Pandora Presents: Sebastián Yatra Powered by Verizon

Overview

Brand
Pandora, Verizon

Technology
Virtual Production

Platform
Mobile

Industry
Music

Release Date
9th Sep 2022

Introduction

In partnership with Pandora and Verizon, Magnopus produced a groundbreaking concert featuring multi-platinum singer-songwriter, Sebastián Yatra.

“The technology used in the Verizon 5G Lab to make this performance extra special was incredible. I never thought I’d perform with a hologram of myself. Thank you to Pandora for bringing this event to my fans.”

— Sebastián Yatra

The brief

Pandora and Verizon teamed up with Magnopus to take Yatra’s creative concepts to a whole new level to make the seemingly impossible possible—setting the scene for the artist to connect with fans in ways never seen before.

The solution

Multi-platinum recording artist Sebastián Yatra performed a show-stopping virtual concert powered by Evercoast volumetric capture technology, Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network, and mobile edge computing.

The highlight of the production was seeing Yatra sing a duet with a digital hologram of himself. The creative possibilities of using real-time technologies enabled him to perform both parts of the duet, with both the real and digital artists interacting naturally as if they were on stage together.

Specialized cameras captured Yatra on the XR Stage at Verizon’s 5G Lab in Los Angeles. LED screens displayed five stunning virtual environments that shifted to match the camera's perspective. This effect makes the physical stage walls seemingly disappear (similar to effects used in shows like the Mandalorian).

A volumetric capture and playback of Sebastian’s hologram were then placed into those environments, allowing the artist to perform side-by-side with himself for an iconic rendition of his hit song, Tacones Rojos—all powered by Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network and mobile edge compute platform.

It all came together to create an immersive XR stage as a backdrop to Sebastián’s live show with an abstract scene for each track. Once the creative direction was signed off for each concept, we crafted each world from scratch—a process involving intricate scene building, animation, lighting, and visual effects timed to the music.

We built five different worlds. Each setting was inspired by Sebastián’s music videos and iconic live performances. The scene below, for instance, created for Tacones Rojos, took inspiration from elements like sunlight and city feel. The immersive golden city has a feeling of movement, bringing fans into the space and surrounding them with abstract structures and neon signs.

The impact

Not only was an innovative virtual concert created, but this project was the first step towards a revolution in filmmaking. By offloading part of the rendering pipeline to the cloud via edge compute, we proved that multi-million dollar machine rooms aren’t required to be on-site to run an LED wall stage.