Tekamaki a d3 Studio
d3 Technologies are pleased to announce San Carlos based rental and staging company Tekamaki have signed up to become the latest d3 Studio. With a client base ranging from NASA to Nintendo and Electronic Arts to Google, Tekamaki profiles as a high-end technical service provider with deep roots in display technology and an extremely knowledgeable staff.
Tekamaki’s capabilities range from concept development through process management, project design and staging. A small, flexible company with decades of industry experience between its team members, Tekamaki’s focus has always been on teamwork, talent, innovation and the latest in display and media technology to help their clients successfully communicate their message. Tekamaki used d3 systems on the September 2012 DreamForce event for Salesforce.com, which saw the entire San Francisco City Hall mapped up for a one-off performance by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Based in San Carlos, California, Tekamaki team members include Matt Ward (co-founder of Element Labs), Joe Conway, Ron Machado, Robert Loney and Christopher Burdett.
Mapping Festival 2013
Mapping Festival 2013 is about to get under way in Geneva so get tickets NOW. There’s something for everybody- installations, VJing, and workshops on mapping and stage design from the likes of Boris Edelstein, Joanie LeMercier, and Phillipe Chaurand.
“The Mapping Festival is a multidisciplinary festival dedicated to audiovisual arts and digital cultures. As the sole broadcasting space of this magnitude in Switzerland, the festival is now also recognised internationally, and this with the richness of programming. Mapping Festival offers every year audiovisual performances, installations, clubbing parties, live performances, architectural mapping, as well as workshops and conferences.
Thanks to this unique diversity aspect, the festival is recognised throughout the world as an major event, a real experimental meeting space, for creation and exchange with its innovative thinking in the field of audiovisual arts.
Now in its eighth edition, the Mapping Festival has steadily grown and has become one of the leading events of its kind in Europe.”
A little Madmapper experiment
Such a versatile tool, our friend Madmapper. This is a fine example of how to push a little projector juuussssst about beyond it’s capabilities. It’s an old Panasonic desk PJ (800×600) on it’s side, shooting about 50deg. off-axis, onto a wall roughly 40′ away. It’s in the lobby of the building where I work and the idea is to have it on the wall for an artist’s reception. It’s our 50th anniversary coming up and we plan on displaying one work of art in each 48″ square and to give the artists a sense of the scale that it would end up being. Talk to me after we’ve hung 50 pieces of art using scaffolding and lag screws…..Lovin’ Madmapper though!
AntiVJ Paleodictyon
AntiVJ has once again conquered a major projection mapping on a very unique structure. Paleodictyon is shot onto the curved exterior of architect Shigeru Ban’s the Centre Pompidou Metz, France. “(The piece is) loosely inspired by the work and research of deep-sea expert Peter A. Rona, (and) abolishes notions of scale by contrasting micro-architecture with human construction. Fascinated by the marks left by unknown creatures called Paleodictyon Nodosum, he offers the hypothesis that these hexagonal structures are designed in order to cultivate bacteria. A modern day Captain Nemo, Peter A. Rona wanders relentlessly across the seabed looking to discover (more…)
Museo Nazionale del Cinema uses projectiondesign
As part of a wholesale technological overhaul in one of Europe’s most evocative museum spaces, projectiondesign has supplied 40 of its high-performance DLP® projectors to the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, Italy. The projectors were provided by and supported by Italian distribution partner, AGMULTIVISION and installed by Italian System Integrator OVRIT VIDEO. Image courtesy OVRIT Video
Housed inside the Mole Antonelliana, (more…)
Tigrelab Vertical Dance and Videomapping for TV3
Tigrelab just did this great videomapping for TV3 featuring Sacude. Projecionmapping and dance already go together well, even more so when you do it sideways 30 ft. up a wall! In addition to some fantastic camera work, a Dataton Watchout was used along with a single Barco 20k.
Tigrelab - Video Mapping and Vertical Dance for TV3 from Tigrelab on Vimeo.
