By Lucas Shaw | Bloomberg
When the rock band Phish began their 2004 track A Song I Heard the Ocean Sing at the Sphere in April, more than 18,000 fans stared, mouths agape, as the quartet from Vermont seemingly jammed in the middle of a coral reef.
Fish — not to be confused with Phish — swam from one side of the stage to the other amid giant, pulsating jellyfish as the whole dome transformed into a trippy underwater experience. Human bodies bobbed up and down in the water amid radiant flashes of red and green. Tall plants shot up from the sea floor. The scene was just one of dozens of visuals displayed inside and on the exterior of the glowing $2.3 billion dome in Las Vegas — the most talked-about concert venue in the world.
Conceived by James Dolan, who also owns the New York Knicks basketball team, the Sphere has attempted to reinvent the concert experience, placing a live musical act in front of a 160,000 square foot surface with the highest LED resolution possible. It demands a multi-million-dollar investment in graphics.
None of the arresting visuals would be possible without Disguise, a London-based technology firm that makes a box and complementary software that serve as the brains of the live show. Founded more than 20 years ago, Disguise sells its technology to many of the most prominent musicians in the world, including Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake, as well as festivals like Coachella.
Disguise has positioned itself at the heart of an exploding market for visual graphics at concerts, on film sets and even in churches. Demand for virtual production is expected to soar to $7.13 billion by the end of 2029 from $1.99 billion in 2022, according to the company.
After cornering the market for live music, Disguise is branching out into live news and sports, as well as Hollywood productions. It’s working with NBC News on election coverage and Netflix Inc. on shows such as Sweet Tooth. It has also collaborated with the Portland Trailblazers to inject augmented reality into its basketball broadcasts.
All this has helped Disguise eclipse $100 million in sales. To get to $200 million, it needs to hire more people. To that end, it’s working with the investment bank Raine Group to help raise money to expand.
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
