Audi unveils new vision with immersive brand activation driven by Disguise

Overview

To mark the launch of its bold new Audi Purple brand in China, Audi wanted to signal a future-forward vision for its electric vehicles. The company partnered with creative studio Super Bonfire, whose expertise in delivering eye-catching and innovative digital experiences reflects the exciting new world of Audi on display. At the heart of the immersive launch event: a 360° digital environment that surrounded 500 guests in high-resolution visuals, enveloping them in the inspiring new vision of Audi Purple. Using Disguise’s advanced cloud-enabled workflow and high-performance hardware, Super Bonfire was able to deliver a seamless, visually stunning launch that pushed the boundaries of live event production.

The challenge

It’s increasingly common to see walls of ultra-high-definition LED screens at live events, as artists create dazzling shows with vivid imagery. The same technology fuels film and television shoots around the world, creating immersive real-time worlds that surround actors on all sides. Super Bonfire’s vision for the launch was a combination of the two: a 360-degree virtual set with sweeping curved walls that would engulf the audience: a digital cave of discovery.

But there were significant challenges to realising this plan. The production team involved members from all around the globe; individuals in China, Malaysia and Germany would need to be able to actively work on the project from their respective countries, working collaboratively on complex technical programming for an event taking place on a stage that didn’t even exist yet.

And it was this stage that would represent the biggest challenge for the team. The space would need to accommodate up to 500 people, as well as house a stage large enough to carry a car into the centre of the event. On top of this, the entire room, from the curved walls, to the ceiling, to the stage itself, needed to be capable of delivering ultra-high-definition imagery that would appear seamless as images moved from one wall to another.

For Jason Kirby & Kai, Executive Officer & Executive Creative Director at Super Bonfire, the goal was to deliver an event that felt like virtual reality (VR) without the goggles. “The question of how we could create a 360° immersive visual experience was a huge challenge for the design team,” Kirby and Kai say. “And in this case, we had made the problem as difficult for ourselves as possible. Attempting to reflect a VR experience for the naked eye while using a special curved screen is not a task you undertake every day.”

The solution

Kirby and his team at Super Bonfire immediately turned to Disguise to help them realise their ambitious vision. In the earliest stages of preparation, the cloud functionality of Disguise’s Designer software enabled team members to access the workflow and contribute to the event design from anywhere in the world. By the time the team converged on Shanghai one week before the event, the largest elements of prep had long been completed.

Disguise’s technology was also vital to the delivery of the end result. “The unique nature of the project meant that a system that could process large files and respond quickly was an essential requirement,” says Kirby and Kai. “Disguise offers flagship-level performance that is specially optimised for extreme resolution and multi-screen synchronisation. We were working with Hollywood-level configurations!”

The team used Disguise’s VX4 and 4x4 Pro, which can support resolutions as high as 64Kx64K while ensuring ultra-low latency frame synchronisation across multi-machine clusters of up to 16 devices. This meant that the kinetic nature of the show appeared seamless as visuals moved from wall to wall, door to ceiling, ceiling to floor.

Result

Influential industry and press thought leaders gathered for the launch itself, and were thrown into an immersive space that captured the same feeling of being in a VR experience, only in a room shared with 500 other people.

Super Bonfire’s vision was delivered without error - the ability to manage small groups of technical modules within Disguise’s workflow, and quickly respond to any problems that might arise, ensured that the only thing audiences were focused on was the stunning visuals that surrounded them on every side, and the innovative new Audi vehicle at the centre of it all.

Credits

Brand: Audi China

Agency: Auditoire Shanghai

Executive Producer: Jason Kirby
Executive Creative Director: Kaism
Technical Director: David Ran
Project Manager: Abbie
Lead Producer: Radzi
Production Producer: Yanlu Guo, January, Coco
Logistic Producer: Crystal Gao

Show Production
Show Director: Quinton, Jason Kirby
Asst Show Director: Kaylee Tee

Content Creative Team
Creative Director: Kaism, Syazwan Nazaruddin
Lead Art Director: Lockyi
Asst Art Director: KC, Xiang
Animation/VFX Director: Madnas, Azhan
Music & SFX Composer: Alex Klingle (AK)

Production Team 
Stage Setup & 3D: Fukun
Mingle Area -  KV Loop, Countdown, Main Comp: 73

Opening
Main Comp: Min Min
Compositor: Hejianyang, Natalie
Editor: Xiaohe

Main Stage – Loop Animation
Main Comp: Hejianyang

Main Stage – Build Up
Main Comp: Isha Hening
3D Artist: Danish

Best of Both Worlds Show
CG Lead/Main Comp: Azhan
Compositor: Isha Hening, Zhenyu
3D Artist: Rafif, Ming, Danish
UE Artist: Zhonghai, Bart, Guntech
Keyout: Kaism, Zhonghao

Kinetic Shift Show
CG Lead/Main Comp: Syazwan Nazaruddin
Compositor: Rey
3D Artist: Taozi, Rey, GML, Zi Qing, Kee, Dandan
UE Artist: Zhonghai, Bart, Lau, Cheebin, ​​​​​​​

Car Unveiling
CG Lead/Main Comp: Madnas
3D Artist: Dhameer
Notch Artist: Mel, Cuong (MXC)

​​​​​​​VJ Loop: Tang Yihu

Disguise Operator: Leo

IT Support: Firdaus

BTS Photographer/Videographer: Yang Zhao