SOTA Creative 360-deg. Mapping for Subaru Australia
SOTA Creative drives game changing experience for Subaru Australia.
Following product supply challenges that resulted from the tragic Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Subaru Australia needed a game changing communication experience to re-motivate their Dealer Network and Launch two new models. As long term experiential agency for Subaru Australia, the team at SOTA conceived and produced a one-off experience incorporating a “Virtual Drive”, where all 240 people in the audience became passengers in a unique 360 degree cinematic creation. On over 125 metres of continuous screen, a Full High Definition projection system took our audience on a drive through some of Australia’s iconic landscape and environments.
SOTA Creative conceived and produced two major 360 degree cinematic experiences, one each for the reveals of the Impreza and the XV, plus continually changing 360 degree visual effects for environment design and speaker support for the duration of the evening. The images were created and edited to be delivered at Full High Definition (22,000 pixels wide and 1080 pixels high). The virtual drive experience was shot using a purpose built 9 camera rig which was mounted on a custom-fitted Film vehicle. Post production was done both in Los Angeles and Sydney and converted by SOTA to be projected through 12 Christie Projectors (HD-10k) and a Dataton Watchout Control system. Haycom provided the Christies and the staging/rigging.
all imagery courtesy/copyright SOTA Creative
After a worldwide search, SOTA Creative sourced a Los Angeles based camera system and rig capable of delivering 22,000 pixel width 360 degree images, developed a post production process to deliver the finished programs to a Watchout controlled system and then to 12 matched Christie projectors. Social Animal used the incredible SA360 rig to deliver the goods. (Make sure to check out their site for some cool interactive loops and extra footage- and some pretty amazing case studies).The continuous audience surround screen surface was a challenge in itself, needing to be floor to ceiling, while allowing “openings” for audience arrival, F&B service and the revealing of Vehicles and Entertainment. The LA team from Social Animal came to Australia for literally a 3 day shoot. 
We also used a still shoot of the interior of the car to produce the interior of the car and then this was added as the foreground of the video. We then had the challenge of doing rescaling up to 22,00 pixel width and had to crop it to our Aspect Ratio requirements and cut it up to suit the 12 Christie projectors (12 movies playing together using the ‘Watch out System”. And before all of this could happen we had to produce the foreground plate with the ‘interior of the car’. We produced this as a 22,000 pixels wide by 1080 high all played in full high definition. The end result was projection 106 metres around all the audience. Notice, also that the ‘rear view mirror’ had the same image as the ‘rear window’.
Projection Studio Enchants Saltwell Park
London UK based projection artist Ross Ashton, returned to Gateshead’s Saltwell Park for the Enchanted Parks 2012 event, with a beautifully imaginative large format show “Glass House” celebrating the work of Victorian stained glass artist, William Wailes. The six and a half minute piece was projected on to the front face of Saltwell Towers, Wailes’ magnificent former home in the grounds of the Park, and ran every evening for the duration of the after dark experience. It was accompanied by a soundscape created by Karen Monid and the whole work was designed from the start as an integral visual and audio narrative.
A single PIGI 6Kw projector with a double rotating scroller was used to project the images, fitted with a 25cm lens and located 35 metres away producing a 20 metre wide picture.
Challenging environmental conditions included temperatures down to -5ºC and 15 cm of snow on the ground, making it a tough working environment, but also added to the magic and ephemeral nature of the installation once up and running – which looked stunning! (ED.- Doing projection of any kind in weather like this is always a challenge often requiring special boxes to house the units in. Even with the incredible heat they put off, temps have to be stabilized across the whole piece…)
“Glass House” juxtaposed the chemical reactions involved in the process of making stained glass against those of the Great Fire of Gateshead, which ripped through the heart of the city in 1854. The fire, though destructive, was followed by the rebuilding and regeneration of the city. Ashton and Monid’s collaborative works are renowned for fusing specific themes and local history relevant to individual buildings with fabulously accessible and entertaining results. Ashton commissioned locally based photographer Shaun Thubron to visit all the churches in the area which still have intact Wailes stained glass windows, including St Nicholas’ Cathedral, Newcastle and others, which he used as original materials for his PIGI artwork.
