Samsung The Wall for Virtual Production – Photo Credit: Twickenham Film Studios/Quite Brilliant

Samsung Electronics has today announced it’s teamed up with Twickenham Film Studios (TFS) and award-winning Virtual Production (VP) experts Quite Brilliant (QB) that will see Samsung’s cutting-edge VP technology housed at Twickenham.

All parties will work closely together to push Virtual Production as a creative, cost-effective and more sustainable production process. Installation of the new facility is to be completed by the end of May 2025.

This represents Samsung’s first major LED screen build in the UK and its third globally and will be housed at Twickenham’s historic Stage 3. It will be one of the largest permanent LED Display sound stages in the UK with a 24 x 4.5 metre back wall, a 105 sq metre LED ceiling and additional LED mobile totem walls along with a permanent turntable and motion control crane.   

It also underlines Samsung’s commitment to supporting the creative industries within the UK. Samsung has been selected due to its superior picture quality, one of the most important factors in virtual production.

The LED wall itself boasts Samsung’s latest IVC 2.1 pixel pitch technology and ARRI colour calibration management system. The ultra-large LED wall creates virtual content that can then be integrated with real-time visual effects technology providing an incredible result.

Deborah Honig, Chief Customer Officer at Samsung Electronics, said: “As one of the world’s leaders in picture quality and screen technology, we are excited about the possibilities of how this could transform Virtual Production.

“This technology opens the door to limitless potential for filmmakers, producers and content creators from various industries by amplifying digital effects, while making virtual content creation easier, faster and more cost effective. Alongside our ambitious partners at Twickenham Studios and Quite Brilliant we are excited to usher in a new era of excellence within this area.”

“Having taken over Twickenham Film Studios in 2012, this new venture marks the next phase of our multi-year strategy to invest in Twickenham’s future. Samsung is our ideal partner. They see the value of our world-class award-winning team and appreciate our approach in balancing investment in technology with investment in our people.  This is why we are a preferred facility for so many of the world’s greatest filmmakers.” said Sunny Vohra, owner of TFS.

“Twickenham Film Studios has been my home for the last 5 years, and I love being based here. Their talented team are always committed to delivering the very best. This great partnership with Samsung reinforces Twickenham’s position for the future as a vital part of the British Film Industry.” said Kenneth Branagh.

“With five years and more than 200 VP projects under our belt, we have designed the stage, in partnership with Samsung to meet the needs of producers and directors.  This is designed by filmmakers for filmmakers. The stage will service all projects from features and television to advertising and social content. This is a bold statement about Twickenham’s commitment to the future of the UK film, television and media industry” said Quite Brilliant’s Managing Director, Chris Chaundler.

Russell Shaw Quite Brilliant’s Head of Virtual Production added; “The stage will service all projects from features and television to advertising and social content. This is a bold statement about Twickenham’s commitment to the future of film making, supporting the UK film, television and media industry and embracing new technologies”

Samsung will also have a base at the historic studios in Twickenham, widely recognised as a centre of excellence in post-production with an Oscar-winning team.

Additional Technical Information on the LED Volume Stage/Technology

To display colours as accurately and consistently as possible, The Wall for Virtual Production features 3D lookup tables (LUTs) for colour correction, wide-gamut HDR colour processing and colour adjustment between individual cabinets or modules.

Meanwhile, the integrated Virtual Production Management (VPM) software and its intuitive interface make it easy and more efficient to manage the screen and facilitate the highest possible picture quality in a virtual production environment. The VPM is also capable of detecting and resolving any potential LED-related issues.

The new IVC P2.1 model includes a curvature range that can stretch up to 5,800R, which creates a more realistic field of view. The display also packs an updated genlock feature that keeps The Wall in line with the system’s signals, so there aren’t any dropped or doubled frames. This capability — along with the enhanced phase offset feature that adjusts the time delay between camera and screen — ensures a perfect image.

The Wall for Virtual Production features top-of-the-line capabilities, including:

• An improved 4:9 ratio that provides a variety of installation options, including the ability to be hung or stacked with other screens to maximise results in different production environments.

• A 12,288 Hz refresh rate that minimises flicker lines and ensures a clear outcome, regardless of the camera used during filming.

