(Christopher Polk, Getty Images for Coachella)
More about the sale of Digital Domain:
• Tupac hologram maker Digital Domain sold for $30M (MyDesert.com)
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A holographic image of Tupac Shakur performs Sunday, April 15 during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio. (Kevin Winter, Getty Images for Coachella)
The company that created the Tupac hologram at Coachella 2012, Digital Domain Media Group, is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Despite the buzzworthy festival performance and the company’s other high-profile projects, a company official wrote in court papers that Digital Domain is “running out of cash,” The Associated Press reports.
Read more on our sister site:
• Tupac hologram maker ‘running out of cash,’ files for bankruptcy (MyDesert.com)
Nearly two months after Coachella headliners inspired a fascination with bringing dead celebrities “back to life” via holograms, the creators finally face a reality check.
The estate of Marilyn Monroe is threatening legal action against the company that wants to make a Monroe hologram, “Virtual Marilyn,” The Hollywood Reporter said Monday.
The estate claim the hologram infringes on their exclusive rights to Monroe’s image, while Digital Domain Media Group argues they’ve been in development for so long that the statute of limitations on any objections has expired.
The Hollywood Reporter story points out that this has legal ramifications for all celebrity holograms:
The holographic Tupac Shakur performance at Coachella proved that digital resurrection of deceased celebrities could be an emerging trend, but the rights needed to pull off the spectacle are far from clear. The “Virtual Marilyn” concert is said to use the same technology as the Tupac one (observers debate whether it is technically a hologram).
We’re proud to say the hologram trend started right here in the Coachella Valley, when Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg debuted their hologram on April 15 at the Empire Polo Grounds in Indio.
Tupac’s mother Afeni Shakur was reportedly thrilled by the hologram that brought her son “back to life” to perform during both weekends of Coachella.
A rep told TMZ.com at the time that Dr. Dre asked Tupac’s mom for her OK before creating the hologram and that he made a donation to the rapper’s charity .
One celebrity estate that’s already given their OK to move ahead with the hologram? Elvis Presley Enterprises. They gave the greenlight for Digital Domain Media Group to use his image for films, TV and other shows.
See Virtual Marilyn sing “Bye, Bye Baby”:
With only hours to go until Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg hit the main stage again to wrap up Coachella 2012, few out here are wondering about their all-star guests like Eminem and 50 Cent.
That’s because the headliners themselves arethe all-star guests.
In a brief but amazing insider piecefrom RollingStone, the hip-hop and rap legends’ friends say the festival performance meant relieving “how we used to get down together.”
They also talk about the realistic hologram of Tupac Shakur — and how its debut in Indio made Dre “ecstatic” and has spurred talk of a joint tour.
See our previous coverage of Tupac here, including details about the international buzz it sparked, how they made it and how much it cost.)
“I got emotional, just tripping off it,” Warren G told RollingStone.com. “I was saying to myself, ‘Dr. Dre, he always knows how to do game-changers.’ That’s what I love about him.”
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg hit the Empire Polo Grounds again at 10:35 p.m. tonight to wrap up the two weekends of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival.
A holographic image of Tupac Shakur performs Sunday, April 15 during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio. (Kevin Winter, Getty Images for Coachella)
As you might expect, that much-talked-about headlining set from Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg is one of the MyCoachella team’s top picks for Sunday.
Other acts that are worth your while: The Hives, Girl Talk and Florence + the Machine.
Before we get to today’s set times, a scheduling note: While most of Coachella set times have been unchanged since last weekend, almost all of Sunday’s Sahara Tent performances start a little earlier today than they did a week ago.
MyCoachella’s Kate McGinty notes that this keeps AVICII from competing with the headliners.
Here are today’s Coachella set times, with band names linked to past coverage and top picks italicized:
COACHELLA STAGE
Mantastique 1 to 1:40 p.m.
Band of Skulls 2:05 to 2:55 p.m.
Santigold 3:25 to 4:15 p.m.
Fitz and the Tantrums 4:45 to 5:35 p.m.
The Hives 6:05 to 6:55 p.m. (One of MyCoachella’s top picks and winner of Sonya English’s award for best stage presence)
Justice 7:45 to 8:45 p.m.
At The Drive-In 9:10 to 10 p.m.
Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg 10:35 p.m. (One of MyCoachella’s top picks)
OUTDOOR THEATRE
Sleeper Agent 12 to 12:30 p.m.
Lissie 12:50 to 1:30 p.m.
Metronomy 2 to 2:40 p.m.
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80 3:10 to 3:55 p.m.
The Growlers 4:20 to 5:05 p.m.
Wild Flag 5:30 to 6:15 p.m.
The Weeknd 6:55 to 7:45 p.m.
Girl Talk 8:25 to 9:15 p.m. (One of MyCoachella’s top picks)
Florence + the Machine 9:45 p.m. (One of MyCoachella’s top picks)
GOBI TENT
Alf Alpha 11:15 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Fanfarlo 12 to 12:35 p.m.
