Groundbreaking Interactive Visualization Technologies Ignite Live Acts On A Global Stage

Obscura Digital Redefines Live Musical Entertainment with YouTube and Google

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May 28, 2014, 08:00 ET

WASHINGTON, May 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a cultural movement that brings live musical entertainment to a global stage, Obscura Digital and YouTube/Google have been uniting online streaming media with interactive art-meets-technology stage experiences, delivering dynamic musical performances from major events to audiences around the world.

Obscura Digital's audio-reactive visualizations for Janelle Monae's live performance at YouTube Brandcast 2014, presented by Google, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. (PRNewsFoto/Obscura Digital)

Obscura Digital's custom content was manipulated by real-time visualizers and projection-mapped onto a kinetic stage set for YouTube Brandcast 2014, presented by Google, at The Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. (PRNewsFoto/Obscura Digital)

A series of creative technology innovations, advanced by Obscura and YouTube over the past five years, began with Obscura pioneering an immersive symphonic experience for YouTube Symphony at Carnegie Hall. The live show featured the world's first-ever online collaborative orchestra, conducted by Grammy Award-winner Michael Tilson Thomas.

Obscura later evolved and expanded their live architectural projection mapping technologies to create an unprecedented performing arts experience for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. Obscura simultaneously illuminated the interior and exterior of the iconic Sydney Opera House with audio-reactive visual projections linked to the live orchestral performance. The event was the most-watched live music concert on the Internet, breaking all YouTube records with 33 million live stream views.

"With Obscura's creative technologies and visualizations we have been amplifying YouTube's live performances onto a global stage," states Chris Di Cesare, Head of Creative Programming for YouTube/Google. "Working closely with Obscura's artists and technologists, we continue to explore and innovate ways that we can deliver multi-sensory experiences that inform, engage and entertain our audience."

Obscura continued to work with YouTube to bring interior and exterior projection experiences to other architectural landmarks, including the Guggenheim Museum in New York for the YouTube Play awards show. The building's 360-degree spiral facade required complex projection calibration to seamlessly canvas the museum, and a real-time 3D and video playback system was used to trigger and and alter media. Live performances from musical acts like OK Go were amplified with Obscura's interactive visualizations.

Obscura also collaborates with YouTube on its annual Brandcast event, where Obscura uses the power of technology to deliver a visceral in-person experience to help show how brands can reach their audiences online. For the past three Brandcast events, from 2012-2014, Obscura designed custom content that was manipulated by real-time visualizers and projection-mapped and tracked onto a kinetic stage set. The resulting effects provided dynamic backdrops that enhanced and interacted with performances by Pharrell Williams, Janelle Monae, Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, Snoop Lion, Lil Buck, Neon Trees, FloRida, and Jay Z.

For the annual Google I/O event, Obscura designed a large-scale display system amplified by two holographic foils paired with high-resolution LED bounce screens. Obscura's technologies, including a dynamic platform to re-envision Sergey Brin's keynote presentation, as well as 3D integrated animations for live performances by world class acts like Paul Oakenfold, helped generate a greater audience impact.

Obscura became part of the San Francisco technology industry in 2000. The premiere creative technology and design company to many Fortune 50 companies over the past 14 years, Obscura's team of artists, musicians, and engineers has steadily advanced their technological capabilities to expand the range of live entertainment experiences. Founder and Chief Creative Officer Travis Threlkel, a musician and artist, helped shape the company's vision for enhancing live musical performances. Obscura has worked hand-in-hand with some of the world's most innovative talent to conceptualize, create, and produce unforgettable live shows and technologies.

From the start, Obscura mastered the art of heightening sensory experiences for audiences with audio, video, and lighting techniques that integrate seamlessly with the production, stage design, and venue for live entertainment. Other notable experiences designed by Obscura for solo and musical acts include an immersive record release event for the White Stripes, a reactive visualizer system for Bassnectar, staging and visuals for M.I.A.'s KALA concert tour, signature visual narratives for Kendrick Lamar and Cazzette at Spotify Live during SXSW, custom technologies and content for the live stage production of Beats Antique's A Thousand Faces Tour, holographic projections of MosDef for an educational experience with NASA and Ankh Marketing, and most recently, the holographic duet of M.I.A. and Janelle Monae for the Audi A3 launch event. Over the past decade, Obscura has helped create visual stories that dissolve the "fourth wall" of the stage with stunning creativity.

The general public will get a chance to see first hand how Obscura is shaping the future of musical performances with their large-scale interactive visualization technologies at the upcoming YouTube OnStage Live from the Kennedy Center event on Wednesday, May 28, 2014 in Washington, DC. Join the live stream at 7:30pm ET https://www.youtube.com/kennedycenter

For this show, Obscura designed new techniques in kinetic video staging systems, with modular hanging digital media panels which reconfigure to change stage design for each performer. The panels become living visual environments, with media elements responding to specific musical cues through an audio visualization system that delivers rich sensory experiences uniquely choreographed to each performance. Live acts include dub-step violinist Lindsey Stirling and hip-hop dance duo Les Twins, both internationally recognized YouTube sensations, along with headliner John Legend.

YouTube OnStage Live starts at 7:30 p.m. at the Opera House in the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Beginning at 6 p.m., people in line at the entrance to the Hall of Nations will receive up to two (2) free tickets per person.

ABOUT OBSCURA DIGITAL
Obscura Digital is a San Francisco based creative technology and design company that orchestrates entertaining, informative, and educational experiences with interactive installations, large-format architectural projections, and immersive environments that generate a sense of awe, wonder, and inspiration for live audiences. www.obscuradigital.com

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SOURCE Obscura Digital