JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong partnered with Hiller Pharma to unlock the potential of XR

Hiller Pharma, one of Hong Kong's largest audio and visual rental houses, opened a groundbreaking new extended reality (xR) studio that was powered by Disguise and based in a unique location - the JW Marriott Hotel in Hong Kong. The studio was used to power corporate events held at the hotel.

In the past 18 months, xR has been reinventing TV, film and broadcast production; yet it is not a tool made just for show business. Hundreds of use cases show that xR can be a great tool for spicing up corporate events, product launches or annual meetings.

During the initial months of the pandemic, most events across the globe were forced to move into the virtual sphere, and xR production allowed companies to hold impressive corporate programmes that could be viewed remotely while holding even more wow factor for the audience.

The impact of this has been something of a culture change, and even as in-person conferences become an option again, a new form of hybrid event is becoming a popular option for those seeking to create inclusive options for attendees and speakers alike.

When it opened its doors to the public in July 2020, Hiller Pharma’s xR studio at the JW Marriott Hotel offered a new solution for businesses looking to hold meetings and events virtually to a global, remote audience, while still capturing the excitement of an in-person staged event.

State of the art tech

The Hiller Pharma studio was able to bring this wide range of features to corporate meetings and events thanks to their long-standing history in event production, stretching as far back as the historic Hong Kong handover event in 1999, and their more contemporary collaboration with Disguise, who provide much of the technology used onsite in the studio.

Utilising Disguise’s state-of-the-art vx 2 and rx servers, Hiller Pharma are able to create seamless workflows that tie in with Unreal Engine to create stunning visuals that are then smoothly replicated across Gloshine LED panels and the Mo-Sys camera tracking system. All of these are controlled from a central Disguise unit.

The space in the JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong allowed for in-person attendance with a dynamic and vivid LED backdrop that can inject life into proceedings whilst also enabling a full spectrum of xR functionality for an audience watching remotely.

A new approach

The studio combined the flexibility of extended reality with the traditional approach of holding events in the top class corporate function facilities that hotels like the JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong are renowned for.

With the xR stage’s capability for the seamless integration of a variety of content, from videos to Powerpoint presentations, video conferencing was held live on stage yet allowed speakers to dial in remotely to have direct conversations with the speakers on stage. This enabled presenters to engage with one another across different continents for an audience that was both viewing the event virtually as well as on the 30th floor of the hotel. Furthermore, because all video footage was rendered in real-time on the LED panels; speakers on stage could see and interact naturally with their interviewees, rather than using reference monitors as they do with traditional green screen workflows.

Taking full advantage of the virtual production set up, Hiller Pharma could also present augmented reality (AR) objects that could be used to show off new product releases, exploring features in depth in an engaging, up close manner that immersed both the speakers and the audience watching in a whole new environment.

The company sees xR technology as a way to keep ahead and stay competitive in the events industry, and with their groundbreaking new studio in Hong Kong, they look set to further cement their reputation as leaders in their field.