It’s a Plug & Play, positioning/communicating production solution of the future from CAST BlackBox Corporation, part of the CAST Group of Companies in Toronto, Canada, for coordinating multiple elements of a production in one system that monitors and tracks everything from 3D audio to moving scenery. Initial deliveries commence in 2011.

In our highly automated, hi-tech entertainment industry, BlackBox means that hardware/controllers technologies that were formerly autonomous can now interact and cue off each other, trigger preprogrammed commands (based on the dynamic positioning of moving or stationery objects), and deliver positional information for spatial audio for sound re-enforcement, in realtime. To do so, these technologies must plug into BlackBox.

BlackBox can also identify, predict and warn about intrusions, unexpected movements, or potential collisions inside the designated area using preset anti-collision boundaries to trigger pre-programmed results or to alert all connected technologies and warn, even prevent, a disaster.

Click to see the BlackBox Diagram

BlackBox is on the cutting-edge of the latest computer hardware, featuring the latest in multi-threaded processing technology with solid state memory to increase performance for realtime computations. BlackBox’s proprietary system is planned to optimize redundancy for backup, making it an all-in-one, Plug & Play, multi-directional high-speed communication hub. We’re also not operating system elitists, either – BlackBox will function on Windows, Linux, or Mac.

BlackBox will offer a time-line driven approach to ease coordinating and connecting control devices so they can instruct or receive instructions from each other in realtime. Object and spatial information specific to a production and place is uploaded via a special wysiwyg file that works natively in BlackBox.

What does this all mean? It means that nothing changes for you, the User. You get to keep working with your wysiwyg files as you normally do and BlackBox knows what to do.

BlackBox uses CAST Software’s wysiwyg proprietary communications protocol as it meets/exceeds speed objectives, universality, and our interference-free communications standards for development. Input data is delivered live from various RFID, SONAR, RADAR, Infrared, stereoscopic cameras (with or without thermal imaging), or any other 3rd party sensing devices, tracking systems, or program controllers for any electromechanical device, operated either automatically or manually, or from pre-programmed streaming data for positioning from any controller or server operating moving objects. We’ve solved that challenge for you.

BlackBox is the technology that will change the future of production as we know it, giving creative and production professionals across the entertainment industry an ally to excel at the art of Entertainment.

Value proposition

Obvious contributors

	Saves time given the cost of personnel and venue occupancy, and the power for lighting and cooling, saving time instantly equates into saving $$
		minimizes time and cost formerly invested in long and tedious planning and cueing sessions
		during preproduction and rehearsals sometimes everything grinds to a halt while one item is fixed then all other cueing must be "fixed" @ more $ BlackBox can pump out the fix in realtime
		eliminates rerunning & correcting production segments because one or another element has been changed; scaling is virtually instantaneous thus collaboration with interconnected [through BlackBox] technologies can happen immediately, without creating re-cueing & testing
		previz to see changes virtually in realtime ? other changes can be made just as easily
		travelling shows & busy venues must control setup and striking costs, and adapt quickly to changing venues ? changes roll out instantly to interconnected technologies
		save time needed for practicing & perfecting choreography devices connected to BlackBox can take cues from actors in live realtime
	Personnel and production professionals reduce labour $$; use automated/robotic technology to replace people; improve repetition
		follow spot operators - automated lights
		boom mike or camera camera operators - automated or robotic mikes or cameras
	Production Insurance accidents happen and can be costly - even delay or shut down a production - productions and venues purchase insurance against such hazards BlackBox can mitigate
		BlackBox's knowledge of the exact position of actors and moving sets & objects signal production/management and/or trigger instant halt of colliding object
		moving sets get damaged in collisions with lights, cameras, actors, etc., sometimes causing bodily harm or worse, leading to substantial personal injury lawsuits, lost revenues, repair costs
	Other direct costs during preproduction and rehearsals, the venue must be lit, cooled, & staffed
		by reducing such time inefficiencies, BlackBox delivers cost savings