LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Sphere has only been officially open for about two months but the Exosphere has gotten worldwide attention for displays, which lit up the Las Vegas night sky for the first time on July 4th. The Exosphere has displayed overlays in partnership with Formula 1, Aston Martin, Nickelodeon, Coca Cola, Marvel, Disney, and NFL just to name a few.
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You may be wondering how these visuals are created and brought to life on Exosphere, which contains nearly 580,000 square feet, or nearly 14 acres, of fully programmable LED paneling. It includes 1.2 million LED pucks that are spaced eight inches apart and each puck has 48 individual LED diodes. Each diode is also capable of displaying 256 million different colors.
On Tuesday, Sphere Entertainment and MSG Entertainment unveiled a new holiday overlay for Exosphere that features the world-famous Radio City Rockettes and revealed more about their design process.
"It is bringing science and art together to create a moment of wonder," said Guy Barnett, the SVP, Brand Strategy & Creative Development at Sphere Entertainment. "There's nothing more artful than the Rockettes and there's nothing more scientific than the Sphere."
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One of the big challenges was figuring out how to turn rectangular footage of people into a spherical shape that still reads well with the same amount of detail and clarity as the original footage. To do that, they filmed 15 Rockettes in groups of five.
"Sphere is 366 feet high. They will probably be around 100 feet, maybe 150 feet high," said Aruna Inversin, Supervisor, VGX for Sphere Entertainment. "Because of the circular nature of the Sphere, we have to make sure that we can itemize and put the Rockettes lined up together."
To get the dancers to match on the screen, it all came down to precision, precision, precision, which is something the Rockettes are known for.
"With the Sphere, we really needed to make sure that every single thing - from the tip of our finger to the height of our signature eye-high kicks - is completely in sync because of the scale," said Danelle Morgan, a Radio City Rockette, dance captain and assistant choreographer.
Three composites are put together in post-production along with animations for the holiday ornament and glitter. The background is also meant to look transparent so it seems like you can see behind the Rockettes as well. According to Sphere officials, this is the first time the technique has been utilized for Sphere.
"There is a lot of post-production. You have to composite things together. Then you have to add height and you have to add depth and you have to work out exactly how you're going to connect all of these dancers together," Barnett said. "You're constantly having to think about how you're engaging people on those 360 degrees. You bring all these together and you mix it up into a bucket and you pour it on the Exosphere and it's done."
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For the Rockettes, it's incredibly special to be showcased this way.
"I'm from Australia but I'm talking to friends from all over the world and the Sphere is international," said Rockette Jackie Aitken. "Everyone has heard about this so it's exciting to be able to do this project and collaborate together."
"We are really looking forward to having our little showcase in Las Vegas on the Exosphere," Morgan said. "It's going to be cool to bring a little taste of New York to Las Vegas."
The Radio City Rockettes made their debut on the Exosphere on Monday night and will be featured daily throughout the holiday season.
