Zayed hologram gives life to his words
dubai — A video depicting a lifelike hologram of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan giving one of his most inspiring speeches yet, has gone viral online. And its creator says it won’t be the last time we’ll be seeing it here.
Bringing the past into the present, the 3D photo realistic hologram was carefully designed to capture the most true to life features of the founding father including his tone of voice, facial expressions and hand and body gestures.
Streamed at a university in Dubai to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of the founding father, the video runs for four minutes and five seconds; three minutes and 15 seconds of which are of the Sheikh Zayed hologram itself.
Originally posted on Vimeo, it has since been shared across several social media platforms and has garnered more than 65,000 views online.
Speaking to Khaleej Times, Hasan Hina, co-founder and CEO of NDP (the company behind the hologram), said though the motivational quotes “have been heard before”, this is the first time they have been aired side by side.
For the UAE National Day, we’re actually looking to break a Guinness World Record with a larger than life hologram speech from the founding father.”
Hasan Hina, co-founder and CEO of NDP
“This is actually something we haven’t heard before in this sequence. We brought some of his most famous quotes into one dimension. Consider it as his best quotes brought together to create his best speech. It’s the first time people are hearing it in long running format.”
Though projects like this usually take around three months to produce, Hina said eight team members from NDP brought the whole thing together in just 45 days.
“We went through the full arch-ives of Sheikh Zayed, did a thorough study of his voice tone and facial expressions so we could portray him 100 per cent, and we focused on his quotes surrounding education and inspiration.”
After being commissioned to make the hologram, Hina said the idea behind the project was to allow the “new generation to see Sheikh Zayed as he actual was”.
“We wanted it to be as though he was talking directly to them. New technology has really come along in the last few years. Computers now can capture human performance and translate that onto a 3D model that will act as a human being. It’s really hard to tell the difference between the two.”
And although this is the first time NDP has created a hologram of a UAE-based historical figure, it won’t be the last.
“Yes, the UAE is definitely going to be seeing more of this. This video is just a glimpse of the vision we have for Sheikh Za.yed. For the UAE National Day, we’re actually looking to break a Guinness World Record with a larger than life hologram speech from the founding father.”
Revealing more plans for the UAE National Day celebrations, Hina said it would like to incorporate the hologram on an “emirates scale”.
“We are looking at having the hologram of Sheikh Zayed doing a speech in all seven emirates at the same time, so people all over the country can mark the joyous day with his spirit. It will be the first such project to take place in multiple emirates.”
kelly@khaleejtimes.com