The Hippotizers powered custom-made content and a mix of loops, full length time-coded tracks, and live rendered visuals
UK - BBC Studios' popular celebrity TV contest Strictly Come Dancing returned for its 18th series at the end of 2020, with new visual content choreographed by Hippotizer Karst+ media servers.
Leading the dance was a partnership of a Karst and Karst+, with the same duo serving as backup. An average series audience of more than 10 million Brits watched as the routines played out in front of a colourful array of visual content. The main stage was constructed as a series of arching LED screens, providing an eye-catching backdrop for the cameras.
The visual content included custom-made content for each performance - created by Potion Pictures and led by David Newton - and a mix of loops, full length time-coded tracks, and live rendered visuals.
These utilised Unreal Engine and nDisplay, with the data fed into the Hippotizer Media Servers by an output splitter. Live rendered content was also used, designed by Joe Philips at Potion Pictures, and utilising a camera and lens tracking system provided by Mo-Sys.
The Hippotizers were operated by Matt Lee, with lighting design by David ‘Bish’ Bishop, who has worked on a host of high profile events including the State Opening of Parliament, The Royal Variety Performance and the Queen’s Concerts.
“Hippotizer has been my go-to choice of media server for many years,” says Bishop. “They're very reliable, easy to use and the support from the team in London is outstanding. They provide a great balance of being able to create something very quickly, while also having the option to refine the output as you wish when the opportunity presents.”
For control, the LD and his team opted for a High End Systems Roadhog4 lighting console situated in the lighting gallery, with a laptop running Hippotizer PREP for remote ZooKeeper control. Fibre networks provided Art-Net and HippoNet links to the main Hippotizers positioned on the studio floor.

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