Produced by the acclaimed Dentsu creative director Kaoru Sugano, Japanese girl group Perfume’s performance last week at SXSW 2015 was nothing short of mind boggling. Featuring complex visual projections and synchronisation of military precision, the massive production team of the SXSW performance created a dizzying, seamless audiovisual treat with the help of enormous technical production talent from Daito Manabe. Somehow, they manage to make an audience in a very small room feel as if they are floating through outer space.
Among the “tricks” Manabe utilised in order to build this performance was an elaborate projection mapping system projecting visuals onto both the stage itself and translucent screens set in front of the trio. Motion capture on both the singers and the cameras made it possible for the projections to be calibrated and adjusted in real time.
The rest of the techniques used to make this intricate performance as spectacular as it was remains a mystery, but Sugano and Manabe have undisputedly produced a work that is a million miles beyond what we have ever seen before.