Apple used a bespoke production to capture Debut, the Apple Immersive Video concert of Lukas Sternath performing Grieg at Royal Albert Hall, rather than repurposing a standard BBC broadcast.
The production employed five Blackmagic URSA Cine Immersive cameras, each with two 8K sensors, and was produced by Livewire Pictures for BBC Arts, with Russell saying the Apple Immersive footage was the only video recording of the performance.
“This was a completely separate recording,” Russell told CineD.
Russell described a range of physical constraints that shaped shooting, including fixed 180‑degree lenses, space around a full orchestra and Apple’s guidance to keep cameras around a metre from objects, all while directing for an experience where viewers can look anywhere.
Post‑production was equally novel and slow, with test renders taking about half an hour for short clips and iterative edits forcing very small, incremental changes, a process Russell likened to the early days of non‑linear editing.
Apple is continuing to expand the platform in software, with visionOS 27 adding new Vision Pro features and some upgrades targeted at M5 Vision Pro hardware.
