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The cello in a brand new light

To celebrate the cello season at the 2016 BBC Proms, 59 Productions worked with acclaimed cellist Sol Gabetta and the BBC, to create a cutting-edge projection mapping project that combined tracking and projection technology with musical performance.

Taking Elgar’s iconic Cello Concerto as a starting point, 59 created a bespoke animation to be projected, live, onto the body of Sol’s cello using video tracking. A world first, the resulting projection both reacted to and visualised elements of the piece whilst following the movement of the cello mid-performance, to create a unique digital artwork.

Filmed and broadcast by the BBC, the final video both demonstrated the spectacular possibilities of projection mapping on a small scale, while simultaneously showing the cello in a brand new light.

Credits

Cellist
Sol Gabetta

Director
Richard Slaney

Producer
BBC

Luthier / Restorer
Balthazar Soulier
Atelier Cels Paris

Pianist
Liz Burley

Lead Animator
Marco Sandeman

Additional Animation
Chris Plant

WITH THANKS TO
BBC Radio Theatre
RNSS
D3 Technologies
CAST software
Ella Rundle

Creative Director
Richard Slaney

Creative Assistant
Raphael Pimlott

Production Manager
James Roxburgh

Production Assistant
Rebecca Collis

Technical Associate
Maximilien Spielbichler

Video Engineer
Andy Coates

Technical Intern
Zakk Hein

DOP
Vanessa White

2nd Camera
Katie Goldschmidt

Edit
Ed Saunders

Colourist
Edwin Metternich

Sound
BBC Radio Theatre

Behind the Scenes DOP & Editor
Ed Saunders

Behind the Scenes Sound
Tom Bartlett

Produced by
The BBC