TORONTO – Cast BlackTrax has become an official technical partner of the Eurovision Song Contest this year in Malmö, Sweden. BlackTrax is a tracking technology solution that delivers 3-D and 6-D positioning to controllers for interfacing automated and robotic technologies used extensively in event production.
More details from Cast (http://www.cast-soft.com):
TORONTO – Cast BlackTrax is ready to wow the crowd once again during the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, Sweden as one of the show’s technical partners.
The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Each member-country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries’ songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. The winner this year will then host the competition next year.
The program, produced by Sveriges Television, aims to take the show to a new level by working directly with manufacturers to use new technologies and existing technologies in a new, innovative way.
ESC Technical Director Ola Melzig has played a major role in Eurovision since its last appearance in Sweden in 2000. He has built a technical model whereby chosen manufacturers, or “Technical Partners,” don’t simply supply equipment – they become involved with technical staff and support of the newest technologies in the entertainment industry.
The 2013 ESC and CAST have agreed that BlackTrax Solution can be used to provide tracking of the talent and props during interval and opening acts.
Melzig and lighting designer Fredrik Jönsson were researching new technology during PLASA 2012 and saw the potential for BlackTrax to automate the production with realtime tracking. BlackTrax allows spontaneous, seamless tracking of performers and props and CAST saw the potential to demonstrate and promote the powerful combination of creativity + artistry + technology – the next revolution in entertainment production.
It was during PLASA that BlackTrax nabbed the only Gold Innovation Award. The technology had also won a “Game Changer” Award at NAB earlier that year. The Eurovision creative team knew that BlackTrax would take the production to the next level.
BlackTrax is a tracking technology solution that delivers precise 3-D and 6-D positioning to controllers for interfacing automated and robotic technologies used extensively in event production. Using proprietary IR and RF, it delivers dynamic streaming positional data with six degrees of freedom (x, y, z, plus roll, pitch & yaw) to 3-D and spatial audio, automated lighting, multimedia servers and robotic cameras – all at the same time, in realtime.
One or more people wear a BTBeacon, which is tracked in the defined space by BlackTrax. Anything tagged with a flip phone-sized battery-powered BTBeacon, which carries an IR LED, gyroscope, accelerometer, and tiny wireless radio, is tracked inside the space of up to 160 feet (49 meters) in diameter at over 100 frames per second by the overhead BTSensors. In parallel, the Trackable’s orientation – roll, pitch and yaw – is communicated by RF directly to the BTServer. Should the IR line-of-sight become momentarily obstructed, the BTBeacon’s onboard Inertia Measurement Unit provides double-redundant 3-D positioning via its tiny radio transmitter.
“We’re excited about this opportunity to showcase BlackTrax during the Eurovision Song Contest, one of the most-watched television programs in the world,” says Gil Densham, president of Cast BlackTrax. “It’s not only an infamous setting for music and kitsch, but also for pushing the envelope in its technological pursuits.”
Fans can learn details of the daily setup for the show via the Eurovision Diary (www.m-m-pr.com/index.php/esc-diary-2013), and for the first time, the 2013 ESC will host PLASA Focus Backstage Malmö, specifically created for this project at which only Official Technical Partners will present in a hall inside Malmö Arena. This special trade fair is open to invited guests, VIPs and the general public, all of whom will also get a special backstage tour.
Eurovision will be broadcast live in select countries worldwide, as well as live streaming at www.eurovision.tv. The first and second semi-finals will be held May 14 and 16, respectively, and the finals on May 18.
