The Cube Game Show – UK & NL

ITV

120+24

Cameras on a 14 metre ring

14TB

Captured and delivered on set

1mm

Accuracy on the CGI set twin

Bringing The Cube's freeze moment into this decade: 120 6K cameras and three REDs on a 14 metre ring, a volumetric capture system, and a millimetre accurate CGI twin of the set.

What Did We Do?

ITV’s The Cube returned in 2020 as The Million Pound Cube, and we were brought in to bring the show’s famous game freeze moment up to date. We built a 14 metre diameter truss ring carrying 120 cameras shooting 6K, plus three hired RED Dragon Epics recording 6K RAW video, at the TV1 studio in BBC Television Centre, White City. For the later series the hired REDs were replaced with three of our own Blackmagic URSA 12Ks outputting 4K over SDI.

The video cameras sat at either end of the arc and in the centre, so if a camera operator, crew member or crane strayed into shot we could cut up to half the ring out of the sequence and still deliver a clean lead in and lead out. Everything was recorded RAW, which gave the edit room to push in and pull the most from the light available.

Alongside the bullet time we ran a further 24 cameras spread through the ring as a photogrammetry and volumetric capture system, building full 3D models of the contestants. Our 3D artist hand built a CGI replica of the entire set, accurate to the millimetre, so the modelled contestants could be placed back into a virtual studio and the camera flown along any path the director wanted.

Across the filming we captured about 14TB: just under 50,000 photos and hundreds of hours of RAW video. Our on site editing and post team downloaded, aligned, graded and exported every sequence in real time at 4K in the show’s edit format, with previews in the production gallery as it happened, so finished clips dropped straight into their edit suite.

“There is probably no more demanding an environment for bullet time. Low light, high speed moving objects, production quality, and you never get a second take. It’s that moment or never.”
The Cube production crew

Common TV Production FAQs

Can bullet time keep up with a TV shooting schedule?

Yes. Sequences were downloaded, aligned, graded and exported at 4K in the show’s edit format in real time, with previews in the gallery as it happened.

What happens if crew or cameras end up in shot?

The three video cameras sat at the ends and centre of the arc, so we could cut up to half the ring out of a sequence and still deliver a clean lead in and lead out.

Is bullet time all you captured?

No. A further 24 cameras ran photogrammetry and volumetric capture, building 3D models of contestants inside a millimetre accurate CGI copy of the set.