Celebrating a century and a half of history with a unique experience: this is the challenge we took up alongside Pasteur Pernot and the Protestant Church of the Star.
The highlight was the reappearance of Eugène Bersier, founder of the Church, in the form of a hologram embodied by actor Jérôme Kircher. But how did we make this possible? Dive into the technical behind-the-scenes of this extraordinary project.
4K green screen capture
To create this hologram, we started by filming Jérôme Kircher in a studio equipped with a green screen, in 4K resolution. This image quality is essential to guarantee a clear and realistic projection.
Every detail had to be perfect: from the facial expressions to the movements of the pastor’s robe.
A technical difficulty: black, transparent in holography
One of the main challenges we encountered was the pastor’s robe, which was entirely black. In holography, black is perceived as transparent, which would have made a large part of the costume invisible.
To get around this problem, we added a luminous halo around the actor’s silhouette, thus highlighting his contours and reinforcing the visual effect.
Editing and special effects in After Effects
After the capture, the teams dove into post-production. The images were reworked in After Effects to refine the details, integrate transparency effects and adjust the light halo.
This step made it possible to transform the raw capture into content ready to be projected with fluidity and realism.
On-site testing: taming complex lighting conditions
The Protestant Church of the Star has magnificent architecture, but the stained glass windows and numerous sources of natural light made the holographic projection tricky.
Typically, holograms work best in pitch-black environments, so we did a lot of testing to adjust brightness levels to ensure optimal visibility even in these demanding conditions.
A successful event
Despite these technical challenges, the event was a real success. The 400 faithful present on site and the thousands of spectators connected online had an exceptional moment. They immersed themselves in history and were carried away by the magic of this encounter between the past and the present.
This experience proves once again that technology can be used to serve memory and heritage, creating emotions that transcend generations.
