We all know Hercules, however Disney Cruise Line’s latest ship – the Disney Destiny – is placing a spin on the basic movie and story in quite a lot of methods. Disney has staged theatrical variations of its animated films for years, however Hercules aboard the Destiny isn’t simply one other musical and separates itself from more moderen variations.
One means is that it’s a showcase for among the most superior projection, monitoring, and lighting expertise at the moment being utilized in reside leisure, and it additionally makes use of exoskeletons – extra on these at a later date, although. One second specifically, throughout Meg’s “I Won’t Say (I’m In Love),” pushes that tech additional than you’ll ever anticipate inside a cruise-ship theater.
During the quantity, the 5 Muses stand elevated behind Meg, their white robes wrapped in daring, animated stripes of sunshine. In one in all our unique photos, the projection lands completely throughout their our bodies and the columns beneath them. Yet Meg, who’s standing straight within the projection’s path, stays fully untouched.
There’s no spill on her dress, no faint color halo around her, nothing that suggests a projector is firing straight past her torso. To the audience, it looks as though Meg is being “cut out” of the projection in real time – something you’d expect to see in film VFX, not on a moving live performer on a ship that’s moving.
The Walt Disney Theatre accomplishes this using a combination of real-time LiDAR spatial tracking, multi-projector pixel masking, and theatrical lighting. Cameras and sensors around the theater constantly generate a 3D model of the stage environment. As performers move, the system tracks them and delivers that data to the projectors at the back of the house.
It’s essentially live occlusion masking, the same principle used in mixed-reality stages and virtual production, but executed with theatrical projectors in front of an audience of hundreds. And yes, the theater’s lighting – which Disney custom-built – helps a lot with the effect.
Disney Live Entertainment Producer Arin Dale explained the foundation of the effect: “We have cameras all around the Walt Disney Theatre that allow us to project onto the walls but also onto the scenic pieces. We have LiDAR technology… to really create that immersive environment and that really fun moment for our Muses.”
Of course, an effect like this is only as good as the surfaces it hits. The Muses were costumed in bright white fabric that reacts predictably to projected light.
Dale recalled how early the team was testing the concept: “Our video designer was like, ‘Hey, I have this idea.’ And the directors loved it. We tested it in L.A.… We were workshopping it, asking ‘Is this going to work?’ And it was like, ‘Yep, that’s what we’re doing.’” She added that the very first test garments were “makeshift costumes that we cut by hand the night before.”
The Destiny, like the other Wish-class ships before it, was built with this level of projection technology in mind. Walls fit for environmental projection, scrim-based illusions, and dynamically mapped scenic elements have become signature tools for Disney Cruise Line’s newest productions.
Dale noted that “Moana was probably the first one that we used [this technology] in a really significant way. And then I would say Hercules, we’ve taken it and bumped it up even more. You learn new things every show.”
It’s a perfect example of how we can blend technology and storytelling to bring joy and wonder to the audience.
Arin Dale, Disney Live Entertainment Producer
But the scene isn’t just a tech flex. It’s a storytelling choice. The Muses appear mythic and stylized, their glowing projections turning them into something larger than life. Meg stays grounded, literally outside the projection’s light – a human in contrast to the goddesses advising her.
Dale said it best: “The scene adds a whole new immersive layer… and gives us a way to tell Meg’s story that we’ve never tried before. It’s a perfect example of how we can blend technology and storytelling to bring joy and wonder to the audience.”
It also works because the production itself is so strong. Much like the experience with the Haunted Mansion Parlor on the Disney Treasure – and even the new Olaf robot that may quickly roam the parks – the tech right here elevates the immersion and enhances the storytelling quite than competing with it.
Hercules on the Disney Destiny is a contemporary retelling that takes basic songs and spices them up with new preparations, pacing, and an amazing solid that brings Hercules, Meg, Phil, Hades, Pain, and Panic to life in recent, participating, and genuinely entertaining methods.
It did make me need to watch the basic on Disney+, one of many best streaming services, once more.
Beyond the consequences themselves, the Walt Disney Theatre feels nearer to a contemporary Broadway home than a cruise-ship venue. It’s geared up with expertise designed to immerse audiences within the orchestra or up on the balcony. The Dolby Atmos soundscape is great, the projection system can lengthen imagery past the stage and onto the encompassing partitions, and the theatrical lighting and tracked projections create a surprisingly expansive canvas.
Hercules was a standout of the voyage – tightly paced, thoughtfully staged, and supported by a solid that delivers sharp, coordinated motion even whereas acting on a ship that’s at all times in movement.
Specifically with Meg’s “I Won’t Say (I’m In Love),” this impact places her into perspective with the Muses and provides immersion to the dialogue as she strikes in entrance of them and ultimately into the viewers with a single highlight – all whereas the Muses proceed embracing the projection mapped throughout the scenic parts.
And that’s precisely what the impact does. It disappears into the second, supporting the narrative whereas counting on a degree of real-time technical precision not often seen in reside theater. If that is the place cruise-ship leisure is heading, the subsequent period of stage expertise goes to be way more bold – and way more seamless – than most audiences understand.
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