Island of virtual creativity

The Isle of Man will be the base for Gush Multimedia Arts in its bid to export 3-D live action technology to Europe. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Shanghai-based Gush Multimedia Arts intends to use the Isle of Man as a base to export its virtual cinema technology to Europe.

The company's 3-D live action film technology was used in the private entertainment sector for the first time at the Milan Expo 2015.

The company now wants to launch it across Europe, using the self-governing offshore United Kingdon tax haven as a filming base. The technology allows real actors and virtual actors to appear together in a production, so the audience has the same experience as watching a live performance. Each production only requires one or two real actors because the rest of the cast, and the setting and props, are virtual.

"We believe this new technology will have a massive market globally because it greatly reduces the cost of production, and allows for creativity, such as live audience interaction with the cast," said Zhao Yunfeng, president of Gush.

"We want to use this technology for children's productions across the European market, because our technology allows for magical actions, such as enlarging or shrinking a certain virtual character on stage, but making the action look completely real. It's great for fairy tales, and will completely revolutionize children's theater experiences," said Zhao.

Zhao named the technology Color Panda, after the success of a promotional film featuring red-colored pandas at the Milan Expo.

The 10-minute film tells the story of two pandas trying to plant a bamboo tree. They eventually succeed after receiving a magical seed from the China Corporate United Pavilion, known as the CCUP.

This film is designed to match the seeds theme of the CCUP, which has displays based on the idea of Chinese companies going global. The seeds turn into large plants, making the dreams of Chinese companies come true.

At the end of the film, an actor wearing a red-colored panda costume walks toward the center of the cinema to greet visitors, as if he had just walked out of the film, because he looks just like one of the pandas in the film.

Color Panda technology was developed through research and development by Zhao's team, but was initially used for government documentaries or promotional films in China because of the expensive technology involved.

Advances in film production lowered the costs of many of the technology's components, making Zhao realize the price was low enough to be profitable for private productions.

The panda film at Milan was the first time the technology was tested in a private production and its success convinced Gush to include Europe in expansion plans in China's domestic market.

"We realized that European children would like to watch productions with European actors and actresses, instead of Chinese ones, so we found the Isle of Man to be a good base as it's too expensive to do European productions in China," Zhao said.

Zhao first visited the Isle of Man about three years ago, on the recommendation of a company that supplies LED lights to Gush.