London-based design studio Marshmallow Laser Feast (MLF) has created an epic sensory driving laser show, with the help of a fleet of cars and pop star tech-evangelist will.i.am.
Filmed on a disused runway outside Madrid, the aim behind the ambitious project was for the singer and the drivers to hit an intricate sequence of lights and sensors on the tarmac in time to the music, creating a choreographed laser light show. "We wanted to recreate the feeling of standing in front of a massive cathedral or wandering through a forest: something vast, atmospheric and sensorily stimulating," Mark Logue, creative technology producer at MLF, tells WIRED.co.uk.
In this exclusive behind-the-scenes video, you can see the entire challenge unfold -- from the building of the vast set to will.i.am conducting the music behind the sound desk.
The team used more than 350 lasers and lights to stage the installation -- which could be seen from ten miles away -- creating their own real-time software to turn the music and the cars' engine noise into interactive graphic waves. The result? The runway was turned into a giant "laser street stave", triggering a pulsing display of lights synchronised precisely to the rhythm of a will.i.am track (the musician was involved as part of a promotional tie-in with Lexus, which supplied the cars and devised the concept).
MLF began planning the spectacular in January, but had just 24 hours to turn the concept into a reality. "We had to pre-visualise the environment to make sure there were as few surprises as possible -- but there were still lots of variables we had to deal with that were beyond our control, from the surface of the tarmac to the drivers themselves," Logue says.
After a week spent building the elaborate set, nature didn't prove to be on the team's side when it came to filming. "In order to perfectly capture the haze of the light, it's important to have good weather -- and we were hit by gales and even rain."
With no storyboard or scripting, Logue describes the stunt as a "big leap of faith", but with the help of an army of expert technicians and a lot of persistence, they successfully pulled it off.
Logue describes MFL's inspirations as diverse: "Everything from large-scale rock concerts and architecture to the frilly tendrils down the sides of a jellyfish and delicate patterns of light that dance along the floor."
And MFL's future projects are no less ambitious in their scope. "We're now exploring salt flats in the Atacama desert using 360-degree cameras mounted on drones. Virtual reality is also another big area we're interested in exploring." Watch this space.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
