BBC Blogs - About the BBC - All round entertainment: Strictly Come Dancing in 360 degrees

Christopher Nundy explains why, how and what challenges were involved in Strictly Come Dancing becoming the first BBC TV entertainment show to use immersive technology to create a 360 degree viewing experience.

Take a hugely successful, shiny floor Saturday night BBC show and inject just enough chaos in the spirit of innovation to deliver a new perspective for its audience with a full 360 degree view from the heart of the dance floor.

So how did we introduce the latest capture technology into the magical world of Strictly Come Dancing, in order to deliver a special, one off experience?

From the more traditional camera formats through to wearable technologies, I'm always looking for new and exciting technology we can introduce into our programme making.

When I began looking into Immersive, 360 content, there were rumblings about a substantial purchase of a kickstarter company by a certain social network site and at that point it was clear things were going to get interesting.

There seemed to be an ever growing list of content being made which just wanted to be first out of the gate; where content was filmed in the same way as traditional camera formats with nothing bespoke to best utilise the 360 degree aspect. It also didn’t deliver a repeat viewing experience.

I wanted to produce a piece of content which genuinely tested the parameters of what could be achieved currently with 360 immersive capture and also allow the BBC to test the workflows and requirements to answer the question. Can we produce 360 degree content which delivers to the same high standards of our broadcast output?

WATCH THE OPENING NUMBER FROM STRICTLY IN 360 VIEW

So why Strictly? Other than wanting to aim high and work with an award winning programme, the content lends itself readily to a 360 piece; amazing visuals made up of high energy movement and numerous points of interest throughout.

Working with the digital production studio, Rewind, we met with the Strictly production team early in the series pre-production stage. Director of Choreography, Jason Gilkison saw the potential of the format and in sharing our enthusiasm; he has put together a stunning routine for the professional dancers, giving points of interest in all areas of the dancefloor.

The routine plays to the strengths of 360 whilst always keeping the viewers in the studio and at home as the main focus. A bespoke rig of micro cameras was positioned in such a way to not cause too much of an obstruction to the audience or impede on the dancers performance.

During the pre-production process we had to overcome numerous challenges now generally taken for granted in our traditional recording and delivery format.

How best to position the 360 degree camera rig to capture as much of the action as possible whilst remaining at the optimum distance to allow for perfect multi camera stitching.
Striking a balance between capturing a credible 360 viewing experience whilst not taking anything away from the core viewers watching via the primary broadcast experience on TV.
Delivering the content to a wide as possible audience - with the technology being so new, there are few outlets for delivering the content which is accessible to a mass market without creating bespoke applications for downloads.

While there’s a lot of work still to be undertaken in this area, this project is one of the first trials for the BBC and will form a part for the organisation in its learning and approach to immersive content production, over the coming months.

With high-resolution devices due for launch later this year, there is the potential for future use for this experimental content. The BBC will retain the master source files which would allow us to recreate and deliver to those platforms if necessary.

Nevertheless, I’m extremely proud of our achievement. We have delivered a fantastic piece of content which will appeal to a wide audience as it offers a never seen before view at the heart of the dance floor.

The project is a true example of collaboration, from the knowledge and technical skill of the teams at Rewind, BBC Technology and, of course, the Strictly production team, who understood what we wanted to achieve and worked with us to deliver a potential landmark moment for the series as it becomes the first BBC show to use this technology to this level.

“It really has helped to create one of the most memorable moments in Strictly history," said Jason Gilkison, Director of Choreography, Strictly Come Dancing.

Christopher Nundy is Innovation Manager, Comedy, Entertainment & Events.