Inside Disney’s StudioLab, Where the Company Tests and Previews Cutting-Edge Technology
“In many ways, the lab is a roadmap,” said Walt Disney Studios VP Benjamin Havey, whose Technology Innovation Group has been spearheading the development and launch of the facility. Disney Research has been toying with far-out tech for a long time. The StudioLab is committed to innovations that are being a bit closer to product stage, explained Havey.
One example for this is Disney’s attempts to reinvent the good old movie poster, which has been hanging in theater foyers for decades. The StudioLab version is based on a pencil-thin LCD display that’s mounted flush to the lab’s wall and that can be controlled from an iPad to load new content. In the future, the poster could dynamically display movie recommendations based on who is looking at it, or invite consumers to interact with it, Havey said.
The lab is also using its hallway to prototype another cutting-edge technology: A combination of projectors and internet-connected light bulbs makes it possible to project 3D scenes on three walls for a kind of glasses-free virtual reality experience. The idea behind that project is to explore ways to use 3D and VR assets in the company’s theme parks, explained Havey.
Disney built the StudioLab in cooperation with Cisco, Accenture and Hewlett Packard Enterprise. These partners help with finance and staffing, but also each bring their own expertise to the table, and help the studio develop new solutions for filmmakers.
See the full story here: https://variety.com/2018/digital/news/disney-studiolab-inside-look-1202940482/