will add to the show.
NBC News and MSNBC will be using BrainStorm’s
3-D system to combine virtual reality with an innovative camera rig
that’s only been used in the movies up to now. As seen in the picture at the top of this story, Ann Curry and Chuck Todd will interact with data in a virtual
environment where the telemetry of the background changes, allowing for
close-up zooming and room-spanning shots. So as Todd inhabits the
virtual U.S. Capitol, the angles of its virtual interior will be
rendered accurately, as if he was inside for real.
Senior
Art Director Tony Franqueira told Wired.com that NBC Artworks designers and
animators did all of the concept design, final graphics and sets
in-house and that as the virtual sets were being built, directors
set up camera shots that helped define the final look of the graphics.
"The design team wanted to make sure this wasn’t just an exercise in
‘whiz bang’ graphics but would actually complement the presentation,
not overpower it," he says.
Virtual Holograms
Star Wars vividly portrayed a vision of 3-D hologram
technology. Now CNN wants to bring it to life in its studio, sort of,
except with Wolf Blitzer and other correspondents in place of Obi-Wan
Kenobi.
Blitzer is expected to use the technology to appear to talk to
virtual correspondents in the CNN studio, while their physical bodies
remain with the Obama and McCain campaigns. It’s like a satellite
appearance, except instead of appearing on a 2-D screen, it will look
like the correspondents are actually on the set next to Blitzer and
other anchors.
The 3-D appearance is not an actual hologram projected into the CNN
studios, but rather a virtual hologram, inserted into the video by some
sophisticated real-time effects processing. To make it happen, the
network has built hologram-enabled satellite sets at both campaign
headquarters, in Phoenix and Chicago, that are powered by motion
capture and camera tracking telemetry from VizRt and SportVu studios
(known for camera tracking). At each location CNN will have more than
44 small, fixed cameras and 20 computers. The cameras will take in
360-degree images of whoever is sitting in the middle of the remote
studio.
Once collected, the image data will be processed by software and
visual effects, which will synchronize the camera angles on the remote
correspondents with those on Blitzer, then insert the satellite feed
into the main video.
According to David Bohrman, senior vice president at CNN, Mr. Blitzer
and the correspondents will be addressing a 37-inch plasma screen in a
regular 2-D feed in order to ’see’ each other. Since they won’t
actually be able to see the "hologram," anchors will need a visual cue
to keep from walking through the holograms — in this case, a circle on
the floor.
Bohrman acknowledges this is a "very tough" project to pull off, but
the tests over the last week have proven to him that it can done. "It
will look very cool," he says.
Despite repeated requests from Wired.com, the network was unable to provide images of the setup.
Touchscreens for Everyone
For CNN’s David Bohrman, the hologram is a nice cherry on
top of the network’s tech package, but the real conceptual breakthrough is the 3-D software CNN will
use to report the exit polls.
Soledad O’Brien and Bill Schneider will go over changes in demographics as well as Congressional and Senate seats using two 103-inch, 1080p Panasonic
interactive plasma screens (valued at $70,000 each) enabled with 3-D graphics. The large setup
will allow for side-by-side comparison of lots of data. CNN’s chief
national correspondent John King will again use the Perceptive
Pixel screens he handled during Super Tuesday. He’ll also use a 3-D, 6-foot-long wall to show the
changes in a virtual U.S. Capitol as election results are released. Expect him to
place specific winners in their appropriate slot inside the made-up
Capitol rendering.
Fox News, on the other hand, is using the less-is-more approach to its touchscreens. A vertical touchscreen TV will serve as the one "The
Launch Pad" center for all news updates. Made by Los
Angeles-based RealityCheck, the custom Launch Pad software program
provides a call-up menu for anchors to push-through data points or
feeds to the other screens, like the 15-x-8-ft. rear projection screen
in the above picture. When the information moves from one screen to the
next, the graphics will make it appear as if the feeds will "float into
the surrounding monitors."
ABC is also getting on the touchscreen bandwagon in a big way. It has
bought a lot of Perceptive Pixel screens and have incorporated its
graphics software (Discreet Frost) in six weeks (it would regularly take six months
to do so otherwise). These screens will display result boards
instantaneously and compare results to those in previous elections, going all the way back to 1960.
CBS anchor Katie Couric will also use a touchscreen, though the rumor
is that NBC has upgraded the quality from the Elo TouchSystems
26-incher to, you guessed it, a Perceptive Pixel screen. CBS will also use the VizRT graphics software that will run CNN’s holographic experiment, but on different platforms (SGI Onyx and O2 workstations, if you’re on the heavy technical bent.)
In Public Places, Size Still Matters
If you’re in New York, and you for some reason lack a television, the networks have got you covered: There will be several giant displays showing real-time election results in the open, chill November air.
In Times Square, CNN will host a viewing party for spectators, who will
be able to see the broadcast on one of the largest high-definition digital displays
in the world. ClearChannel’s Spectacolor WiFi-enabled LED digital
display is mounted in front of Duffy Square and measures 40 by 40 feet. To get the audio, people on the street just need to dial a number on their cellphones.
Fox will also be moving outdoors, with its News show "Strategy Room"
(on 48th & 6th in New York City) and a new 28-foot Astrovision screen (created by Panasonic and similar to the
one used at the Republican National Convention). A Fox News
representative promised us that during that show, a Fox news
anchor (possibly Shepard Smith) will be playing Rock Band, though not
necessarily on the big screen.
The ABC tech team will also be coding its video feeds to three differently sized screens displaying election results on Broadway in Times Square,
including the giant SuperSign, and the large Reuters screen. All the info on the screens will be fed
by an RSS feed controlled from the main studio. This will allow anchors
to publish information straight into the screen with a quick touchscreen command.
NBC will set up its Election Plaza surrounding their 30 Rockefeller
Ave. headquarters, and will project a map of the United States into the address’ famous ice
rink as the results come in.
If you don’t happen to live in New York, Clear Channel will broadcast the results to 250 other digital billboards throughout the country. Also, the over 300 taxis in New York and Boston that come with Digital Smart Tops displays will show the results.
HD Feeds Lead to Information Overload
ABC and Fox News are also using the extra real estate of their HD feeds to fill up the screen with even more election information. Expect the biggest political junkies to dig this feature the most.
We spoke with ABC News Creative Director Hal Aronow-Theil who said his broadcast would show breakdowns of the race from ABC, Reuters and Nasdaq along the left border of the screen.
They’re doing this despite the fact that some viewers have indicated that too much information on the screen at the same time is not conducive to the best viewing experience. For example, many people thought CNN’s second-by-second voter approval-rating device during the last debate made concentrating on the candidates a much more difficult affair.
Still, says Mr. Aronow-Thiel, "we’re really not worried about providing too much information."
If you only have one TV and don’t want your finger to fall apart from all the channel flipping, DirecTV will have an "Interactive Election Mix Channel" that will feature eight network feeds and a real-time election blog to track it all.
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