Bringing Beyoncé to Blu-ray
May 19, 2008
SANTA MONICA—Iconic brands earn that status by carving out an image outside of the expected. So, when Beyoncé and her team of creatives approached the Blink Digital staff to create an innovative and entertaining Blu-ray offering of “The Beyoncé Experience Live” DVD, all expectations were tossed aside.
“Beyoncé is such an exciting performer and this concert was such a great memory for her fans that we really wanted to push the envelope to enhance those memories,” reports Creative Services Director Michael Humenuik. “The original plan was to do a simple Blu-ray project, but Sony/BMG wanted to do something extra special. So, we created a Java application that went along with the disc.”
Making that happen took all of the Blink Digital resources, from coast to coast. “This project was the perfect example of the benefit of pulling resources from all three facilities,” reports Worldwide General Manager Steven Chester. “By having offices on both coasts we can far exceed our client’s expectations by applying as many resources as necessary to get the project done right.”
Humenuik, who oversees the art department in Santa Monica, was thrilled with the Java programming that gives fans the opportunity to pick their favorite songs from the concert, add the play list to a jukebox and then play the set from beginning to end. “Getting the jukebox to populate to show the songs that had been chosen had never been done before,” Humenuik states.
Creating the main menu intro and loop was a bit of challenge, especially since the art department was working off one approved piece of art. “We had a really great shot of Beyoncé and we used it to build the entire menu system,” Humenuik reports. “Our artistic cue came from that as well as from her art director. They wanted lots of bling, so we created a mirrored world that felt like a mirror disco ball meets the interior of a finely cut diamond meets a mid-century vibe.”
Michael Nack, Director of Operations at Blink Digital New York, points out that this release makes full use of Blu-ray’s persistent storage. “So, the next time the disc is popped back in it remembers whatever play list had been previously set up,” he says.
Beyond bells and whistles, “The Beyoncé Experience Live” Blu-ray disc gives fans amazing audio and visual clarity. “The concert was shot in HD, so the quality of the video and audio is astonishing,” Nack says. “Fans are getting to see and hear the concert in the 48k, 24-bit, which is the best there is to date.”
The Blink Digital teams went from concept to completion in just over a week and then went into to a quality assurance check, which showed them there were some issues with the Java programming. Upon discovery, Nack reports, the graphics on the disc were streamlined and polished. “As with every Blu-ray project we do, making sure that every player can play the disc is crucial,” he says. “That’s especially true as we’re adding BD-J, which is such exciting new technology, to our talents.”
Blink Digital has offices in Santa Monica , Burbank and New York. For more information, phone (310) 899-7200, (818) 526-3837 or (212) 661-6900.
|