• Black Seal Technology+ that delivers the purest black levels for new depth. Users will experience unparalleled contrast that is specifically designed to be resilient to the dust and particles common in production environments.

• 20-bit processing to present exact colour mapping with faultless accuracy and a precise linear greyscale that shows the intricacies of every scene. Users will be able to see realistic textures, volume and continuous shadow details.

“Through the launch of The Wall Professional, we are changing the way users interact and the way businesses display content by delivering a one-of-a-kind visual experience,” said Seog-gi Kim, Executive Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “This first-of-its-kind display is just one product in our broad InfoComm 2018 line-up aimed at providing a state-of-the-art, next-generation visual experience. We look forward to sharing our vision for what’s next with our customers, partners, and peers at the world’s largest event for AV(audio visual) professionals.”

The Wall Professional: The Future of Display Technology

A business-ready variation of one of CES 2018’s most talked-about consumer displays, The Wall Professional’s modular design is configurable and customizable. It provides perfect black and superior colour purity in a bright environment, as well as in the dark. The stylish design of The Wall will modernize any corporate lobby, museum, gallery or luxury retail space. The Wall Professional is highly reliable and efficient. In any arrangement, the display’s HDR10+ technology and MicroLED pixel modules produce unparalleled peak brightness of 1600nit, excellent colour presentation and brilliant imagery free of colour filters or backlighting

Great Black – Black is the essence of detail. The Wall forms the essence of black. The fusion of an exceptionally black base with a specialized ultra-low reflection black technology delivers pure black levels for unparalleled contrast and immaculate detail.

Great Colour – True detail comes from true colors. The Wall’s inherent colour qualities, with two times superior colour purity and a wider colour gamut than conventional LEDs, produce vibrant-yet-natural colours for an awe-inspiring visual experience.

Great Refinement – Cutting-edge innovation is the fruition of refinement. The Wall’s industry-leading picture quality engine—advanced HDR picture refinement, HDR10+ and more—possesses an intuitive capability to render optimum peak brightness and an extremely accurate grayscale expression for true-to-life imagery.

MagicINFO 6: Simplifying Content Creation and Management

The MagicINFO 6 is Samsung’s latest content management platform that allows businesses in any environment to conveniently create, schedule and deploy content across their entire digital signage network. The platform is powered by the TIZEN 4.0 operating system which offers seamless remote ability for both software and hardware, and supports remote management, enabling content teams to update message designs and schedules from any location at any time. The MagicINFO 6 is the industry`s best platform to support the hardware device with health checks for error detection and troubleshooting. It is compatible with all of Samsung’s signage based on the TIZEN 4.0 OS including The Wall Professional, the new QMN and QBN Series Intelligent UHD displays, and the IF Series LED Signage.

Dual Sided Outdoor Signage: Double the Ads, Maximize the Revenue

InfoComm 2018 attendees will also be the first to see Samsung’s Dual Sided Outdoor Signage display (Model OH85N-D). Backed by the TIZEN 4.0 OS, and available in an 85-inch display, the Dual Sided Outdoor Signage will be available for spaces such as bus-stop shelters and street benches. With advertising content showcased on both sides of the display, the signage is expected to maximize advertising revenue for featured businesses.

Intelligent UHD Signage: A Powerful and Versatile Experience

Also based on the TIZEN 4.0 OS, Samsung’s new QMN Series (500nit brightness) and QBN Series (350nit brightness) Intelligent UHD displays achieve crisper and clearer content for users seeking a more powerful and versatile experience. The displays’ intelligent engine automatically upgrades FHD content from any source to sharper, clearer UHD quality, improving the viewing experience instantaneously and without extensive manual input. The global launch of the Intelligent UHD Signage, including North America, will be this June.

IF Series LED Signage: Superior Picture Quality

Samsung will also showcase its fine pixel pitch IF Series LED Signage (P1.2 model), which will be available in the United States in June this year. These cutting-edge displays combine Samsung’s leading video processing technologies with HDR picture refinement to add clarity and sophistication to featured content—all with a compact, easy-to-maintain design. This includes specialized scene-by-scene adaptation technology that optimizes gradation and brightness levels within each individual content frame, to produce the most detailed and realistic picture possible.

