Rhizomatiks Research Uses URSA Mini 4K and UltraStudio 4K for Dance Installation “phosphere”
Fremont, CA – October 20, 2017 - Blackmagic Design today announced that Tokyo based Rhizomatiks Research used Blackmagic URSA Mini 4K and UltraStudio 4K to capture the recent dance spectacle “phosphere,” which was part of the opening event for “Gallery AaMo” held at Tokyo Dome City.
Rhizomatiks Research is a division for Rhizomatiks, a cutting edge Japanese firm which is dedicated to creating large scale commercial and artistic projects using both the arts and technology. As a part of Rhizomatiks, Rhizomatiks Research is dedicated to exploring new possibilities in the realms of technical and artistic expression. They focus on media art, data art and the research and development-intensive projects, including directing the flag hand over ceremony for 2020 at Rio Olympic closing ceremony.
Rhizomatiks Research has recently collaborated with artists this spring on the dance installation “phosphere,” with renowned dancer and choreographer, MIKIKO and her dance company “ELEVENPLAY” at Gallery AaMO, a gallery for art and entertainment. “phosphere” is a new genre of AV installation done by creating a new space defined by light from projectors, where dancers and objects go into the space and perform.
For this installation, each dancer wears a marker on their wrist so that their movement can be tracked. 24 projectors are installed on a truss and dancers hit a marker and create an artistic atmosphere generated by those lights. Blackmagic URSA Mini 4Ks and UltraStudio 4K were used for digital image analysis for this project.
“We have already purchased URSA Mini 4K and UltraStudio 4K for other projects and thought we could use them for this project. Usually, for this kind of image analysis purpose, industrial cameras are often used. However, even though the camera itself is not so expensive, such cameras require higher specs for computers to use with them. After all, you end up spending a lot of money for other equipment. On the other hand, URSA Mini 4K can be used for regular shooting, and doesn’t require expensive peripherals to use with the camera. Also, the more equipment for image analysis, the more accurate the result is, so it was a great advantage for us that we could use two URSA Mini 4Ks while keeping our budget low,” said Rhizomatiks Research’s Yuya Hanai, who is in charge of system development.
The gray code pattern for image analysis which was projected was shot with two URSA Mini 4Ks, and then the image was captured by UltraStudio 4K. With the captured images, Rhizomatiks Research analyzed the precise positional information. Hanai developed the software for this using UltraStudio 4K’s SDK, which allowed them to create a complicated atmosphere defined by lights.
”Once we calibrated, which means to read positional information of the projectors, we don’t need to move the cameras so it was very easy to handle. Also, the fact we can use the SDK for the UltraStudio 4K freely, and it is easy to use, was a great advantage of using Blackmagic products. With the SDK, we shot the multiple images with low ISO and combined them to make one brighter image. By doing so, we could get better images than the ones shot with higher ISO setting,” said Hanai.
Press Photography
Product photos of the Blackmagic Design’s URSA Mini 4K, UltraStudio 4K and all other Blackmagic Design products, are available at www.blackmagicdesign.com/au/media/images. Story Photos can be found here, Please use the following photo credits: Albert Muñoz folder photo: Albert Muñoz ©Sónar Festival ©Advanced Music, Ariel Martini folder photo: Ariel Martini ©Sónar Festival ©Advanced Music, Nerea Coll folder photo: Nerea Coll ©Sónar Festival ©Advanced Music, Hanai folder (interviewee’s photo) photo: Shizuo Takahashi.
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Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com/au/.
About New Magic Australia Pty Ltd (Australian and New Zealand Blackmagic Design master distributor)
New Magic Australia Pty Ltd is a recognised leader in the distribution and marketing of multimedia hardware and software, representing a carefully selected range of innovative, leading manufacturers and catering for both the professional and consumer markets. New Magic Australia established in 1993 is the Australian distributor of Blackmagic Design, Convergent Design, Hauppauge Computer Works Inc, Cubix and Matrox Video products. www.newmagic.com.au.
