[070501] In collaboration with Hosoya Schaefer Architects, shiftcontrol developed the core "info space" concept for German broadcaster ZDF's evening news 'Heute'. Markus outlines the project here, and ZDF presents the results here.

While we applied thinking and contributed ideas to screen design, typography, information ordering principles, the (above mentioned) information space, camera crane remoting and use of interactive graphics a la HPs famous campaign - it was when we started to focus on narration things really got interesting:

Setting up a quick scene in the Unity game-engine, importing the interior designer's proposals for a center table, rigging some lights and creating some camera, content and studio GUI Controllers - we prototyped a 'production sandbox' in which the development team, the producers and the camera men could test ideas, camera sweeps, narration models and familiarize themselves with the possibilities of the virtual studio.

Constructing mechanically true replicas of camera's and camera robots would be a next step, and from there, we could export control data - closing the circle of real and virtual.

Here, an glimpse of the (not so intuitive) GUI:


the studio:


some typography (courtesy of Espen Moe):


the studio:


and a early sketch about how the information spaces also could interact with another: