Mixed Reality on Monday Night Football: Inside The Famous Group's 'Flying Razor' Virtual Segment at Gillette Stadium - Sports Video Group

As mixed world continues to go much commonplace connected unrecorded sports broadcasts and in-venue experiences, The Famous Group (TFG) continues to up the ante. On Monday astatine Gillette Stadium, the virtual-event shaper teamed up with ESPN, Gillette, and the New England Patriots to make the archetypal unrecorded commercialized mixed-reality acquisition connected an NFL broadcast, featuring aggregate layers of mixed media during the Patriots’ Monday Night Football matchup with the Bears astatine Gillette Stadium.

. A elephantine razor flying effortlessly onto the field. Neon greenish everywhere. Innovation each implicit the place. ICYMI checkout #GilletteLabs Stadium. #MNF pic.twitter.com/nhlHqiAFud

— Gillette (@Gillette) October 25, 2022

In summation to serving arsenic the latest showcase for mixed-reality exertion successful a unrecorded sports broadcast, the conception besides showed disconnected the much-anticipated renovations acceptable to beryllium completed astatine Gillette Stadium for the 2023 NFL season. The “GilletteLabs Stadium” MR pre-game segment, which was portion of Proctor & Gamble’s advertizing run for its Exfoliating Bar razor, featured a elephantine razor floating implicit the field, a neon-green videoboard emulating what is to travel with the renovations, and a closing fireworks sequence.

“It’s been awesome to collaborate with Gillette connected the :45 2nd mixed world experience,” says Andrew Isaacson, a recently named Partner astatine The Famous Group and longtime EVP of concern development. “Fans [could] not lone the gathering of the razor from the stadium’s namesake sponsor, but besides their archetypal look astatine the highly anticipated renovations coming to the Stadium. The task is different mode TFG continues to innovate successful MR and deepen the instrumentality experience.”

Behind the Scenes: Creating a Virtual Giant Razor and Neon-Green Stadium

The Famous Group utilized Epic Games’ Unreal Engine and Pixotope to make existent clip graphics that were merged with the unrecorded broadcast provender via 2 tracked cameras. The machines and infrastructure were provided by XR Studios and Thistle Communications, SMT handled the tracking.

Due to the information the country was produced successful a real-time 3D environment, TFG could usage a highly precise 3D scan of the stadium (provided by TruePoint Laser Scanning) to find and spot the virtual objects wrong the close camera space. Sound plan was produced by Firebird Sound and the piece’s euphony provided by APM.

“This was highly adjuvant successful this activation,” says Erik Beaumont, Head of Mixed Reality, The Famous Group “as a ample information of the contented was matching the caller stadium’s look and consciousness virtually to however the stadium presently looked connected the feed.”

The project, led by Executive Creative Director Hemu Karadkar, required an unusually precocious grade of precision successful bid to amusement disconnected the aboriginal Gillette Stadium architecture. TFG needed the caller architecture successful the virtual abstraction to blend seamlessly to the model with the existing stadium contempt the ongoing construction.

“Whenever we enactment with a marque oregon partner, we strive to guarantee that the merchandise matches the brand’s imaginativeness and the existent entity arsenic overmuch arsenic possible,” says Beaumount. “On Monday nighttime determination was an further constituent of unpredictable upwind that we had to woody with. A heavy fog rolled into the stadium adjacent to crippled time, but it really coiled up creating a cinematic ambiance successful the end.”

Check retired the behind-the-scenes enactment successful the power country here:

Positive Vibe: Graphics Generates Plenty of Buzz, Builds connected TFG History  

While the Famous Group has been a fixture connected high-profile sporting events for much than a decennary – including the past 17 Super Bowls arsenic good arsenic respective NBA Finals, NCAA Final Four, and NFL Drafts, Monday’s opening conception marked a caller section successful its past arsenic the first-ever mixed-reality conception during a regular play NFL broadcast.

“The feedback has been overwhelmingly affirmative from some partners arsenic good what we’ve seen connected societal media,” says Isaacson. “The full Gillette squad was a imagination to enactment with from the aboriginal stages to last delivery. Collaborating with ESPN connected the broadcast was truly breathtaking too, they were fantastic.”

“This 1 was peculiar connected galore fronts, continues Isaacson. “We got to propulsion the envelope creatively led by [Karadkar] and his team. Knowing it was going to beryllium integrated wrong 1 of the premiere sports broadcast franchises successful Monday Night Football was particularly rewarding.”

This is conscionable the latest is simply a drawstring of TFG’s mixed-reality projects connected big-time sporting events implicit the past year, including the Jackie Robinson pre-game tribute astatine the MLB All-Star Game, the NHL’s first-ever MR sequence featuring a Chipotle branded Zamboni rolling retired a elephantine burrito vessel astatine Ball Arena during the Colorado Avalanche’s Stanley Cup Playoff run, an MR version of the “golden golfer” from the trophy astatine The Players Championship, a pregame conception for Super Bowl LVI astatine SoFi Stadium honoring L.A.’s agelong Super Bowl history, and for the NBA All-Star Game pregame subordinate introductions and 75th Anniversary Team ceremony astatine halftime, among many others.

Denzel Washington honors Jackie Robinson. Chills. #AllStarGame pic.twitter.com/Tm9BEj1FHJ

— MLB (@MLB) July 20, 2022

Cool: Colorado Avalanche and Chipotle utilize mixed world during an elaborate intermission stunt. pic.twitter.com/Q0DqU5uROc

— Mark J. Burns (@markjburns88) May 18, 2022

Just deliberation of the energy, meetings and hours enactment into this mixed world lameness @THEPLAYERSChamp. 😵‍💫 #whatwouldthemastersdo pic.twitter.com/GsEFN27urP

— Geoff Shackelford (@GeoffShac) March 10, 2022