How Tupac performed at Coachella

In 2010 Coachella audiences were graced with Beyoncé’s surprise appearance; this year’s guest however astonished festivalgoers in a different manner. Holographic rapper Tupac Shakur who died in 1996 performed his “California Love,” leaving everyone asking nothing but ‘how?’
MTV reports that the holographic performance took about 4 months to put together and usually holograms up to par with this have cost up to $400,000 to create.
So how did they do it? It was Digital Doman, James Cameron’s visual effects company, which mixed together footage from previous performances. Dr. Dre also helped with the collaboration.
Once the footage was put together, Tupac’s “resurrection” came to be through a technique known as Pepper’s Ghost, where light is reflected off of a plate glass that makes objects appear and disappear. The trick takes place in a hidden room and only works of course when people’s focus is on the main stage.
One of Coachella’s many stages held a 13-foot by 30-foot screen that helped make the performance plausible. The screen could also move up and down within seconds.
Company AV Concepts put on the projection; they’ve also had experience devising Madonna’s 2005 Grammy Awards show performance with Gorillaz.
For those that think they’re not too familiar with the technique, it’s how Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion spooks us with their charismatic ghosts.
Now that we’ve figured out Coachella’s technology secret, I guess we can only ask what they’ll surprise us with next year.