With over ten years of experience in advertising, photography, film and television production, the Shanghai MuShang Advertising Co., Ltd. is familiar with the use of cutting-edge technologies to enhance customer experiences. Its latest brainchild, (MuShang XR stage (木上製造), uses cutting-edge technology including Brompton Technology LED processing, ROE Visual screens, Mark Roberts Motion Control cinebots, Unreal Engine and disguise media server hardware, to deliver visual creativity and high-quality productions.
“We’ve been working in the creative industries for over a decade and know all too well the complexities associated with large-scale, outdoor production settings,” explains Henry Sha, the Founder of Shanghai MuShang Ad CO., Ltd. “From manpower to lighting equipment, to tons of things in between, we wanted to bring a more efficient and cost-effective way of doing productions to our clients. Virtual production technology was exactly what we needed to bring infinite possibilities to businesses and production companies, as well as cut costs and reduce our carbon footprint.”
Located in Shanghai, MuShang XR stage features a large LED wall measuring five metres tall by 12 metres wide, made up of ROE Black Pearl BP2V2 LED panels and driven by two Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors. Disguise vx 4, vx 2 and rx II servers running Unreal Engine are also part of the set-up, with Mark Roberts Motion Control high-speed cinebots completing this array of game-changing production equipment.
“Brompton is the industry’s gold standard in LED processing for video walls so there was no question about which processors to deploy at our new MuShang XR stage – it had to be Brompton!” exclaims Sha.
Sha notes that the company’s experience in graphic advertising, which includes photography and graphic design, helped them venture into film and television production, with most of their current projects being TV advertising. “The majority of our clients come from the FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) industry, but with the introduction of the new XR stage we hope to bring additional opportunities when it comes to creative applications for larger scene’s such as car ads,” he adds.
One of the key features of the Tessera SX40 processor that is crucial for MuShang’s team is the system-wide Genlock and synchronization function, which ensures Tessera processing system is genlocked from the video input all the way down to the LED refresh cycle, delivering perfect video with no dropped or doubled frames. “It’s paramount to have genlock functionality when it comes to using XR technology to perfectly synchronize the frame rate of all task devices in XR. Not all the processors have Genlock functionality, so it gave us additional peace of mind to know that Brompton’s Tessera processors have it as a standard offering,” continues Sha.
Another feature the team is excited to use is Tessera’s HFR+ (High Frame Rate) which allows video content to be played on an LED screen at up to 250fps (frames per second), perfect for high-speed car chasing scenes. Precise colour adjustment and colour control is something else the MuShang team can easily manage using the latest Tessera software.
“Whilst virtual production technology is being widely adopted by the creative industries for different kinds of applications, the use of XR technology is still at a relatively early stage,” concludes Sha. “The stability of the engine, the accuracy of space and colour calibration, the synchronization of frame rate, and the sensitivity of spatial position capture are all critical elements; just a single error in the chain can cause an XR production to look less smooth. Brompton’s LED processing is part of our industry-leading, bullet-proof setup where all the equipment works together to deliver the optimum result. We are excited beyond words to bring the power of extended reality technology to Shanghai with our MuShang XR stage, meeting the growing demand for virtual productions in the region!”
Photo: © Mushang XR Stage, Shanghai