The audio script was derived from a number of mid 19th century resources including accounts of the Great Fire and printed documents from the 1851 Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace, which enthusiastically embraced Wailes’ work.
Extracts were chosen by Monid and read by a local community group, the Friends of Saltwell Park. These were additionally composed as multi-layered sound textures.
She also used multiple glass sounds and tones – both musically and as effects – including a rendition of local folk song, ‘The Waters of Tyne’. The sound system comprised two KV2 EX12 speakers with playback via an Alesis HD24 hard drive, and all the original work was created and played back in stereo.
Ashton comments, “I was very proud to be involved in Enchanted Parks again this year, and very pleased with the results. The idea of bringing local history alive and reaching out to people in live installation like this is very exciting and rewarding”.
Enchanted Parks is organised by the Newcastle & Gateshead Initiative (NGI) and Magnetic Events.
The Ice Book- Super Intricate Projectionmapping Paper Models
When I was a kid, Saturdays were sometimes spent going to work with my Dad. He was an architect and since it was a weekend, we had the run of the place. I invariably would gravitate to the drafting room which, at his place, was huge! Lots of workstations, cabinets with every kind of colored pen/pencil/tip combo, electric erasers, all manner of paper, model making supplies, etc. Basically, everything that a small curious boy could get in trouble with! The thing that fascinated me the most though, were the scale models of all the buildings they were working on. Super intricate detail, all the way down to the little people cutouts and hand railings, as well as street signs and various decorative flora. So I was thrilled to come across the work of Davy and Kristin McGuire, an artistic duo out of the UK that does small-scale paper modeling combined with projection techniques. They form The Ice Book and direct, design, and perform their original video/model mashups for everything from installations to live theater shows, dance performances, interactive video performances and everything in between.
Their paper models are extremely detailed and exquisitely cut. Adding the element of projection just completely brings them to life. They use After Effects and Final Cut to render the final video, and (no surprise here) Madmapper to map the sets. So often on this site I focus on large-scale scale work, only to realize the really detailed stuff is every bit as intriguing!
A couple of their pieces stand out- ‘Psycho- Homage to Hitchcock’ as well as ‘The Hunter’.
Here’s some fascinating examples via their Vimeo page:
Psycho - Homage to Hitchcock from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
The Hunter (Theatrical Installation) from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
The idea of an interactive pinboard at home is just so strikingly obvious….I think I’m going to start assembly immediately! Now to make it so there can be date-relevant info displayed along with fun remembrances and package it up in a mappable environment…hmmm……
Pinboard from Davy and Kristin McGuire on Vimeo.
Seeper Arts Gets Festive on BBC
Celebrate the holidays the Seeper way! The BBC invited the nation to celebrate the start of its 2012 Christmas Lights in a techno-driven finale at the closing of the One Show Live on BBC one. Clips taken from popular BBC programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing and Doctor Who were reworked by seeper into a two- minute, three-dimensional BBC Christmas experience to kick- start the festive celebrations in a way not seen before. “Growing up in the UK the BBC has always been central to Christmas for me”, said seeper’s founder, Evan Grant. “It’s a pleasure to use such an iconic building as our canvas. This is a great opportunity to celebrate Christmas the seeper way.
They used five of the Barco HDQ-2K 40, Barco’s giant 3D-capable projector in a specially built FOH rig to blast through the infamous London fog. Units supplied by XL Video, natch. XL recently invested heavily in Barco’s latest super high brightness projectors and these were no doubt part of that batch.
The proprietary “SeeperServer” was used for playback of media.
Seeper has done some pretty outstanding gigs in the last year, and you can read more here. By all means, have a look at their website- as well as their Vimeo channel. And for some great info on their process (as well as projectionmapping in general) check out this slide deck.
some great large-scale work!
BBC One Christmas Launch from seeper on Vimeo.