Housse de Racket 12:55 to 1:30 p.m.
Le Butcherettes 1:55 to 2:40 p.m.
Greg Ginn and the Royal We 3 to 3:45 p.m.
Real Estate 4:10 to 4:55 p.m.
Thundercat 5:20 to 5:55 p.m.
Gaslamp Killer 6 to 6:45 p.m.
The Airplane Boys 7:10 to 7:55 p.m.
Company Flow 8:20 to 9:10 p.m.
DJ Shadow 9:40 p.m.
MOJAVE TENT
Tyler Uppercut 11:15 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Gardens & Villa 12:05 to 12:45 p.m.
Oberhofer 1:10 to 1:50 p.m.
First Aid Kit 2:15 to 3 p.m.
Wild Beasts 3:25 to 4:10 p.m.
Beats Antique 4:35 to 5:25 p.m.
araabMUZIK 5:50 to 6:40 p.m.
Gotye 7:10 to 8 p.m.
Beirut 8:30 to 9:20 p.m.
Modeselektor 9:45 p.m.
SAHARA TENT
Jimbo Jenkins 11 to 11:50 a.m.
Mogan Page 12 to 12:50 p.m.
NOISIΛ 12:55 to 1:45 p.m.
Zedd 1:55 to 2:45 p.m.
Flux Pavilion & Doctor P 2:55 to 3:50 p.m.
Porter Robinson 4:05 to 5 p.m.
Dada Life 5:15 to 6:10 p.m.
Nero 6:30 to 7:40 p.m.
Calvin Harris 8 to 9:10 p.m.
AVICII 9:40 p.m.
Snoop Dogg talked to TV show The Insider at the premiere for the film “Marley” about his and Dr. Dre‘s Coachella performance with the recreated image and voice of Tupac Shakur.
“It took us a little time to get it right, but it was all in the spirit of love and bringing back the true spirit of one of the greatest hip-hop legends of all time,” Snoop Dogg says at roughly the three-minute mark of this video:
Snoop Dogg, left, and a holographic image of Tupac Shakur perform Sunday, April 15 during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio. (Christopher Polk, Getty Images for Coachella)
The companies that created the hologram of Tupac Shakur that performed Sunday at Coachella aren’t saying much about how they did it.
But MyCoachella reader Ekke Tõnissoo pointed us toward a graphic Roxanne Palmer put together for International Business Times, which shows how Tupac was brought back to life by illustrating a Musion Systems patent based on an old theater trick. Palmer also notes that “hologram,” a term for a three-dimensional image, is actually a misnomer for Musion’s 2-D Tupac.
Also, the Los Angeles Times’ Deborah Netburn reported some new details today on how the late rapper’s image and voice were recreated:
A holographic image of Tupac Shakur performs Sunday, April 15 during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio. (Kevin Winter, Getty Images for Coachella)
Company spent four months creating virtual Tupac from video footage, photos
By Deborah Netburn
Los Angeles Times (MCT)LOS ANGELES — The late Tupac Shakur rose again Sunday night at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival — brought to life by James Cameron’s visual production house, Digital Domain, and two hologram-imaging companies, AV Concepts and the U.K.-based Musion Systems. The image joined headliners Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre for two songs.
Dre is quiet about reports he’ll take the holographic Shakur on tour, and he’s asked Digital Domain and AV Concepts to refrain from telling the press too much about how they rendered the musician.
“He doesn’t want the magic spoiled for the people who will see it” during his set at the second weekend of the Coachella festival, a spokeswoman for Digital Domain told the Los Angeles Times.
Still, those familiar with special effects say the holographic Shakur was created using the same concept as an old magic trick, Pepper’s Ghost. The trick is to have a transparent piece of material that will reflect an image projected onto it while still allowing other people on the stage to move behind and in front of the image.
In the past, the transparent material was usually glass. For Sunday’s show, it was Mylar, a highly reflective, lightweight plastic, stretched on a clear screen customized by AV Concepts to descend onto the stage in seconds between sets of the performance.
If that makes the creation of a holographic Shakur seem easy, it’s not — especially because the performance was not based on archival footage. “This is not him performing at some point, this is completely original, exclusive performance only for Coachella and that audience,” Ed Ulbrich, chief creative officer at Digital Domain, told Bloomberg News.
And because Shakur was a real person with a devoted fan following, it was crucial to get all his mannerisms, tattoos and voice correct. The company created the virtual Tupac from video footage and photos of the rapper, working on the project for about four months.
Click the poster to view the full version on AUX.tv
Coachella 2012 hasn’t wrapped for the final time yet (or even restarted for its second weekend), but there’s already a fake lineup poster for Coachella 2013 floating around.
Canadian music channel Aux was so taken with Tupac Shakur’s hologram performance that they’re envisioning an all-hologram Coachella next year, with headliners Michael Jackson, The Clash, and Mozart.
