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CNN's Hologram Tech

post #1 of 17
11/5/08 at 9:38am
Thread Starter 
So what did people think of CNN's hologram technology? I thought it was kind of goofy and Wolf Blitzer saying it lends greater intimacy without people being distracting in the background is hardly a selling point. If that's really the issue, then why not just stick the correspondent in a tent by herself like she had to for the hologram? If this catches on, it's essentially an amped up "I'm reporting live but nothing is going on right now."
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post #2 of 17
11/5/08 at 10:23am

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

Was that a real 3D hologram or just a video feed played against a blue screen?
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post #3 of 17
11/5/08 at 10:41am

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

How it works:
Cnn Hologram: How the CNN Holographic Interview System Works
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post #4 of 17
11/5/08 at 10:57am

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

Just another step in "creating" the stage, the background and now images of reporters. Much of their stuff is already done in front of a green screen.

It was kind of cool. Obviously not up to Star Trek level, more like Jessica Yellin said, similar to the Princess Leia Star Wars hologram scene.
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post #5 of 17
11/5/08 at 11:35am

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

Big deal, it was just green screen/chromakey. I can do that on my home computer.
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post #6 of 17
11/5/08 at 11:55am

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

I am disgusted that none of the people appearing on it had the wit to say, "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope" and hold this cheap publicity stunt up to the ridicule it so richly deserves.

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post #7 of 17
11/5/08 at 8:01pm

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

I'm always troubled by gimmicks and journalism. They invariably distract from whatever they're being used to cover. And if the point of the hologram is to lend "greater intimacy without people being distracting in the background", than why did they have to outline all of the "holograms" with glittery sparkles? Way more distracting than unruly kids flipping off the camera or holding up "Hi Mom!" signs in my book.

That being said, I was suitably impressed with Chuck Todd's virtual, Greek column-rimmed set. The way the results floated in mid-air next to him in 3D made me think: the future is here. This is the kind of stuff '80s movies hypothesized for TV in the future.
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post #8 of 17
11/6/08 at 4:04pm

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

did CNN actually say this was a hologram or is it just what it is being called by everyone else.
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post #9 of 17
11/6/08 at 4:14pm

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

That's CNN's branding. To be clear, it's just more sophsticated green screen compositing.
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post #10 of 17
11/7/08 at 8:59am

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

Well, less sophisticated when you look at the actual clip. It didn't look as good as an average green screen composite does, especially if you consider the fact that HD cameras were used for the hologram bit. It does look cool, I'll admit, but how useful will it be?
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post #11 of 17
11/7/08 at 9:13am

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

Isn't this more like the holo-communicator seen on DS9, circa year 4 and 5?
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post #12 of 17
11/7/08 at 2:59pm

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian Borst
Well, less sophisticated when you look at the actual clip.
By more sophisticated, I was referring to the fact that it's being done live, on-the-fly. As compared to the weather forecaster who is the only "real" thing in the shot, this CNN method requires matching angles and scale and integrating into a three-dimensional space. The actual quality of the compositing, which has to be handled automatically by computers, is naturally lower quality than properly-rendered traditional compositing.
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post #13 of 17
11/7/08 at 3:02pm

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

I haven't seen it myself, but from what I've read, it's not so much the compositing at the very end, but the fact that it's "3-D" at the source. (Therefore, they can do camera moves in the studio. First, the moving superimposed first down line in football, now this.) They might have even gone for the Princess Leia look specifically to smooth over any glitches; like the uncanny valley, "definite gimmick" is better than "what's wrong with this picture"?
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post #14 of 17
11/8/08 at 12:26am

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

I read an article that claimed that the hologram could have looked better, but they deliberately added the blue tinge to make it clear that she wasn't just standing in the room.

It seemed pretty pointless to me. There was nothing that it provided that you wouldn't get by a plain ordinary on-location link, and was just a chance for CNN to show off. And I didn't think it was much to show off, because the whole thing was just composited for us at home. Had the hologram been visible in the studio to Wolf Blitzer, that would at least have been cool technology to watch, but as it is it was just a more advanced green screen.
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post #15 of 17
11/8/08 at 6:51pm

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

Totally pointless to me. More branding of the news.
Unlike the 'smart map' which kinda had a use (if occasionally seeming like a giant iPhone app), this was lame. I'll take a split screen any day.
And it didn't make me think of Princess Leia so much as Darth Sidious...not a great association!
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post #16 of 17
11/9/08 at 10:14pm

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

It was stupid, and I don't like how the real anchor has to make-pretend that he is looking at a person when he is really just looking at an empty part of the studio set (since he cannot see the "hologram" since it is not a hologram. Also, calling it a "hologram" when it is just a fancy chroma key is misleading.

On another channel, it may have been ABC, there was a reporter walking around a circular rotunda that was completely animated. It looked like it had been animated in the late 1980s it was so fake looking.
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post #17 of 17
11/10/08 at 4:08am

Re: CNN's Hologram Tech

Quote:
Originally Posted by Will_B
On another channel, it may have been ABC, there was a reporter walking around a circular rotunda that was completely animated. It looked like it had been animated in the late 1980s it was so fake looking.
It was NBC, and it was intentionally stylized.
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