You have probably seen a photo of the giant eyeball-shaped orb that appeared in Las Vegas. On any given day the building becomes the Earth, or a basketball, or an emoji.
What makes it interesting is not the size. It is that the relationship to the screen has been inverted.
Outside: the building’s skin is the screen
Conventional outdoor advertising attaches a screen to a building. Times Square works that way: there is a wall, and a rectangular screen hangs on it.
The Sphere went the other way. The outer surface of a spherical structure is itself covered in LEDs. There is no screen border, so whatever is displayed looks less like “an image on a screen” than “the building has become that thing.” Put the Earth on it and the Earth appears to be floating — that comes from the borderless structure.
A curved surface brings its own hard problems.
- You cannot simply play flat video. Projected onto a sphere, the edges stretch. Content has to be produced in spherical coordinates from the start, or have the spherical distortion pre-computed into it
- Every viewing angle is a different picture. A composition that looks perfect head-on is skewed from the side. So primary viewing positions are chosen and the design is built around those directions
- Pixels are not uniform. Cover a sphere in LED segments and density varies by position. Mapping work to correct for that is a constant requirement
Inside: not in front of the screen but inside it
The interior is where it is really decided. An enormous curved screen wrapping the seating covers the audience’s field of view above, below and to the sides.
In an ordinary cinema the screen occupies part of your field of view. Turn your eyes slightly and you see wall beyond the screen, and your brain keeps registering “I am watching a screen.” Cover the whole field of view and that registration collapses. That is also why people feel their body tilting or actually feel dizzy. It pushes to an extreme the effect IMAX was after when it enlarged the aspect ratio.
The problem is source material. Filling a screen like this is far beyond an ordinary film file. Resolution has to be overwhelmingly larger, and even then it has to be shot or rendered for the curve. So most Sphere content is newly shot with bespoke camera systems or built entirely in CG. Production cost is this venue’s biggest constraint.
Sound: directional, different by seat
The old problem in large venues is that sound differs by seat. The front is loud, the back gets it late, and reflections off walls smear speech.
The Sphere’s approach is to aim sound narrowly. Many speakers are placed, each with its direction and delay computed, so that specific sound reaches a specific zone. In theory the structure even allows commentary in different languages to be played to different seating zones simultaneously.
To reduce sound bouncing off walls, a structure that lets sound pass through is used behind the screen. The screen does not block the speakers; the sound comes through the screen. That is why sound seems to come from behind the image.
Even the seats are part of the apparatus
Once sight and sound are covered, what remains is touch. Some seats include haptic devices that transmit vibration so you feel bass or particular effects in your body. Air handling is also used to change wind or temperature as part of the show.
So the Sphere is not a cinema with a big screen but an apparatus aimed at several senses at once. Where special formats like 4DX concentrated on seat movement, the Sphere first pushed field-of-view coverage to the extreme and then layered the rest on top.
The limits of this approach
Talk only about the technology and it sounds perfect, but the practical constraints are stark.
- There is not enough content. Bespoke production is required and it is expensive. You cannot simply play existing films or concert footage
- Construction and operating costs are large. Replicating this scale in another city is a heavy commitment, and expansion plans have in fact run into opposition and negotiation city by city
- It is not a comfortable experience for every viewer. A screen filling your field of view can induce dizziness
- As an advertising medium the maths differs. The talkability is overwhelming, but so is the cost per exposure
How it differs from Times Square
| Times Square | The Sphere | |
|---|---|---|
| Screen form | Multiple flat screens attached to buildings | The building itself is one curved screen |
| Regulation | Zoning mandates billboards | Not a specially regulated district |
| Purpose | The atmosphere and exposure of a whole street | The talkability of a single landmark |
| Content | Existing ad footage can be reused | Mostly requires bespoke production |
Both point the same way in the end. The goal of a screen has moved from “being seen by many” to “being photographed and spread.” The Sphere is that shift nailed down in the form of a building.
In short
- The essence of the Sphere is not size but a borderless curved screen
- Because it is curved, flat video cannot be used as is. Content has to be made in spherical coordinates
- The interior covers your field of view so you sit “inside the screen” rather than in front of it
- Sound is aimed by zone and passes through from behind the screen
- The biggest constraint is not technology but the cost of producing bespoke content
Frequently asked questions
What can you watch at the Sphere?
Bespoke large-format films and artist residencies are the mainstay. It is not a venue that screens ordinary films; programming centres on content made specifically for this screen. Check the schedule and current shows before visiting.
Can it make you dizzy?
Because the screen covers nearly your whole field of view, some people get a motion-sickness-like reaction. Seats further back have lower field-of-view coverage and are relatively easier. If you are sensitive to dizziness, avoiding the front rows is safer.
Is it worth just seeing the outside screen?
The exterior is free to look at and is a tourist attraction in itself. What is displayed changes constantly by time of day and schedule, and there are advertising slots. If you want photos, scout a position with a good head-on view in advance.
Will something similar be built in Korea?
Large curved LED installations already exist in Korea in several forms. But making an entire building into a spherical screen involves construction cost, land and zoning together, so transplanting the same form directly is difficult.
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