Blackmagic Replay is being used at Adventure World in Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. The park’s daily dolphin show ‘Marine Live’, held at the Marine World aquarium area, uses four HyperDeck Studio HD Plus broadcast decks, Blackmagic Cloud Store 20TB network storage solution, Blackmagic Media Player 10G capture and playback solution, DaVinci Resolve Replay Editor control panel, DaVinci Resolve Studio, and an ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD live production switcher to support its dynamic live performances.
Adventure World is a major theme park in Wakayama Prefecture that combines a zoo, aquarium and amusement park. Marine Live features synchronised performances by dolphins and trainers, combined with music and video. The venue’s large screens display instant replays of the dolphins’ performances as well as highlight footage at the end of the performance.
Risa Yamazaki from Adventure World said: “We’ve been producing visual presentations that incorporate live video for more than 10 years. It may be relatively uncommon for aquarium performances to incorporate this kind of visual presentation. Many facilities outsource operations to technical companies, but at our park, the staff who actually perform in the dolphin shows or care for the animals, such as penguins and sea lions, also operate the cameras.”
The company decided to introduce the Blackmagic Replay system after its previous replay system broke down.
Yamazaki added: “The repair costs for the equipment we had been using were extremely high, so we considered whether to purchase a new system from the same manufacturer or introduce Blackmagic Replay. Blackmagic Replay offers excellent cost performance, and because it uses DaVinci Resolve, we can also use it for everyday editing in addition to replays. We were also attracted to DaVinci Resolve Studio’s AI features. Furthermore, most of the equipment we use is already from Blackmagic, so we felt it would be easier to standardize on the same manufacturer.”
Even before introducing Blackmagic Replay, the company had already been using a range of Blackmagic Design products, including Blackmagic Smart Videohub 40x40 router, Blackmagic MultiView 16, ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD, ATEM 1 M/E Advanced Panel 10, SmartScope Duo monitor, Teranex AV standards converter, and Teranex Mini converters.
During Marine Live, footage is captured using three manned cameras positioned around the stage and two remotely operated cameras. Inside the equipment booth, four staff members handle the operation: a replay operator, a switcher operator, an audio operator, and a staff member responsible for preparing media and operating the remote cameras.
Footage from each camera is encoded to ProRes using a HyperDeck Studio HD Plus and stored on the Blackmagic Cloud Store 20TB. The material is then imported into DaVinci Resolve Studio as growing files, where replay clips are created using the DaVinci Resolve Replay Editor. The clips are captured using the Media Player 10G and sent to the ATEM 2 M/E Constellation HD before being displayed on the venue’s large screen.
Ikuma Okada from Adventure World explained: “Right after a dolphin jump or a performance between a dolphin and a trainer, we play that moment back on the large screen. During the show, we present footage almost in real time, showing images one after another. ‘Marine Live’ lasts about 30 minutes and is divided into several parts. At the end of each part, we play a digest of that section. We also have a segment at the beginning where we show audience members on screen, and sometimes those shots are shown again at the end of the live performance.”
According to Yamazaki, switching to the Blackmagic Replay system has significantly improved the quality of slow motion replays used in Marine Live.
Yamazaki said: “With the previous system, the slower we made the playback speed, the more the footage would stutter. Blackmagic Replay uses DaVinci Resolve Studio’s AI frame interpolation for slow motion playback, which produces very smooth results. Because it’s controlled with a fader, we can also make very fine adjustments to the playback speed and clearly highlight the moments we want to show.”
Okada concluded: “Of course, it would be possible to outsource operations, but our company has always had the mindset of handling as much as we can ourselves. Because we produce the live event ourselves, we feel we can better convey the unique appeal of the performance.”