Panoramic Room 2 from Dub Video Connection
I came across a really great looking mapping project from Dub Video Connection recently. They are a multidisciplinary studio, based in Lisbon, Portugal, dedicated to multimedia arts and interactivities, since 1997. They are committed to develop ideas and projects in Film Direction and Production, Graphic and Motion Design, Visual Identities for artists and festivals, Video Mapping and 3D Visuals, Interactve Systems, Technical Implementation and Visuals Creation and Performance. Dub Video Connection uses its skills, allied with the most recent technology, to blend visual narratives and visual identities and bring them to the most demanding audiences.
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- Taping madness!
DVC explains about the piece, Panoramic Room 2, “In this project we used two Panasonic DS100 projectors, 10k therefore, as you can see on the video.
For the playback we used Dataton Watchout and connected to another computer for the live drawing there was a member of the team drawing with total freedom using Alchemy over the whole projection. We can say that the biggest input on “hardware” was in fact the black tape on the wall, which gave to the image that amazing contrast that we can find in the medieval stained glass. Every line and surface was mapped and operated during the show, an audiovisual experience, with sound design and music to involve the audience in that specific environment (rain, birds, lightnings, etc). This live performance wasn’t a finished product, and in this very next weekend we’ll have a another one in the same place with the same environment, but with inputs, new visuals, contents and some narrative. This project was definitely implicated in the specific architecture of that space (House of Music, by dutch architect Rem Koolhaas). This project was created as an hostage of that space, as an experimental and paisagistic approach inviting everyone to sit down and enjoy the imaginary and surrealistic transfiguration of the room.”
Love the taped outlines!
Enjoy!
Panoramic Room 2.0 from Dub Video Connection on Vimeo.
Electrosonic Acquires Global Immersion
London (December 11, 2012) – Electrosonic is pleased to announce its acquisition of Global Immersion, a leader in the design and integration of high performance digital immersive theater attractions. Global Immersion will continue to serve the planetarium, institutional theater and giant screen markets.
The acquisition, completed on December 10, 2012, positions Electrosonic as the only company to offer digital immersive solutions across the theme park, museum, giant screen cinema and planetarium markets.
“This is a significant strategic move for both companies, and I am excited by the prospects presented by the acquisition,” says Jim Bowie, President of Electrosonic Group. “As a single operation, we will service an even broader range of markets, bringing further innovation and an expanded offering to our customers. Our goal to attract and develop the best industry talent has been one of the drivers of the acquisition. Together we will lead by consolidating our strengths and delivering the best visual systems in the world.”
Founded in 2007, Global Immersion is renowned for its work with highly specialized and technically-complex digital immersive theaters. The company has won multiple project and business awards, and has established a solid base of digital immersive theater attractions worldwide. Its project portfolio includes the California Academy of Sciences, Adler Planetarium, Moscow Planetarium, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Peoria Riverfront Museum and Reuben H. Fleet Science Center.
Martin Howe, CEO of Global Immersion comments “I am delighted with this transaction with Electrosonic. It allows us to further expand our activities and develop our product and service offering, opening up new doors and bringing with it many synergies. The planetarium and giant screen markets are undergoing significant change as the digital revolution pace quickens. Electrosonic offers a range of benefits that our customers can immediately enjoy. Its international reach and broad technical expertise and capacity mean that we can more cost-effectively service a wider range of customers in more locations, while building upon our shared reputation for quality, performance and support.”
Here at Projectionfreak, we’re proud to have Electrosoniclamps.com as a sponsor! Check out their website by clicking on their advert over on the right for all your OEM and replacement lamp needs! If you think you might like to jump on the sponsorship bus, get in touch with Projectionfreak- admin(at)projectionfreak.com….
