Philips Lightvibes World Premiere Event in Germany

Introduction

By now you are likely to be aware of my enthusiasm for the Philips Lightvibes immersive cinema experience (Philps have added the “True Immersive Cinema” as the tag line to the system now). So I was very excited to be offered the opportunity to visit another installation, this time in Bochum, Germany to see what the effect was in a multiplex auditorium, rather than the traditional subdivided one which the Gensis, London is.

The screening was the world premiere of Sweet Summer Sun – Hyde Park Live, an iconic live concert film by The Rolling Stones, which was screened on July 15 at Odeon & UCI Cinemas Group’s KINOWELT Ruhr Park cinema in Bochum, Germany. The UCI KINOWELT Ruhr Park was built in 1991, making it one of the oldest multiplexes in German (the first was built in 1990), although it has been refurbished with the number of screens reducing from 18 to 14 and the addition of raked seating. One screen is dedicated to iSens a Premieremium Large Format brand. It is the first cinema in Germany to be equipped with the Philips Lightvibes concept.

Jim Slater wrote about Lightvibes in the September 2014 edition of Cinema Technology Magazine, but for those that don’t know what Philips LightVibes is, it a system which aims to create a truly immersive experience for the audience by adding subtle, meaningful lighting effects to your peripheral field of vision during the film that will enhance the concert. You can find more on their website here: http://www.philips.com/lightvibes and this video provides an idea of what the experience is like: https://vimeo.com/110898231/

Business to Business Presentations

There was a set of short 5-10 minute presentations aimed at the cinema professionals about the importance of Event Cinema, from Melissia Cogavin at the ECA. Melissia’s presentation was mainly based on who the ECA are and what they do along with some statistics from the research they did with IHS. Peter Worsley, Managing Director of Digital, Theatrical and Entertainment from Eagle Rock – Universal Music who produced the concert talked about some of the challenges involved and Jens Heinze, Manging Director Germany & Austria, UCI Kinowelt gave an overview of the Odeon UCI group across Europe and their current strategic vision, along with some key milestones for UCI Kinowelt in Germany since 1990, when the first multiplex was built in continental Europe (it was UCI Kinowelt Hurith Park).

The Story of Lightvibes

As part of the above presentations Scott Kachelek, Head of Global Business Development, from Philips gave a presentation about the use of lighting in architecture and other areas of entertainment, specifically around Opera or Theatre with examples of both. He provided examples of some of the current different types of cinema experiences (Conventional Cinema, Drive-in Cinema, Roof-Top Cinema, Deluxe Cinema, Dinner Cinema, Hot Tub Cinema, Bed Cinema, Arts Cinema, Lounge Cinema). The presentation was trying to make the point that these other venues, such as the opera or the theatre start to create the feeling of being part of the experience from the moment you see the building, right up to the way that the lights are used on stage as part of the performance to make you feel like you are on the stage. Scott went on to talk about how Philips has been and is involved in various aspects of lighting, especially their stage lighting experience, before moving on to the elements which make up the Philips Lightvibes product. At the moment they are using Philips Lumionous Textile for the soft illumination wall panels which are 1.2m wide and 6.48m high and then covered in standard acoustic fabric. Above the panels are two sets of lights, a Philips Showline SL PAR 155 Zoom with a 3,200 lumen output and a Philips Showline SL Beam 100 1,500 lumen output moving head. At the back of the auditorium is installed a Philips Color Kinetics iColor Cove MX Powercore with 1,269 lumen output per metre.

The presentation went on to explain where Philips believed that Lightvibes could generate new revenue via Event Cinema, Advertising, Pre-Shows and Seminars, usually by an increase in either the ticket price or the fee for the advertising. This was then backed up by some statistics from CineEurope 2014 and CinemaCon 2014, so views from other industry experts. There was also a slide to show that cinema advertising with Lightvibes created a 2x recall of the adverts, and it is true to say that even a week later I can name the majority of the adverts that we saw before the show still. From other research conducted by Philips there was some evidence to suggest that auditoriums installed with Lightvibes would see a 6x audience increase in attendance at Event Cinema concerts and operas.

We were then taken through the usual installation of the Lightvibes in the auditorium followed by the actual technical architecture of the system. Here a Lightvibes play out server is added to the digital cinema chain so that it can get data from the server in the form of the automation cues and also from the sound processor to provide the necessary sync data to then control the equipment in the auditorium. Additionally we were also shown the workflows for how the Lightvibes shows were put together, and what one of the shows would look like with the application. Lightvibes makes use of software which is already on the market, but has an additional plugin. What the above means is that, only one show needs to be created for each event and then every installation of Lightvibes will then be able to play it back, and it can work independently of the rest of the content production process, if necessary.

So the question which everyone then wants to know is what is the price for an installation, and what is the return on the investment? Philips conservatively believe that it is a 2.5 year return, based on being able to add an additional €2 per ticket for an event (or selling more tickets eventually), additional advertising revenue and additional revenue for corporate lets. The price tag is around the €65,000-€100,000 for a complete system, depending on the size of the auditorium and before the cost of installation, shipping and a license fee.

The presentation finished by looking at ‘the competition’, such as Barco Escape, Imax, 4DX Screen X and Dolby Cinema, but the conclusion was that Lightvibes was different to those, and infact could still work along side any of them.

During Scott’s presentation there was a very subtle use of the Lightvibes panels, designed to enhance what was being said.

Screening

The audience were all Rolling Stones fans who had won a ticket via a raffle which was held using social media. It was interesting to each them to see what their reactions were – while no one actually got out of their seats there were several who were bobbing along in their seats.

The actual screening of the Rolling Stones was a demonstration in a well produced concert. I understand that it was shot over two evenings with 25 cameras which allowed from really intermit shots. The biggest disappointment from the screening was actually the sound, which just was not as loud or as punchy as you would want from something like a Rolling Stones concert. However, this was almost certainly a cinema issue as we learnt that the auditorium next door was showing the opera at the same time so there was a worry about noise bleed.

There was an audience survey to fill in at the end of the screening and I know that for the most part there was a very positive reaction, with many saying that they would actively seek out a Lightvibes auditorium and would be happy to pay extra for their ticket as well.

Conclusion

This demonstration was an improvement on previous ones, although there are still some refinements that are required to be made. For me some of the lights being used were not providing much value to the experience, but it was good to hear that there were already plans to use the sorts of lights I would have picked in the future, so that should really help enhance the experience.

It was great to be given such an honest walk through presentation about Lightvibes and the costs associated with it. Personally I think it is a bit of a shame that Philips has gone down the license fee root with the product as I think that might put people off. I also think that the initial cost may put some cinemas off buying, even if there is a potential return of just 2.5 years, although I’d like to be proven wrong.

From the two installations I have seen, it has demonstrated to me, and also to the Philips team that the choice of the auditorium is really important. The dimensions make a big difference as to whether the effect works as intended or not. If the auditorium is too wide and as an audience you can’t see both walls then it is not going to work. The other thing this demonstration showed was that there is still some learning to be done around the programming of the lighting design. But this is the same as any new tool which is provided, it takes time to understand what is the correct way to really help the story telling process.

However, I am still a big believer of this product and what it is trying to achieve. It is really difficult to explain something which is so visual in the written form, and photographs don’t do the experience justice. If you get the opportunity to visit a demonstration I would however encourage you to go along.