Sphere Entertainment announced the launch of Sphere Studios, dedicated to developing the next generation of original immersive entertainment exclusively for Sphere through proprietary and cutting-edge technology, tools and production facilities. The first of the Studios’ immersive innovations include Big Sky — an ultra-high resolution camera system.

Sphere Studios is home to an interdisciplinary team of creative, production, technology and software experts who provide full in-house creative and production services, including strategy and concept, capture, post-production and show production. With multisensory live entertainment experiences that immerse audiences visually, as well as through sound, haptics and environmental elements including heat, wind and scent, the studio is “redefining the future of entertainment by bringing together the world’s leading filmmakers, directors and producers to transport Sphere’s audiences to places both real and imagined without leaving their seats.”

The studio campus in Burbank spans 68,000 square feet of development facilities; production, editing and post-production suites; sound stages for mixing spatial audio; and camera and 3D printing labs. The campus also includes Big Dome, a 28,000-square-foot, 100-foot high custom geodesic dome with a quarter-sized version of the screen at Sphere in Las Vegas. Big Dome serves as a specialized screening, production facility and lab for content at Sphere, including Sphere Immersive Sound, haptic seats, and more that will be featured at Sphere.

Big Sky, a groundbreaking ultra-high-resolution camera system and custom content creation tool, was created by Sphere Studios to capture the stunning images and video required for the world’s highest resolution LED screen at Sphere. Developed in-house at Sphere Studios’ research and development labs, every aspect of Big Sky represents a significant advancement on current state-of-the-art cinema camera systems, including the largest single sensor in commercial use capable of capturing incredibly detailed, large-format images.

The Big Sky system claims the world’s sharpest cinematic lenses capable of delivering the unparalleled edge-to-edge optical requirements for Sphere’s 16K x 16K immersive display plane. That allows Sphere Studios filmmakers to capture incredibly detailed, large-format images from a single camera, without having to stitch content together from multiple cameras – avoiding issues common to stitching, including near distance limitations and seams between images.

Sphere Studios began developing Big Sky in early 2021, with the camera system’s first shoot taking place in October 2022 — progressing from concept to reality at an unprecedented pace of innovation. SphereLab, an internally developed image processing software, was also created specifically for Big Sky. Prior to Big Sky, image capture for Sphere’s ultra-high-resolution screen required large camera arrays of 10 to 15 commercially available cinematic cameras. To date, the team has filed eight patents — and counting — associated with Big Sky technology.

“Postcard from Earth,” the first Sphere Experience to harness the full array of Sphere’s technological capabilities, is currently in production, with Sphere Studios film crews traveling the world to film scenes with Big Sky camera systems. “Postcard from Earth” will provide an “unparalleled storytelling journey and offer a unique perspective on the magnificent beauty of life on our planet.”