VIRTUAL NETWORK IN THE GREENSCREEN STUDIO

Whether virtual product launches, streamable expert rounds, live webinars or digital messages: To communicate professionally worldwide and to raise the own online events and videos to a top level, Bosch opted to set up a studio at the company headquarters in Gerlingen-Schillerhöhe. The studio enables the combination of real people and objects with computer-generated environments and serves as a virtual recording studio.

Milla & Partner developed five settings which reflect the diversity of communication and take the existing corporate design of the Stuttgart-based technology corporation into account. Here, the basic conceptual idea of the "virtual network", which has already been implemented in other projects such as the Research Campus in Renningen or the Headquarter Foyer in Stuttgart-Feuerbach, is picked up on and reinterpreted. Interlocking and overlapping cubes form the digital stage for a wide variety of conversational situations – with the extensive and tranquil surfaces suggesting a spacious architecture.

As the setups were to be kept as close to reality as possible, white surfaces, concrete and plaster as well as wooden elements dominate the various digital spaces. Depending on requirements, Bosch can use different room types and so different broadcast formats: at times standing, sitting, in presentation mode for one person, in dialog or in large rounds. The communication formats are freely selectable and flexibly scalable. In the "foyer", one person can give a speech, while on the steps of the "staircase" several people can take a seat to participate in a casual round of talks. At the "fireplace" the situation becomes even more intimate thanks to hearth and sofa elements. In a space specially created for product presentations, a more laboratory-like atmosphere is generated in which various (technical) product aspects can be illustrated from different perspectives. Finally, on the "roof terrace", several people can simultaneously participate in discussions. Various backgrounds – from mountain panoramas to forest clearings – make the speakers appear to be in the open air. The other spaces also benefit from this "green environment": Large, floor-to-ceiling openings create a link to the virtual "outdoors" and make the setups appear bright and flooded with light – the night scenarios also have an influence on the settings, which either appear more atmospheric or more urban thanks to the starry sky or sea of lights.

The virtual network not only forms the framework for the individual discussion situations, but is also ideally suited for utilizing the surfaces for additional content: They can serve as screens or enable digital appearances of additional, connected interlocutors. Selected furniture and props complete these scenes and help the people present to spatially orient themselves. This enables complex visual worlds that are supported by state-of-the-art technology. During filming, all camera movements are recorded by a tracking system while the film is still being shot, and each scene is rendered correctly in perspective using real-time rendering to create an authentic experience for the viewers. The entire greenscreen area must also be illuminated as evenly and consistantly as possible – with additional spots helping to avoid unfavorable shadows being cast on the faces of the participants.

With this project, Milla & Partner succeed in transferring the specially developed spatial corporate design of the material Bosch premises into the virtual world and thereby not only in creating a consistent appearance, but also in strengthening new communication formats. Thanks to the deliberately realistic architecture, authenticity and trust are radiated and closeness is created – values that are hugely important to Bosch, along with future orientation, sustainability and fairness. The visual liberty provided by various digital backdrops, the maximum flexibility in the use of the different set-ups, and the dynamic adaptation to any new requirements make the studio a versatile filming location that is now firmly anchored in corporate communications.