Perhaps the biggest surprise in next year’s hoped-for lineup: Jesus is listed last — behind even “Rappin’ Rodney” Dangerfield — on Sunday’s bill.
I don’t know about you, but I’m dying to know what’s in store for Weekend 2 of Coachella.
Fans will want their own experience, not simply a rehash of spoiled surprises from last weekend — but the first weekend was so hot, that we’re sure they’ll want to see somev of these iconic moments recreated, too.
Here’s my Top 10 Moments of Coachella (weekend one). What do you think?
10. Rapper and producer Tyler, the Creator joined up-and-comer Frank Ocean onstage for a rendition of their collaboration, “Analog 2.”
9. M83 rocked the tent so hard that front man Anthony Gonzalez crashed to the ground stomach first, then posted on Facebook: “”I think I saw Katy Perry dancing on midnight city yesterday night. Katy, let me write your next album:)”
8. Grouplove paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston, singing her 1987 hit “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.
7. Kaiser Chiefs singer Ricky Wilson sprinted down the center aisle and climbed the media tower in the crowd, hamming it up by singing directly into the camera.
6. Actor and Coachella regular David Hasselhoff stole the show during Arctic Monkeys’ set when his face flashed onto the big screen, almost immediately landing The Hoff on the Twitter trending list (and stayed there!).
5. Gotye hit the Mojave tent one night after playing Saturday Night Live, and tens of thousands of fans sang along as Kimbra joined him onstage for their single “Somebody That I Used to Know.
4. Rihanna — who later had the words “Thug life” scrawled across her stomach in an ode to Tupac — joined DJ Calvin Harris to sing their hit “We Found Love” while pal Katy Perry crowd surfed.
3. Black Lips frontman Cole Alexander dropped his pants in an, um, intimate move with his guitar, the one and only X-rated move on stage over the weekend.
2. Usher jumped onto David Guetta’s DJ booth to surprise fans with a brief but delicious tease — less than a minute performance of their hit single, “Without You.”
1. Superstars Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent and even Wiz Khalifa with his giant joint were completely upstaged when the legendary Tupac — the rapper shot and killed 15 years ago — showed up.
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And a (dis)honorable mention for The Moment That Wasn’t:
AVICII rocked the Sahara tent hard — but without the “amazing,” “mind blowing” and “surprising” experience (Madonna rumors, anyone?) the DJ and his camp hyped for days.
The hologram image of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur that rocked the Coachella main stage could go on tour with an all-star lineup, several media outlets reported Monday.
When they performed Sunday, headliners Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg brought with them a powerful cast of hip hop and rap stars: Eminem, 50 Cent, Warren G, Wiz Khalifa and Kendrick Lamar.
Tupac, though, was the one who stole the show — more than 15 years after the rapper, one of the best selling music artists in history, was shot and killed.
During a five-minute performance, Tupac appeared to rise from the main stage and yell: “What the (expletive) is up, Coachella?”
The shirtless Tupac — complete with his signature tattoos, low-riding jeans and Timberland boots — worked the stage at the Empire Polo Grounds as he rapped with the real-life Snoop Dogg.
After their repeat performance next weekend, Dre and Snoop Dogg could go on tour with the “virtual Tupac,” and possibly Eminem, 50 Cent and Wiz Khalifa, the Wall Street Journal reported.
“This is just the beginning,” Digital Domain’s chief creative officer, Ed Ulbrich, told WSJ on Monday. “Dre has a massive vision for this.”
The hologram from the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is the first one ever to “perform” a new song, one that was not based on archival footage, according to multiple media reports.
The illusion was created by projecting three stacked images of Tupac onto a 30-foot by 13-foot screen that quietly descended onto stage during the set, the New York Daily News reported.
The unprecedented illusion rocked the online world Monday, with major news and entertainment sites — including Billboard, E! Online, MTV and Rollingstone — weighing in.
It has been a trending topic on Twitter since the moment Tupac rose onto the stage, and more than 13,000 people have followed the Twitter account HologramTupac.
“Tupac at Coachella is crazy, dope and sends chills through my body! Make sure y’all check that out. Looks 2 real!” basketball star LeBron James tweeted after the performance.
Dr. Dre — who is widely credited as the mastermind behind the illusion — has not granted interviews on it, and no one has explained how Tupac appeared to say “Coachella.”
The illusion cost anywhere from $100,000 to more than $400,000, the president of the San Dieg-based AV Concepts told MTV News.
“We worked with Dr. Dre on this and it was Dre’s vision to bring this back to life,” MTV quoted president Nick Smith as saying. “It was his idea from the very beginning and we worked with him and his camp to utilize the technology to make it come to life.”
After his apparent reincarnation on the Indio stage, Tupac froze back in place, with his hands at his side and head down, before dissolving into a quick explosion of light.
WARNING: This video contains expletives.
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