CASE STUDY

Kia takes overTimes Square withDisguise pre-vis
Automaker Kia supercharged the launch of its
all-electric EV6 crossover vehicle with a nighttime
unveiling to attendees in New York City’s famousTimes Square. The EV6 marks the US debut of Kia’s
Plan S strategy to roll out 11 new electric models in
the next ﬁve years.

www.disguise.one

At a glance
In this case study you will see how Chicago-based
live experience company Centerstage Global,
together with Event Producers Gail & Rice, usedthe Disguise Designer software to help Kia light upsix city blocks in Manhattan with its “Charge theCity” vision of an electriﬁed future.
Plans for the EV6 launch ﬁrst started during strict COVID-19
protocols, with the event originally designed and shot to be live
streamed from Times Square to a remote audience at home.
Event producers Gail & Rice coordinated the event, with Centerstage
Global spearheading technical production and Fivestone Studios
carrying out the content production.

44 LEDs for the big reveal“Times Square is an American landmark with a huge number of LED
video screens and pixel capacity – it’s almost overwhelming in away,” says Troy Fujimura, Head of Design and Technology atCenterstage, who acted as Screens Technical Producer for the Kia
Times Square Takeover. Times Square was selected to host theEV6’s reveal stage while the LED displays on the surrounding
buildings – 44 screens spanning six city blocks – served as thecreative canvas for the launch.
“To have the chance to completely take over all those screens withour custom content was really a unique experience,” he recalls.
Image credits: Lorem ipsum

The challenge
Working with large canvases“When you're in a large-format space like Times Square, withpre-existing surfaces, you need to understand how the screensare physically laid out,” Fujimura explains.
One of the main requirements was the need to create a ﬂow ofcontent between and over the various buildings’ LED displays.
Understanding that physical spacing in relationship to how thecreative direction was going to be achieved was a big task forthe team. And the only way to do that was in an actual 3D
model in the Disguise Designer software.
“Pre-vis was the only way to see what we were going to do
beforehand and then iterate and adjust quickly. It was key tothe content approval process,” Fujimura emphasises. “It'simpossible for the end client to look at a bunch of ﬂat ﬁles,even if they're laid out, and have any idea what's going tohappen. Accurate prototyping and modeling were the keys todiscovery in pre-vis.”

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

The challenge
Screen inconsistencies
In dealing with such a large number of screens of diﬀerent size,
age and make, the team noticed inconsistencies in colour andimage quality. “We were able to identify these straight away inthe content and test and modify the content to deal with it.”
The Times Square LED video displays are owned by many
diﬀerent advertising companies - each screen surface
controlled by individual players that need various ﬁles sent tothem. The content management team had to communicate withdozens of people to ensure that every piece of the puzzle
ended up on someone's timeline and referenced the exact timeit needed to be played. Disguise enabled all parties tounderstand the big picture and the part each of them played init.

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

The solution
Once on site and viewing the size and scope of the various
screen surfaces, Fujimura knew that creating a 3D model in
Designer was the best solution. The producers at Gail & Riceagreed: “They said ‘the only way we can do this is to pre-vis,
and the only way to pre-vis is in Disguise’,” he recalls.

The only way is pre-vis
Since the producers didn’t have vast experience using
Designer, they relied on Centerstage to render out and place allof the 40 show ﬁles in the Disguise timeline. The team thencreated a 3D model of Times Square, modeled all the screens
to be pixel accurate then UV-unwrapped the models to matchthe existing content templates.
“I'm familiar with the workﬂow so it was easy to teach it to thecontent creators. I gave them all of the ﬁle delivery specs andshowed them the way we modeled them. So it was a very clear
and straightforward path between content production andseeing content straight away on the model, unlike other
workﬂows that can be somewhat confusing andtime-consuming,” says Fujimura.

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

CENTERSTAGE“What made Disguise such an
essential part of this process wasthat it’s such a great tool tovisually communicate with. It was
really [our common language].
Kia’s senior management was inSouthern California and in Korea,
and with such a diverse and global
group, working visually was theonly way to convey our ideas.”
Troy Fujimura
Head of Design and Production

Results
Fujimura reports that, “As with so many of these projects, goingfrom concept to pre-visualisation, seeing the Kia launch inreality and, most importantly, seeing it meet all expectations
was really very special and very rewarding. All of the
pre-planning paid oﬀ, and the show looked great!”

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

Success“As COVID restrictions have eased, there have been more andmore people in Times Square, so seeing them immediately pullout their phones during the launch and take photos of all thecontent surrounding them was fantastic. We loved justwatching them being wowed by this overwhelming look,”
Fujimura concludes.

40

44

66.8k

video ﬁlesrendered

LED video screensin Times Squarecity blocks surface
covered by LEDcontent

YouTube viewsWatch the reveal here

Image credits: Lorem ipsum

Disguise equipment usedDESIGNER
Designer is the ultimate software
to visualise, design, andsequence projects at every stage,
from concept all the way throughto showtime.
Find out more

In Partnership withProducer: Gail & Rice
Executive Producer: Kathleen Doroan
Content Management: Jonathan Moore and Janae Ely
Content Creation: Fivestone Studios
Project Lead: Traylor Woodall
Technical Production: Centerstage Global
Screens Technical Production: Troy Fujimura
Technical Director: Bruce Holland
Lighting Design: John Miller

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