EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – Custom hats equipped with LED lights allowed fans to become part of the Super Bowl Halftime show and other moments during the game. PixMob’s technology used infrared to control these wearable LED devices, producing multicolor video effects in sync with sounds and visuals.
More details from PixMob (www.pixmob.com):
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ – PixMob unveiled the first ever human video canvas for the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime show at the MetLife Stadium on Sunday, February 2nd, 2014. Pepsi invited Bruno Mars to perform onstage while 500 field performers and 80,000 live spectators were incorporated into the show through a debut presentation of PixMob VIDEO technology. The Super Bowl Halftime show is the most-watched musical event of the year, reaching an estimated global audience of 125 million in 2014.
To enable this year’s performance, custom hats equipped with LED lights were handed to every spectator upon entry to the stadium, while field performers held PixMob LED panels. Working like a TV remote, PixMob’s technology used infrared to control these wearable LED devices, producing multicolour video effects in sync with sounds and visuals. People became part of the show as PixMob hats and panels acted as pixels, transforming the crowd into a huge display screen and creating an engaging and memorable user experience. ‘The 2014 Super Bowl Halftime show was such as amazing feeling’, stated Vincent Leclerc, PixMob Creative Director, ‘it encapsulated perfectly what PixMob is all about – creating living, breathing works of art by connecting crowds and reinventing fire rituals.’
PixMob’s technology uses infrared to send instructions wirelessly to pixels worn by audience members, creating colourful light effects across a crowd. PixMob VIDEO, the newest adaptation, allows show producers to create live video effects using the audience as a canvas. This patented and groundbreaking technique allows for real-time transmission of colour information onto any number of mobile pixels at hundreds of thousands of individual locations up to 300 meters away, without the need for geo-location.
As easy to use for in-house lighting directors as it is for the engineers who developed the system, PixMob VIDEO is controllable via computer. A video server sends a video feed to transmitters, which then send instructions to pixels at over 100,000 locations over wireless infrared in real time. The pixels can then change colour and form according to the information received, allowing the show controller to easily design their desired lighting experience.
‘The main idea behind PixMob VIDEO is to offload the geo-location onto the video transmitter to keep the pixels simple and reactive’, says Vincent. ‘We’ve worked many years to create and fine-tune a PixMob transmitter that in essence is very similar to a traditional digital video projector. Our projector beams digital information over infrared onto people, instead of visible colors onto a white canvas’.
Imagined in Boston in 2006 when CEO David Parent spent a week crashing with Vincent Leclerc at MIT, PixMob is the result of a desire to create interactive experiences with the ability to change human perception. PixMob looks to connect crowds to create innovative events such as the Arcade Fire balloon drop at Coachella 2011, the Cirque du Soleil Microsoft Kinect launch, and the Eurovision Song Contest.
PixMob VIDEO will be used next during Tiësto’s residency at Hakkasan Night Club in Las Vegas on February 28. This builds on a year-long partnership between PixMob and the world’s best-known DJ.
PixMob VIDEO will be used during Tiësto’s residency at Hakkasan Night Club in Las Vegas beginning on February 28 and then on every night of his residency for the remainder of 2014. This builds on a year-long partnership between PixMob and the world’s best-known DJ.
Over 110 million people in the U.S. alone watched last year’s Super Bowl Halftime show. To connect with fans and enhance their NFL experience, Pepsi returned last year as the title sponsor of the Super Bowl Halftime show, bringing the brand’s Live for Now mind-set and one-of-a-kind consumer engagement to provide fans a Halftime experience worthy of pop culture’s biggest stage. PixMob would like to thank Pepsi, Ricky Kirshner and the NFL for this opportunity.
