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Millions of French people watch the July 14th parade on television every year, many more on all digital broadcasting media, but only a few thousand see it on the Champs-Élysées avenue.
With the use of "4D" image technology, France Télévisions offered all its audiences the opportunity to experience the parade as if they were there, freezing time and exploring space. During the live show, in a few seconds, each battalion and each piece of equipment was slowed down to the extreme and a virtual camera was able to show it at 180°.
An unprecedented experience in the field of live news broadcasts.
In the heart of the military parade
The July 14 parade was prepared as a high-precision military operation. The soldiers set off at the split second, for a millimetric progression from which nothing can divert them. And time marches along with the men, too fast, one subject chasing the other. In spite of the considerable resources deployed each year by the major media groups and the quality of their services, the images are furtive, the angles of view limited.
This year, France Télévisions wanted to offer a new vision of the parade, by taking more time to discover each element specifically, by allowing us to see it from different angles, as if we were all along the Champs-Élysées and were all experiencing the parade in a privileged way. A challenge in the rigid unfolding of the event.
The live of July 14th in 4D - explanation in pictures :
Freeze the live video
The MediaLab de l'Information proposed to the editorial staff to use a technology that is now appearing in some live broadcasts: volumetric video, otherwise known as "4D image".
Until now, this technology was reserved for big-budget action films for sequences that froze time and allowed for virtual movement within the image. The film Matrix was a pioneer in this field, with this type of technology called "Bullet Time".
The principle is to have the same subject filmed by a multitude of cameras, often arranged in a circle around the action. By synchronizing all these images, the rigger recreates the scene in 3 dimensions and selects the shots he wants, like a virtual camera, which can navigate through the image.
Even today, this technology still requires significant technical resources, protected shooting conditions and often heavy and time-consuming calculation work, carried out in post-production after shooting.
For the July 14 parade, during the live, outdoor event, it was necessary to be able to provide the sequences in a few seconds, with significant filming constraints, imposed by the need for discretion of the device so as not to hinder the event and the public present.
4D sequences available in less than 10 seconds
The MediaLab called upon a South Korean start-up, supported by Orange: "4D Replay", one of the only companies to offer a sufficiently reliable solution for this project.
It installed 60 lightweight DSLR cameras on a 45-meter long rail on the edge of the Champs-Élysées. Each of them filmed a specific point in the center of the avenue, from a significantly different angle.
The solution allowed us to generate the possibility of 180° movement around the subject.
In consultation with the editorial management of France Télévisions, we decided to create a complete rotational movement around each subject, with some specific shot values according to the size configuration of the scrolling elements.
Each piece of equipment, each battalion, each vehicle could be filmed as it passed in front of the device, about 100 meters before its arrival in the main TV broadcast area. In less than 10 seconds, a video sequence, ready for broadcast, was provided to the director, well in time to illustrate the on-air subjects.
It was an unprecedented performance.
The sequences of the parade in 4D :
A new vision of television
At a time when television is undergoing a fundamental transition from these broadcasting models, multiplying the media and formats to meet new uses, live broadcasts of major events remain major events that must also benefit from innovative contributions and propose a different editorial offering, in line with audience expectations.
Making it possible to play with time and space in order to offer a new vision of live events was an unprecedented experience that enabled France Télévisions to break new ground in the media universe.
