Katy Perry's Super Bowl Halftime Show and the Magic of d3

The d3 Media Server/ Video Production Suite is the technology behind the mesmerizing 3D animations seen during Katy Perry Super Bowl XLIX Halftime Show.

Some people were riveted by what many deem the worst call of the century, some preferred Katy Perry’s soaring vocals and fire-queen attire, complete with a giant, red-eyed, metal battle lion. Others just can’t get enough of Left Shark. Last Sunday's Super Bowl had many entertaining moments, but we at BLI cannot stop talking about those amazing halftime 3D animations.

The elaborate digital stage design, brought to life by a floor consisting of durable, high-quality LED screens and 80 calibrated projectors, featured playful scenes such as the sandy beach and lightly crashing waves shown during Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream/California Gurls” medley. For her “Firework” finale, the stage floor displayed colorfully exploding fireworks as she flew above the crowd with the help of a shooting star.

Lightborne, the event company which produced the event and created the animation content, had worked with Katy on some of her previous performances and sought out d3’s technology to help execute these ambitious animations. With d3’s innovative software/hardware production suite, they produced one of the most memorable halftime shows yet.

If you need it, build it.

During U2’s Vertigo Tour in 2006, United Visual Artists (UVA), a creative company based in London, needed a way to visualize an elaborate set design consisting of a large 360° transparent screen array surrounding the stage, all before building the concert sets at various arenas and stadiums. Production details also required a robust output feed editor and a time-line sequencer for live-camera input -- the crew set hidden cameras amongst the crowd and displayed their feed as a grid that ultimately resolved into a live shot of Bono during “One”.

UVA’s solution: d3. Since then, d3 has become its own company, allowing them to provide their software/hardware package to a number of creative agencies.

As d3 was used to support more large-scale events, including Madonna's MDNA Tour and the Red Hot Chili Peppers Dreamforce Tour, it became clear that d3 was the best choice for productions of this scale and caliber. d3 has the capacity to build show details according to the show’s production design, music cues, and venue specifications all within its real-time 3D stage simulator. d3 became crucial for pre-show troubleshooting, allowing production companies to account for potential problems before rehearsals and showtime.

All-in-one. Who needs more?

d3 knew from the beginning that the most efficient way to transfer a virtually built show into a live-event output tool would be to integrate their own output hardware into the system. Because d3 built the package according to the intricate needs of large-scale 3D video production, they were able to integrate different workflow stages into one package instead of having to deal with multiple platforms at varying times.

Multi-media, one awesome look.

What's really cool about D3 is you can define all your elements, including LED and traditional lighting fixtures, screens for 3D animation display or performer image magnification (IMAG), and video projection, all as separate modules. You can layer these multi-media modules and display them as continuous elements on a single canvas. D3 can play video and lighting content through different types of displays seamlessly, correcting for any image bleed or disconnect in real-time. So you can have a large, multi-surface display comprised of projections, LED displays, and lighting all coming together to create one cohesive, dynamic image.

Checkmate

The results, shown in last Sunday's broadcast, are visually breathtaking. Out of all the carefully crafted projection-mapped scenes, the Dark Horse 3D animations impressed us the most. During this song Katy's dancers, dressed as chess pieces, leapt atop a 3D image of a chessboard encompassing the entire stage floor.

All seemed normal until a dancer gracefully dipped Katy, and the entire chessboard dipped along with her. This unexpected shift in in the chessboard's angle echoed the choreography sublimely, turning the stage into an unexpected member of Katy's dance troupe.

d3 is currently at the apex of multi-media, multi-platform integration and the hardware built to drive it is on the forefront of modern live production. With the help of d3, Lightborne’s halftime show pleased audiences, and with a whole 360 days out, we're anxious to see what Super Bowl surprises are in store for us next year.