TVBEurope gets an exclusive insight into how the Strictly Come Dancing graphics, lighting and audio teams have introduced augmented reality in this years series.
By Jenny Priestley
Published: December 10, 2020
TVBEurope gets an exclusive insight into how the Strictly Come Dancing graphics, lighting and audio teams have introduced augmented reality in this year's series.
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin> TVBEurope gets an exclusive insight into how the Strictly Come Dancing graphics, lighting and audio teams have introduced augmented reality in this year's series.
https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/the-augmented-reality-elephant-in-the-ballroom title=Share via Email class=share-email>
It may be 16 years old, but this year's Strictly Come Dancing has been as popular as ever. Viewers have taken to social media to express their joy at the show that's brought sparkle back to our screens, and helped lift everyone's spirits.
It's not been easy to bring the ballroom back in the year of the pandemic, and the production team deserve all the plaudits they've received for their hard work to get the show on air. But rather than sit on their laurels, Strictly's production team have been particularly innovative by bringing augmented reality into the mix. From the racing cars in week one, to the elephant that appeared during Bill Bailey's Quickstep, augmented reality has featured every week during the live shows.
The use of AR has been a real team effort, involving both the lighting and audio teams, as well as companies, Mo-Sys and Potion Pictures. While this year is the first time AR has been employed in the show, it's something the team has been considering for a while. We've previously used perspective in the floor to create the illusion that the dancers are standing on top of a lighthouse or wedding cake, or skyscraper, explains Potion Pictures' managing director David Newton, who also serves as the show's graphics designer.
That's been really effective but the big drawback is you can't move the camera. Likewise, we've had concepts where the production team wanted to place something in the scene, and we've done chess pieces, falling glitter and bats, but again you can't move the camera. Using AR was a chance to expand on those concepts and bring everything together a little bit more.
Newton was asked by Strictly's producers to look into the possibility of AR, and chose to use Unreal Engine as they were already starting to use it for real time rendering. Mo-Sys's name kept coming up in relation to AR and camera tracking, and Epic Games said Mo-Sys have a plugin that works great with their software and we were comfortable with using Unreal so it all sort of added up.
Everyone involved came together for a demo day at BBC Studioworks' Studio D at BBC Elstree Centre. They already had the little reflective stickers in the ceiling of Studio D that are critical to the tracking system so it was a logical place to do the demo, explains James Uren, technical director at Mo-Sys.
Once the producers were happy with the demo and test days, planning got underway for the series proper. Eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed AR has featured in at least two dances each week. Amazingly, the planning for each dance only begins days before we see it on screen. We pretty much always start on a Monday. We'll have a meeting about it the previous Friday, and then on Monday we'll start the work for that week's show, says Newton.
One thing we were really keen on from the beginning was that the technology shouldn't drive the concepts and the creatives. We wanted the creative team to come to us with the concepts in the same way they have previously done with the screen graphics. During the demo day we demonstrated some of the things that they could possibly do. Most weeks it's very much led by the creative team. The show's creative director Jason Gilkison and producers that work with him come to us with a concept and then it's up to us to try and make that work in AR.
Using AR looks great on screen, but there's always the possibility that the couples will end up dancing right through it. How do the team ensure that doesn't happen? Newton cites Clara Amfo's recent jive, which featured an AR record player. The first draft of the record player had it much further down stage, we thought the original starting position was going to be camera right. So we sort of changed how a record player works to actually have the arm on the other side. But it all changed, and it went further upstage and there were a few more meetings about where it was going to go, what colour it should be, what side the arm was going to be, how many letters of complaint we would get if the records spun in the wrong direction, he laughs.
One of the good things about using Unreal is that it's a real-time renderer so you can make those changes quickly. It'd be great to have all the information uploaded at the beginning of the week and that not change but the realistic thing, especially this year on a show like Strictly, is that it's a creative process and everything is going to continue to develop during the week. Using Unreal lets us react to that, without it taking 12 hours to render. At this point I should pay tribute to my colleague Joe Phillips, who's the lead designer at Potion Pictures and has done all the Unreal work on Strictly this series.
As well as the graphics, Strictly's lighting is a key component of the augmented reality employed in the show. David Bishop, the show's lighting director, says it's been interesting to explore the relationship between lighting and AR. In my mind there are two routes with AR, you have to either make some
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
TVBEurope gets an exclusive insight into how the Strictly Come Dancing graphics, lighting and audio teams have introduced augmented reality in this years series.
