The war between network giants ABS-CBN and GMA-7 has escalated into a whole new level with their use of advanced technology for their election coverage.
Both channels introduced their respective advanced technologies on election day, May 10. ABS-CBN used “virtual presence” while GMA-7 utilized “hologram”---a first in Philippine TV history, it claimed. With these, field reporters appear as if they were face-to-face with the anchors inside the studio.
However, the Kapamilya network insinuated that the Kapuso station is not really using a hologram. In a report on “TV Patrol World” last May 12, it showed photos of presidential candidate Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in front of a green background or “chroma,” which is said to be different from hologram. He was said to have been interviewed the day before on “24 Oras” during which anchor Mike Enriquez was quoted as telling the solon, “naka-hologram po kayo.”
“What you call a chroma key is just a view from one camera with the person standing in front of the blue or green wall and then you just key out a person so you just remove the background,” said Ernest Wojcik, Support Head of Europe-Orad Hi Tec Systems, the digital graphics provider of ABS-CBN.
More, the image should be three-dimensional meaning the whole image is seen even if the camera changes angles. It should also be seen on the set and not just on the TV screen in order to be called a hologram.
On the same day, GMA also aired via “24 Oras” their side of the story, maintaining that their technology is not fake.
“It’s just another way of enhancing the storyline and the other people who are saying that the other person is in the studio next to him… I mean, no way. Like in ‘24 Oras,’ we had Noynoy [through] hologram effect, but he was in Tarlac. No way could he be in GMA in Quezon City,” explained Nicholas Chan, Systems Specialist of Vizrt Malaysia, GMA’s provider.
That day as well, Enriquez called the technology as “hologram effect” after spurring online debate over the term usage. In an article published on GMANews.tv the next day, May 13, the change is said to have been made “to avoid any confusion with the cinematic or science-fiction version.”
Virtual presence vs. hologram effect
Vikas Choudry, Senior Graphics Creative Specialist of Orad Hi Tec Systems, insisted that virtual presence, an augmented reality technology, is very different from hologram.
“Because of this technology we are able to zoom on to the reporter. From the reporter we are able to pan to the anchor, then zoom out, and this is what we do here. We are not calling it a hologram. And this is not hologram. This is virtual presence,” he maintained.
Chan, in the same article from GMA news, related how their “real time 3-D graphics effect” is achieved:
“Basically, we set up a green cloth and we get a person to stand in front of the cloth. The image [is shot] by a camera and is transmitted to GMA and fed into the Vizrt software called the ‘Viz Artist’ to generate the figure that appears on screen.”
GMA also admitted that “there is no technology yet that allows direct communication between a holographic image of a person and a live person as depicted in science fiction films such [as] Star Wars.”
“What is currently available are technologies that approximate or approach that ideal, and Vizrt is one of the tools that are capable of creating a ‘whole drawing’ that make it seem like a person is talking to a hologram.” Hence, the “hologram effect.”
Yesterday, May 14, in a live interview with Binibining Pilipinas Universe Maria Venus Raj, “Chika Minute” via hologram effect, host Pia Guanio intimated, “malinaw ho ‘yan ah. Baka intrigahin na naman kami.”
Two years ago, the so-called “hologram” was first introduced in the history of news reporting by the Cable News Network (CNN) through Vizrt for their coverage of the presidential election. However, they were criticized over the use of the term.
“What CNN did sometime ago, which they also called a hologram, which still is a bit inaccurate… but they got a 360 image around the person speaking and they did that using a blue tent and 35 HD cameras and around 20 computers interpolating these images out of these cameras, tracked live on site,” Wojcik illustrated.
In spite of this seeming technological bragging from the two networks, their anchors noted that the introduction of new techniques was done in the hope that they will be able to deliver the news in a fresher way without a trace of a lie.
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