Karate Combat
Karate Combat
Karate Combat is a full-contact fighting league that captivates its audience with exhilarating matches streamed live worldwide. This dynamic sporting extravaganza has integrated virtual production technology into its production, revolutionizing viewer experiences by thrusting fights into hand-crafted CGI environments, brought to life by the collaboration between Lux Machina and Halon Entertainment.
Karate Combat came to Lux Machina to help them execute an uninterrupted, live multicamera-tracked martial arts championship with a virtual backdrop, set in front of a live studio audience without breaks for technology resets.
Halon Entertainment created a dynamic real-time environment utilizing Epic’s Unreal Engine. LuxMC designed the video pipeline and operated the on-set ssytem, orchestrating live camera tracking, real-time XR set extension, and in-camera compositing; blending the live camera feed with the virtual environments for a seamless look. The result was a tournament that went beyond the traditional live format into a cinematic, world-building, live-event experience.
ELEVATING THE SPECTACLE
While the fighters perceived their basic combat surroundings of the venue, online spectators were treated to an electrifying showdown of the contenders against the backdrop of a futuristic-looking Miami. “This visual metamorphosis makes the sport of Karate more captivating for a wider audience,” said LuxMC’s Virtual Production Supervisor Sheiva Khalily. “The matches, typically more niche and focused, now cast a wider net thanks to the augmented reality set up by Halon and Lux, pulling in new viewers who might not have otherwise engaged.”
In fact, when the new virtual set debuted during Karate Combat’s third season with “Karate Combat 38,” the live stream event set a new streaming and engagement record on Facebook alone, with 9.4M views and counting (compared to the previous tournament's 4.2M views). Twitter's numbers surpassed 2M streams and 7M views.
SHOW TIME CHALLENGES
For Khalily, orchestrating a live competition series presents the ultimate challenge, as every moment is broadcast live, with zero room for on-air glitches: “Unlike film and television productions that allow for pauses and adjustments, Karate Combat's live format demands a seamless five-hour stream, free from interruptions.”
Lux Machina guarantees that there will be no on-air glitches by spending several weeks of pre-production testing and optimizing the systems used in production to ensure a seamless flow for live broadcast.
"The persistence to make this show a smooth transition between the virtual and physical worlds is a huge attribution to the LuxMC team's brilliance, passion, and experience," said LuxMC Virtual Production Producer, Britainne Pedersen.
INNOVATING SPORTS BROADCASTS
LuxMC’s expertise in this format isn’t newfound, having produced an astonishing 240 hours of glitch-free broadcasting for the League of Legends Worlds 2020. This led the team at Karate Combat to enlist LuxMC’s talents, inspired by the remarkable feat accomplished during the video game championship event.
Khalily points out that there is an ongoing surge in incorporating AR elements in sporting broadcasts to transcend the competition. As pioneers in the live XR broadcasts, LuxMC holds a distinct honor. She notes that the Karate Combat league is “interested in not only pushing the boundaries with technology, but ultimately reshaping the spectator experience into a captivating visual odyssey and defying convention.”