Disguise powers Sing Sing Rabbit and Kelly Chen’s joint music video

When asked to create a music video that would bring together two of Hong Kong’s biggest stars, Votion Studios knew that virtual production offered the technology to blow audiences away. In this case study, discover how extended reality (xR) powered by Disguise helped Votion’s team to deliver the artist’s bold vision with only two days of shooting.

Summary

Two stars collided when multi-creative artiste & singer-songwriter Sing Sing Rabbit teamed up with superstar singer Kelly Chen for the first time to create a music video. Sing Sing Rabbit wanted an intergalactic story that would features scenes set in a spaceship, a desert, and on a utopian planet.

In this case study you will discover how Hong Kong-based reactive agency Votion Studios, with the help of Disguise VX 4+ and RX II servers, together with Fabric, helped turn Sing Sing Rabbit’s vision into a reality.

The challenge

Even though they were hand selected as the perfect partner to deliver the project, Votion Studios were aware of the scale and complexity involved in developing three out-of-this-world virtual scenes. 

“This was the largest xR music video production we’ve seen in Hong Kong,” says Weito Chow, Director of Production and VFX. “There has been nothing on this scale before.”

Additionally, the packed schedules of the singers meant the entire music video would need to be shot in just two days following a limited three months of pre-production including rehearsal days.

The process

Shooting the video using xR made perfect sense for the production, giving both stars the opportunity to perform in an immersive set while empowering the crew to efficiently film across a range of locations.

“We were constantly communicating with A.T, the video’s director, making sure that his imagination could be projected onto the LED volume,” says Chow. 

Working with both Unreal Engine and the Disguise workflow, the team built a pre-visualised set that was deeply adaptable. As well as offering assurance to the crew before they even set foot in the xR stage, this process meant that the Director of Photography would be able to make on-the-fly adjustments to lighting and colour throughout the shoot.

The solution

With everything tried and tested before setting foot on set, the crew were able to efficiently move through each of the scenes being shot. When sets needed to be changed, the process was quick and simple, with Disguise’s seamless workflow ensuring effortless interaction between the VX 4+ media server, the RX II rendering node, graphics engine, camera tracking, LED screens and lighting.

Results

The video’s launch in early August 2023 marked a major Cantopop event, bringing together one of the genre’s biggest established names with the scene’s most exciting rising star. It was fitting that the video for BIG lived up to the blockbuster appeal of the artists involved. Though Chow had very little time on-set to put together such an impressive spectacle, it’s clear that he always had confidence his team would be able to deliver.

“Surreal, exotic scenes are perfect for xR production,” he says, “and the stability of Disguise’s xR system leaves us free to focus on creativity.”