Have you ever witnessed a Maserati SUV glittering over a lake, illuminated in the night by dozens of constellations and galaxies in a setting worthy of a Star Wars blockbuster? You probably haven’t, but you will now. For the launch of the latest model from the Italian luxury car manufacturer, we were asked to visually translate the philosophy behind the new Levante MHEV Hybrid: “accept no boundaries”. This might seem difficult, especially at a time when boundaries are so impenetrable and evoking emotions and feelings hardly engages through the screen of a remote audience. Yet, we thrive on impossible challenges, and to present the car, we decided to put on an unforgettable show. A digital multisensorial event featuring musical experiences, lighting effects and visual performances, using technology we are pioneering in the automotive industry. A show of more than 15 minutes, available online from anywhere in the world: created entirely in a large dark room.
You may wonder what Star Wars has to do with any of this. Well, we’ve borrowed the know-how from the world created by George Lucas, in its most recent transposition. Virtual 3D production, used extensively in the reconstruction of space scenarios from the TV series, The Mandalorian. It is an experiment that is already revolutionizing the film industry. The fusion of real filming techniques and digitally created backgrounds, thanks to 3D modeling software created for gaming and huge LED screens, has allowed an unprecedented reduction in costs, at a time when shooting live has become difficult even for major film companies. We know these issues well and have been working for years with Unreal Engine and 3D modeling programs, the very technologies that started a new era in the history of big screen productions. So here’s our idea: why not park the new Maserati in a purpose-built studio and introduce it to the world through virtual production?
The new Maserati Levante hybrid model is a cocktail of traditional design and cutting-edge technology, especially in terms of remote control. A duality — that of the Trident’s first electrified SUV — strongly emphasized by the brand that wanted to launch the new product in two modes: a real one, at the Shanghai Auto Show, and a digital one, which we at MONOGRID brought to life in collaboration with Independent Ideas. For the occasion we decided to hybridize our skills as well. For the streaming launch event, attended by, among others, former footballer David Beckham, TV host Nicki Shields and Italian DJ Dardust, we created a multisensory show, an immersive journey of music, lights and sounds that converge to reveal the features of the first hybrid SUV from Maserati. As soon as Dardust attacks with the piece, the car turns on and a beam of light comes to life from its headlights. As if electrifying the environment, the thunderbolt transfers its power to the LED screens surrounding the studio and passes through like lightning in different scenarios, symbolizing the car’s features.
“Performance charged” — another symbolic slogan chosen by Maserati — are the three specifications highlighted by the jolt of light that crosses several worlds. Sustainability and innovation are represented by the futuristic settings of the cities in which the car moves through — only virtually -. The versatility of the car is metaphorically illustrated by the passage of the light beams on the free asphalt roads, first, on the sands and glaciers of fantastic scenarios, and finally via the latest workhorse of the car manufacturer. The lightning bolt of pixels passes between the skylines of Milan and Modena, the headquarters of the historic brand, to represent Made in Italy, the third asset which Maserati has decided to shine their focus on. The luminous snake finally disappears into the horizon and then returns to the real scene, the one in the studio, to fully illuminate the new Levante Hybrid. The beam of light, activated by the initial chords of Dardust’s piano, after having crossed the four corners of the universe, returns to the studio, definitively breaking the boundaries between real and virtual. Accept no boundaries, as we said.
Virtual production has allowed us to go beyond the limits of physics and guarantee the new Maserati Levante a digital ubiquity that would otherwise have been unthinkable. The possibility of customizing the settings, the lighting of sets, the speed of response during the direction phase have already changed the canons of film production. The director can intervene immediately on the scene, changing the position of the sun, moving entire mountains, creating new backgrounds with a few clicks and a 3D helmet-visor on his head. A contamination with the gaming world that, although still rather expensive, can integrate (in the meantime) and replace (in a more massive way, in a few years) the traditional green screen. Inevitably, we must ask ourselves what other infinite applications the use of this technology may behold for us in the future.
For us, virtual sets are a new frontier in the journey we have been undertaking for years in search of hybrid worlds and creative experiences capable of constructively bringing together the real and the digital. We have seen the Mandalorian fighting on a spaceship on the outer edge of the galaxy, crossing planets covered in ice and speeding on a motorcycle through the dunes of a desert. From a room surrounded by a wall of LEDs capable of reproducing any setting in real time and intelligently interacting with people physically present in space. Versatility and immediacy. Everything we needed to make our fireball whizz on inaccessible roads, sometimes non-existent. Also for us, the new chapter of a saga, in a journey that seems to be just beginning.
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