Over the past few years, a single creative journey has quietly shaped some of the most ambitious virtual environments in modern sports broadcasting – from Tokyo 2020 to Beijing 2022 to Paris 2024. Today, I’ve published a new in‑depth article on Lightwell.tv that traces that evolution:
“Three Games, One Studio: How BBC Sport’s Virtual Olympic Coverage Evolved from Tokyo to Paris.”
You can read it here:
👉 https://www.lightwell.tv/blog-posts/three-games-one-studio-how-bbc-sports-virtual-olympic-coverage-evolved-from-tokyo-to-paris
This new piece is the most complete account I’ve written of how Lightwell’s approach to virtual set design has changed across three Olympic cycles – not just in terms of visuals, but in terms of pipeline ownership, real‑time lighting, and the way crews inhabit and believe in virtual worlds.
What makes this post particularly special is that I’ve included a number of images I’ve never shared publicly before. These include:
- Early pitch designs from Tokyo 2020, showing the hybrid photographic‑and‑3D cityscape that formed the foundation of the pavilion concept.
- Unseen visuals from the Paris 2024 virtual set, including development renders and environment views that never made it to social media.
These images help tell the story of how each project informed the next – how the lessons of Tokyo shaped Pres 2, how Pres 2 enabled the fully 3D world of Beijing, and how Beijing’s breakthroughs made the seamless real‑virtual blend of Paris possible.
If you’re interested in virtual production, real‑time design, or the craft behind major broadcast events, I think you’ll enjoy this one. It’s a look not just at the finished sets, but at the thinking, the experiments, and the accumulated knowledge that carried us from one Games to the next.
I’d be delighted if you took a look, explored the images, and saw how the work evolved over five years and three continents.
👉 Read the full article here:
https://www.lightwell.tv/blog-posts/three-games-one-studio-how-bbc-sports-virtual-olympic-coverage-evolved-from-tokyo-to-paris