ScreenLab 0×02 Residency at MediaCityUK
Yikes! When do you ever get a chance to see the likes of Joanie Lemercier, Kyle McDonald, and Joel Gethin Lewis in the same room demonstrating real-time video artwork? At the ScreenLab Residency that’s where! Through the ScreenLab 0×02 residency, artists Kyle McDonald, Joanie Lemercier and Joel Gethin Lewis worked together with students and researchers at MediaCityUK and an advanced technology center on the main campus (Dig this place: The Centre for Visual Environments). It features the Octave, a truly astounding setup which is detailed HERE. Together they developed interactive artworks that provided a unique experience for each visitor by creating artificial worlds using sound and visuals that react to their movement.
The results of the residency were unveiled at a launch event on Wednesday 5 December which formed part of the University’s As Yet Impossible series of lectures, bringing together future thinkers to challenge audiences and give them a glimpse of how science and the arts can combine to shape the world. The really cool thing is that most of the work is openly available on Github- Here’s Kyle’s, Here’s Elliot Woods’ (curator and open source contributor to vvvv). The following is the Livestream broadcast (jump to :41-ish for the true start):
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Wilderbe- Projectionmapped Dance Troupe IndieGoGo Campaign
Just got a note from Wilderbe, a dance troupe that uses projectionmapping techniques to enhance their performance. Looks like they are running an IndieGoGo campaign to raise funds for a projector purchase. Let’s see….projection, dance, performing arts+technology….how could we resist? Have a look at their showreel and campaign vid below and, if you’re so inclined, head over to there IndieGoGo page to throw’em a buck or two. As we all know, this business isn’t necessarily the cheapest and creation takes effort- financially and emotionally. Director Nova Han would be most appreciative.
“Wilderbe has already performed at 2 world class festivals as main stage acts, performed at a private event for Bob Pitman CEO of Clear Channel, as well as shared the stage with Alicia Keys and Katy Perry. Crowds and reviewers have expressed how immersed they became while watching Wilderbe’s theatrical performance synergize with technology. I am beyond impressed by their performances and completely agree that the show “changes people’s perceptions of reality”, “is surreal”, “avant-garde”, and “the future of entertainment.” Its the perfect media convergence that evokes a one of a kind visual-sensory experience. We are trying to fundraise to get two projectors and a screen so that our team can master this fusion between different mediums of art.”
projectiondesign’s NVG FS35 IR- Night Vision Projection
I had no idea such a device even existed! NVG for a projector! I suppose for a video game crowd this would be excellent…but it seems like it’ll be for so much more- read military. At I/ITSEC 2013, Norway’s projectiondesign announces the FS35 IR series, the world’s most capable solid-state LED projectors for NVG stimulation requirements.
The FS35 IR series is available in two models. The 4.1 Megapixel FS35 IR wqxga features the highest resolution NVG stimulated images available for unprecedented realism and detail in day and night training, whereas the FS35 IR wuxga features dual IG input capability for simultaneous RGB + IR and seamless transitioning from day to night-time training.
The FS35 IR series incorporates projectiondesign’s 2nd Generation ReaLED™ illumination for brighter daytime simulation, and improved optics over previous generation projectors meaning that the intensity of IR is boosted by an (more…)
Obscura Permanent Projectionmapping at the Hive
Projectionmapping artists Obscura recently installed a HUGE permanent projectionmapping rig for The Hive, a night club in Copenhagen. The decorations for the walls were modelled in SketchUp and transformed into flat shapes using the Pepakura Software. The different fragments were then laser cut in thick cardboard. Assembling the pieces wasn’t easy, but with patience and small nails, acrylic foam and other remedies they were put onto the wall and fastened.
They used six 4000 lumen Acer projectors for covering the two walls. They were mounted below the ceiling to cover 11 by 3 meters on each wall. The connections were made using HDMI cables. The longest stretch was approximately 15 meters – about the furthest you can go without amplification.
