Sony - FUTURE PROOF : What is the Future of Enjoying Sports?
Upbeat music plays as 3D computer-generated graphics show basketball players competing in a virtual arena for a packed crowd. Next, soccer players appear on a virtual field.
ON SCREEN TEXT: SONY
DINA HASSAN
“We work to help sports reimagine the way they tell their stories.”
The action pauses, freezing a player mid-kick, and two speakers appear in half-moon shapes on an orange background. White text arranged vertically on the far left and far right of each shape lists their name and affiliation. On the left, a young woman in braids with a nose piercing and yellow t-shirt speaks:
ON SCREEN TEXT: Annika Hansteen-Izora
Creative Technologist
ANNIKA HAANSTEEN-IZORA
“I love watching athletes who have spent their whole lives training doing the thing they love.”
On the right, a young woman with wavy dark hair in a pink and purple cardigan speaks Japanese.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Hana Jacobsen
Designer & Artist
Yellow subtitles appear at the bottom of the view:
HANA JACOBSEN
“Yeah, and it’s cool how technology is changing the way we watch those athletes and sports.”
Annika smiles and nods as Hana speaks.
ANNIKA HAANSTEEN-IZORA
“The tech enables me to nerd out on the true power of their athleticism.”
HANA JACOBSEN
“Totally.”
Now yellow tracking points light up on the body of a virtual soccer player. White text on the orange background with a purple semi-cirlce above, it reads:
ON SCREEN TEXT: What is the future of Enjoying Sports?
Now a woman with dark curly hair speaks against a dark background. White text appears inside an orange semi-circle to the left:
ON SCREEN TEXT: Dina Hassan
Global Head of Marketing
Hawk-Eye Innovations & Pulselive
DINA HASSAN
“Hawk-Eye works with some of the biggest names in sports, and that’s super exciting because we build technology that pushes those sports forward and supports them in officiating or how they interact with their fans, and everything in between.”
A black, engraved sign for Hawk-Eye includes an orange stylized hawk shape above orange letters on a building. Inside, a man looks up at an array of monitors displaying sports games and commentary. White text appears inside an orange arch to the left:
ON SCREEN TEXT: Hawk-Eye Innovations
Basingstoke, UK
At computers around the room, staff watch and point to feeds of sports games. Now, a blonde woman speaks against a dark background. White text appears inside an orange arch to the left:
ON SCREEN TEXT: Alison Marr
Senior Product Manager
Hawk-Eye Innovations
ALISON MARR
“We have technology in cricket, tennis, football, baseball, basketball, volleyball, horse-racing, ice hockey, American football, and NASCAR.”
Colleagues work on computers, point to a virtual football on a monitor, and draw on a whiteboard shaped like a round table. Alison and Dina smile. Now, a blonde man speaks against the dark background. White text pops up inside an orange arch to the left:
ON SCREEN TEXT: CHARLIE HOYLAND
Technology Project Manager
Hawk-Eye Innovations
CHARLIE HOYLAND
“I’m involved in operations, on the front line going to the matches every weekend, setting up the systems pitch-side, and brushing shoulders with the players.”
Charlie unboxes camera equipment in a warehouse, and watches a game on a monitor. Now, Alison:
ALISON MARR
“SkeleTrack is an optical tracking system that tracks 29 points on every player in real time. We use a combination of cameras and artificial intelligence to detect the objects that we want to track, so the people, the ball, a baseball bat. We use this information for officiating, coaching analysis, and it can be used to power graphics and statistics for the viewers at home.”
The virtual soccer player re-appears, in the center of a virtual field. Yellow data points and lines track up the length of her body and down her limbs. White text in an orange oval to the left reads:
ON SCREEN TEXT: SkeleTRACK Tracking System
Now cameras record on top of scaffolding and data points appear on a monitor plotted by colorful lines. The camera tracks the motions of a live tennis match, then transforms the player into a virtual image on the monitor as he serves. A baseball player hits a pitch, and soccer players run across a field. They freeze as the camera highlights one virtual image of a player in white, and a notification on the monitor reads “Offside.” On another monitor, the tracking system measures the angles between cricket players. Statistics appear on a virtual lawn bowling green. Now, Dina:
DINA HASSAN
“SkeleTRACK takes all of the data points and puts them into a virtually recreated world, which we like to call HawkVISION instantaneously, and it allows for fans to interact with the action in ways they’ve never been able to before. They can zoom into the play; they can stand amongst the players; they can view the play from the eyes of the player.”
Cameras transform a live basketball game into a virtual court. Next we see the virtual soccer players on their field. A user with a pink manicure pauses and starts the action on a virtual soccer game, measuring player height. White text in an orange oval to the right reads:
ON SCREEN TEXT: HawkVISION
Alison and Charlie smile as a user tracks player speed on another HawkVISION soccer game. Dina joins them as Alison tracks progress and statistics on a monitor.
CHARLIE HOYLAND
“If we can track the velocity that two players have come together, we can set some parameters to say that that potentially might cause an injury. So the possibilities with tracking at such high fidelity are fairly endless.”
A user measures a player’s foot speed on the HawkVISION virtual soccer field.
ALISON MARR
“And we’re also opening up more doors for coaches. We can tell you things like does a player kick the ball harder with their left foot compared to their right foot? Coaches have all that information and players can improve from that based on their end-game performance.”
Inside a booth, a blond man wears a headset and monitors a feed during a live tennis match. Three separate feeds show players’ foot faults on the court.
CHARLIE HOYLAND
“We then have our second branch of the tracking; we can then use that for officiating purposes, eliminating human error and I think that’s really important to fans.”
On a different tennis court, two players watch to see Hawk-Eye’s technology make a call about their match. The system determines the ball is in.
DINA HASSAN
“For me as a fan, what I look for is understanding the sport further. Hawk-Eye, through video and through data, is able to bring every fan closer to the game itself.”
Fans cheer and throw their arms in the air during a live rugby game. The scene changes to a soccer game, as a pass between players goes from the live version to appearing in HawkVISION.
The view returns to Hana and Annika against the orange background:
HANA JACOBSEN
“It’s a whole new way to experience sports.”
ANNIKA HANSTEEN-IZORA
“I could be a fan of any sport that uses this technology. Hana nods.”
HANA JACOBSEN
“Yeah, it enables people to get super deep and be better fans!”
Two purple semi-circles eclipse the orange background. White text on the left reads:
ON SCREEN TEXT: FUTURE PROOF
[Japanese surtitle]
White text on the right reads:
ON SCREEN TEXT: SONY
A chime sounds as a rainbow prism flares behind white text, and the view fades to black.