For more information about The Wall Professional, visit: https://displaysolutions.samsung.com/led-signage/thewall

Zurich, 20 March 2018 – The movie screen and traditional projection technology are a thing of the past! The Samsung Cinema LED screen with 24 million LEDs illuminates a huge area of 10.2 meters in width to 5.4 meters in height. With unprecedented color brilliance, luminosity and sharpness, viewing pleasure in cinemas is greatly increased further. In addition, there is a new sound system with perfect surround sound at every seat. The innovative screen is not only celebrating its European premiere in Zurich. Thanks to 3D equipment, Switzerland’s film city is also home to the world’s first 3D LED cinema.

The brand-new Cinema LED technology is currently only available as a prototype in Seoul, near Samsung headquarters. Now the Samsung Cinema LED screen is celebrating its European premier in Switzerland.

Together with Samsung, the innovative Swiss entrepreneur and owner of Arena Cinemas Edi Stöckli is installing Europe’s first Cinema LED screen in a movie theater. Mr. Stöckli’s cinema complex Arena Sihlcity will be the first one, in the heart of the film city Zurich.

New possibilities of interior design are created thanks to elimination of the projector beam and the high luminosity of the Samsung Cinema LED screens. Edi Stöckli, owner of Arena Cinemas, added: “We have removed the complete furnishings, implemented an innovative seating concept and consequently are providing the audience with the ultimate cinematic experience.”

Thanks to the DCI (Digital Cinema Initiative) certification, the system also has the blessing of Hollywood. As a result, nothing stands in the way of enjoying Hollywood blockbusters in unimagined quality.

LED technology takes the cinema experience to a new level

The 10.2 times 5.4 meters large cinema LED screen consists of 96 individual modules, which can be replaced individually. The impression of a solid black wall is created thanks to the seamless installation and high-precision calibration. Consequently, ‘true black’ makes the movie theater pitch dark, because there are no reflections anymore.

The special format of 4,096 times 2,160 pixels (4K ‘full’) enables      of the two customary cinema formats ‘flat’ and ‘scope’. This can be done without the disturbing dark gray stripes, which are known from projectors. Because there is no projection beam, black is really deep black here. The image is always sharp and precisely aligned in all areas.

The luminosity of the wall is 10 times stronger than with conventional projectors. Thanks to LED technology, a luminous intensity of up to 146 fL (foot-lambert) or 500 nit is achieved – and this with reduced average power consumption compared to a conventional projector.

Contents produced in High Dynamic Range (HDR) format can be played optimally thanks to the high contrast range. Color brilliance is maintained even in the brightest scenes. All details are still visible even in the darkest scenes. 3D films are also shown to their full advantage with this. 3D and LED, an absolute novelty in the cinema world. The ARENA Cinema in Zurich is the world’s first 3D LED cinema!

The audio specialists JBL and HARMAN are supplying the associated immersive sound technology. JBL’s ‘Sculpted Surround’ system and the innovative design of the speakers create a clear and natural surround sound that is evenly distributed throughout the room.

Samsung is working with a number of high-profile chains & theatres to bring this new technology to UK cinema-goers in 2018.

Breaching limits

Thanks to the equipping with many interfaces customary with Samsung and known from professional screen field, the connection of external players is made possible for information, advertising, presentations and games. The Samsung Cinema LED Screen is optimally prepared for secondary uses, which is becoming increasingly important for cinema operators.

Especially practical, the cinema screen is designed for 24/7 operation. Daniel Périsset, Head of Samsung Business, Samsung Electronics Switzerland, is delighted about this technological change. “Samsung always tries to go the hilt and advance technological progress to make life easier for people and enrich their lives. We have once again succeeded in doing this with the new LED Cinema Screen. We are already looking forward to the use of the screens in other movie theaters.”

Andy W. Bohli, Managing Director and owner of Imaculix AG, is pleased to start a new cinema era together with the innovative project partners. We are proud to ring in the next revolution in cinema technology with our partners Samsung Electronics and Arena Cinemas. “We installed the first laser projector in Switzerland in-house two years ago, and now we are taking the next logical step for the best possible movie theater experience. Our self-developed Cingerine Digital Signage System will also provide information and advertising on the screen here.”