A Mac Pro with an ATI Radeon 5870 graphics card was connected to two TrippleHead2Go devices. On the machine, Madmapper handled the precise mapping of pre rendered graphics to the physical shapes. But apart from that we created a box with buttons that allows the employees to switch between the different prerecorded video loops. The box was created using an Arduino board that communicates with Max/MSP on the computer. Max/MSP handles the timing, fading and switching between modes and forwards a midi signal to MadMapper which then reacts by switching between between presets. Also it was a requirement that a VJ should be able to connect to the system. The VJ switches to a setting on the Arduino box and plugs in a DVI cable. This mode is handled by a Blackmagic capture card that forwards the VJ signal into Milumin. Here the VJ signal is adjusted to the dimensions of the walls (the signal is tiled and mirrored) and the output from Milumin is then via Syphon put into MadMapper.
So once again we see a prime example of how a little thought and ingenuity go a long way. Expensive components and complex gear need not be the purvey of video, mapping, or permanent installs, indeed- you can get some pretty astounding results with less. Nice work Obscura!
Permanent mapping installation at The Hive from Obscura on Vimeo.
Butler Ballet’s Nutcracker
My desk for the next week:
I’ll be running video and various other things for the Butler Ballet’s Nutcracker. It’s a huge production- 100 piece orchestra, 130 cast, kitchen sink and all. I use a Digital Projection Lightning 35hd fed by a Macbook Pro to shoot about 130′. Processing is done with Modul8 and Madmapper. The snow animation that I run was made in Apple’s Motion 5, and the wintery still-shot in the background is a perfect snowy day in front of my house. No real ‘mapping’ per se, but Madmapper makes it really easy to fire up a preset and fine tune the exact size of the scene.
NYX Visuals Tofidi #1
Madmapper, Modul8, Ableton Live, and a weird snakey-looking sculpture make for a fascinating mapping from French artists NYX Visual Label. I love that most of their projects include some kind of really interesting sculpture….especially this one carved out of what appears to be some kind of foam. Check out another post on NYX HERE.
TOFIDI #1 from NYX Visual Label on Vimeo.
Visuals and Production by :
NYX VISUAL
Artistic Direction by :
MASOMENOS
Video by :
Manon GICQUEL
Angelsign Studio for Bridgestone Tiremapping
Well OK. We’ve had helicopters, trucks, all manner of cars, even lawn ornaments- now tires! Check out this projectionmapping of a Bridgestone tire done by Angelsign Studios of Milan. Angelsign had a hand in the Hugo Boss/McLaren projectionmapping for Roberto Fazio last year.
Christie Ups the Ante at 72,000 lumens
Brighter…must…get….brighter…..
And the jokes about the solar system wanting the Sun back will start rolling in any minute now….
I still want to see a photo, but 72k is pretty damn bright. At some point, there’s got to be a rule about one source being that bright…what if it failed? I know that two 35k Roadies doesn’t technically equal 70k brightness, but I think I’d want an online backup just for peace-of-mind. Still, you have to hand it to Christie Digital for advancing our little corner of technology. What’s the next threshold?
Christie®, a global leader in cinema projection, fascinated leading exhibitors from Asia Pacific with a demonstration of its prototype laser projector in Beijing today. Short movie clips of 3D content projected on a 20-meter wide by 12-meter high screen were screened at typical 3D brightness levels of 3-4 ft-L and then using the laser projector at 14 ft-L at the theater of Wanda Shi Jin Shan Cinema, leaving the audiences in awe.
“Today’s laser projection demo was fabulous! I’m impressed with the ultra brightness and life-like colors delivered onto the screen,” said Ning Ye, General Manager of Wanda Group.
“Christie is committed to creating new technology and maintaining our products at a high quality. We are continuously developing solutions to help exhibitors to project compelling, immersive images to their screens. Today we are pleased to demonstrate our first prototype laser projector to the exhibitors,” said Lin Yu, vice president, Christie Asia Pacific.
Presenting at the laser demo event, Dr. Don Shaw, senior director, Product Management, Christie Entertainment Solutions, noted, “Audiences deserve to see the brightest 3D with 14 ft-L on cinema screens. Our demonstration today showed just how truly spectacular a movie maker’s vision can be realized when shown at the highest light levels, making the shared experience more immersive, and, ultimately, driving more cinema ticket sales.”
