Lucid Technologies and Black Light have confirmed the launch of Edinburgh-based Black Light Virtual Studio, powered by Lucid Technologies. The studio is a realisation of the two companies’ expertise and experience.
Always close to its clients’ ever-evolving needs, lockdown prompted Black Light to immediately turn up the heat on discussions already ongoing with Lucid Technologies. The two companies have worked together to create a permanently installed, Edinburgh-based XR studio which enables customers to continue with production in a safe and socially-distanced environment – as though they were anywhere in the world.
The Black Light Virtual Studio powered by Lucid Technologies is a five-metre-cubed studio and one of the largest in the UK. It easily allows for more than one socially-distanced person to perform within the space. As an environment to produce live or pre-recorded events it enables production teams and the wider entertainment technology industry to get back to work while all live venues remain closed.
The virtual studio combines action in both the physical reality, in which the performance takes place; and augmented reality, which enables production actions in physical reality, such as lighting movements from a real lighting console, to take place or be recreated in the virtual space.
Black Light’s spacious warehouse environment is well placed to socially distance all performers and members of the production team. The space available allows a staggered set up at least two metres between production desks to ensure a safe working environment.
Lucid Technologies MD, Klean Dalton, said: “We were really focused on making this studio experience as close to a ‘real-life’ live event as possible from the production perspective. Otherwise, for clients coming in to use the space it’s too far from reality. We’ve made it so the production teams for video, lighting and sound, can come in with their clients and do their job.”
Black Light’s Calder Sibbald, added: “Whilst we were already in discussion with Lucid regarding a joint venture, the current COVID-19 pandemic meant we needed to react much quicker than we may have. I am delighted that we have managed to bring this facility not just to Edinburgh but to Scotland as a whole. It will allow us to generate work for both our in-house team as well as our freelance pool during these difficult times. We have already had great interest from a variety of sectors and look forward to seeing the creative development of the space.”
The project collaborators include: Black Light, Lucid Technologies, Warpro, The LED Shed, Fix8 Group, Faber Audio Visuals, Dark Art Creative, Creative Alchemy One, Analog Studios, Trench One, Mike Guest Photography and GLS.