V-U2: An Immersive Concert Film

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Blurb from Sphere site:

V-U2 An Immersive Concert Film is a one-of-a-kind cinematic experience shown exclusively at Sphere. The concert film, directed by Morleigh Steinberg and The Edge, showcases the history-making and future-defining U2:UV show that played to over 700,000 fans from 100+ countries across 40 sold-out dates from September 2023 through March 2024. V-U2 does not just capture U2’s epic run at Sphere, it allows audiences to feel like they are at the live shows.

V-U2 is the first film ever to be shot entirely with Big Sky, the groundbreaking ultra-high-resolution camera system developed by Sphere Entertainment. To create this larger-than-life concert film, a number of Big Sky cameras captured the band at extraordinary scale, sharpness, and clarity. V-U2 employs Sphere’s immersive technologies including the 160,000 sq. ft. display plane, which at 16k x 16k resolution is the world's highest-resolution LED screen; Sphere Immersive Sound, powered by HOLOPLOT, which provides crystal-clear sound to every seat in Sphere; and haptic seats, which use vibrations so guests can ‘feel’ the experience. All of these technologies will be leveraged in V-U2 in new and different ways to reinforce the feeling of being there.

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Notes:

I attended two showings of V-U2, on October 11 and 12. Having seen the live show seven times I was curious to see how it translated to a film format. Overall it was pretty good. The entire floor area was darkened, and an image of the stage appeared at the bottom of the screen. Often it seemed as if the band were really there. I'm not sure if it was the extreme high definition or some other trickery but there appeared to be a 3D effect with the stage images. The visuals were almost all straight from the live show though the first half of One was presented differently. Also, there were a handful of shots from behind the stage (on One and Vertigo) that were really cool. I wished there had been more of them. 

Quite a few songs were cut to trim the running time which was disappointing. Another downside: I thought the audio was muddy. It was definitely inferior to the actual live show.

It's a bit silly to take a video of a video but I wanted to capture it to share with others. For night one I was in the front row of 400s in the center section (406) and filmed a static wide shot. My plan for night two (location front row 207 so a little right of center) was to get the intro and ending credits which I had missed the first night as well as some overhead shots to add in. I had a misfire during the intro so didn't get that but did get the credits and overheads for The Fly and WOWY (Nevada Ark graphics). To substitute at least something for the intro I used twenty seconds of YouTube footage from 9/29. I also included a "flashing words" sequence that was shown in the lobby. (Thanks to Chrisedge for providing the ambient mixes.)

Technical:

Video (tapehead2): iPhone 15 Pro Max on Insta360 Flow Pro gimbal (4K/30fps)
Audio (tapehead2): AT943 > SP-SPSB-10 > Sony A10 (24/48)
Edited using Final Cut Pro to large .mov file (4K/30fps)
Converted to .mp4 file using HandBrake (1080p/30fps)
Length: 1:14:39

From MediaInfo:
General:
MPEG-4: 1.26 GiB, 1hr 14mn
1 Video stream: AVC
1 Audio stream: AAC LC
Overall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall bit rate: 2422 Kbps
Streams:
Video: 2251 Kbps, 1920*1080 (16:9), at 30.000 fps, AVC
Audio: 164 Kbps, 48.0 KHz, 2 channels, AAC LC, Stereo