Dr. Shaw continued, “Some attendees leave 3D movies complaining of headaches, fatigue, and sore eyes. Just like reading a book in low light levels, low brightness on the movie screen is one of the reasons for these complaints. Delivering more lumens to the screen will help address these effects, as will the advent of ‘eye-easy’ high frame rate (HFR) movies.”
Commenting on the laser projector, Dr. Shaw said, “There’s half-a-dozen different ‘forks in the road’ decisions that have to be made when designing a laser-projection system and most manufacturers will take different paths.” He noted that Christie customers have come to expect the best in technology and service from the world’s largest supplier of DLP Cinema® projectors, operating for more than 80 years.
Dr. Shaw also shared with the exhibitors information on Christie IMB, an integrated media block solution that seamlessly converts and delivers feature-film and alternative content within a secure environment to all of Christie’s 2K and 4K, DCI-compliant Solaria® Series 2 projectors. Following his presentation, the audiences were treated to a demo of Christie IMB showcasing MPEG2 contents.
Christie hosted its first laser projector demo for cinema industry luminaries such as Douglas Trumbull, recent Gordon E. Sawyer Academy Award winner, at its High Frame Rate Summit in April 2012.
At IBC 2012 in Amsterdam in September, Christie gained recognition for the world’s first laser projection of Hugo 3D, a feature-length 3D movie projected at 2D brightness levels. Hugo 3D is the first CPG (Cameron Pace Group) certified movie.
Christie’s Commitment to HFR
The two main goals of Christie’s HFR activities are to help the industry develop the best HFR content and the best delivery system for HFR content. The first goal involves assisting leading-edge filmmakers and post-production companies in perfecting HFR movie creation, so the industry has the most engaging, entertaining content possible. The second goal is to assist exhibitors in showing these 3D HFR movies in all their glory. To these ends, Christie is helping create the standards for 3D HFR movies through formal and informal technology-development alliances with major producers and directors, post-production facilities, studios and technology partners. On the exhibitor’s front, Christie provides one-stop shopping for all the hardware, software and services that enable exhibitors to deliver a filmmaker’s vision in stunning 3D HFR quality
The Projection Studio’s ‘Five Windows’
London- UK based Projection artist Ross Ashton was commissioned by Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire to produce an exclusive Son et Lumière show celebrating the 50th anniversary of its high profile Hopkins Centre for the Arts. The show ‘Five Windows’ was based around stunning large format projections highlighting the history, achievements and impact of the Hopkins Centre, which also houses the Ivy League College’s drama, music, film and studio arts departments. Giant images were projected on to the magnificent front façade of the Hopkins Centre, which was designed by architect Wallace Harrison and opened in 1962.
The College approached Ashton who has completed several prestigious projected art installations in the US within the last three years.
He comments, “It was an amazing opportunity to work with one of the most prominent educational institutions in the USA. The building is architecturally exciting, and compiling the storyboard and artwork was very interesting”. Ashton took a brief from the College’s Organising Committee who discussed what they wanted, and a student committee was also invited to present ideas that could be included. From there, he originated the concept for the 13 minute work. There was a historical and a future section to the show, together with a special dance piece devised by students and videoed against a green screen, from which elements were edited and integrated into the projection sequence. “It was really important to make it an all-inclusive piece and to emphasise the hugely diverse traditional and contemporary performance programmes for which the Hopkins Centre is renowned, as well as the reputation of Dartmouth as a liberal arts university,” explains Ashton, who knew from experience that dance as a medium “Would transpose very dynamically onto the front of the building”.
Ashton completed the story and script-writing in London, while Projection Studio’s Sang Gun Kim produced the motion graphics with some input from Ashton and Steve Larkins. Ashton asked UK-based sound artist Howie Saunders – whose cinematic credits include The Matrix – on-board to compose a special sound-track. This featured recording from the first events at the Hopkins Centre including readings by poet Robert Frost.
The front of the Hopkins Centre features several enormous arched windows, each of which were covered with bespoke Spandex shades made for the occasion by Rosebrand, and attached via magnetic strips to the steel window frames. The projection equipment was two Christie HD18 projectors, overlaid and located in a special hide positioned 17.5 metres from the front of the building. They were fitted with wide-angle short-throw lenses and supplied by New York based Atomic Professional Audio, co-ordinated by Dan Ostroff. Ashton worked closely on site with Hopkins Centre Production Manager Todd Campbell, audio technician Doug Phoenix and video tech Will Cleveland and they also hired carpenter Donald Winams. The Watchout show control system was programmed by Karen Monid. The big technical challenge was lining up the projectors across the Hopkins Centre façade’s different depths, which vary by up to about 5 metres … however some great teamwork resulted in a unique and memorable event to celebrate the landmark achievement.
Electrosonic Expands Online Projector Lamp Sales
London (23 October, 2012) – Electrosonic’s projector lamp website www.ElectrosonicLamps.com, which was launched last year as an efficient, hassle-free way to buy projector lamps, can now service customers in the UK and throughout Europe. In addition to US dollars, the website now supports the Euro, the British Pound Sterling and the Swedish Krona.
Visitors to the website can browse the largest and most comprehensive inventory of original equipment manufacturer lamps (OEM). Also available are high quality OEM equivalent lamps for xenon and UHP projectors at savings of up to 50%. The “Sapphire” xenon projector lamps are made in Japan and designed to meet or exceed OEM quality and specifications. The “Diamond” UHP lamps utilize OEM bulbs and offer a 120 day warranty.
Electrosonic’s volume buying power and knowledge of the lamp businesses allows the company to procure lamps through many different channels, ensuring the best prices are passed on to its customers. Volume buyers can achieve special account status, which is reflected in the pricing they see online. Special discounts are also available for education, government, entertainment and corporate buyers who join Electrosonic’s buying group for their sector.
Electrosonic’s lamp customers receive a 30-day satisfaction guarantee and an enhanced 90-day warranty on their lamp purchases. For complete peace of mind, Electrosonic offers its exclusive Lamp Replacement Program. The program eliminates the hassle of procuring, storing and purchasing projector lamps. The program is fully customizable and offers installation and calibration services, and guaranteed availability.
“The new lamp website offers our clients a quick, efficient and cost-effective way to source new projector lamps for their business,” commented Sarah Joyce, Electrosonic’s VP EMEA. “This new service expands upon our existing portfolio of service solutions across the EMEA region, providing our clients with a comprehensive audio-visual service”.
Electrosonic’s lamp sales and technical support team is based out of London, UK, Stockholm, Sweden, and Minneapolis, USA. Electrosonic also has a large network of audio-visual service support staff throughout the US and Europe. They are available to provide local support and can also provide projector calibration and lamp installation services.
Beyond projector lamp sales, ElectrosonicLamps.com provides information on a wide range of Electrosonic service solutions, including priority maintenance and support, and on-site staffing.
Electrosonic’s lamp customers can ship their used lamps to Electrosonic for free lamp recycling and disposal. Lamps containing hazardous waste are recycled through a certified waste management company.
As customers in the UK and Europe will quickly discover, ElectrosonicLamps.com is the go-to destination for competitive pricing, quality customer service and the best inventory of OEM lamps.
Sponsor Shout Out- Projectionadvertising.co.uk
You’ll notice a new ad over on the right. It’s from our friends at Projection Advertising in the UK and they need some people! The employment opportunities are as follows:
Senior Technical Producer
Senior 3D/VFX Artist
Video Technicians- both freelance and permanent
Interactive/Touchdesigner Developers
Positions are available immediately in London. If you are like a lot of folks, employment opportunities these days are something to jump at! So what are you waiting for? Get over to Projection Advertising and send them a resume (I’d do it myself, but the PF Headquarters are hopping and time is valuable….plus my work visa is expired…) – and good luck! I’ll keep posting every couple of days to let you know about this incredible opportunity.
By PDCLEAR payday loan