From near and far
Big effort but big effect: Professional audiovisual technology permits a wide variety of shows for a select or mass audience ranging from individual surprise effects to colossal media events.
As the World Cup host, Germany exhibited great professionalism. A week before the official opening game, standards were already pitched high in Frankfurt: In a 30-minute staging consisting of photos, light and sound, 500 selected images from 50 years of football journalism were animated. On a full three evenings, about 300,000 spectators experienced the giant football show on the façades of eight high-rise buildings from the banks and bridges of the Main, while a further three million watched on their TVs at home.
The result: The façades appear to play against each other like the players on a football pitch. Passes "flew" from one building to the next and groups of fans "wandered" through the picture. The dramatic nature of the work was enhanced by music specially composed by Frankfurt's own Parviz Mir-Ali. It was played by the Hessen broadcasting corporation's (hr) symphony orchestra and big band and mixed into a soundtrack with original sound from great football reports. The accompanying music was transmitted through a large PA system and over the radio so that the computer-controlled spectacle could also be watched from a distance. The staging was followed by a 15-minute projection by the internationally renowned artist Marie-Jo Lafontaine entitled "I love the world".
The idea for the SkyArena originated from the Frankfurt studio Markgraph, which implemented the project for Tourismus + Congress GmbH, Frankfurt am Main. The project manager Isa Rekkab explains the special nature of this large project: "The biggest stumbling blocks were in the details. For example, in the projection equipment: The façades and the projectors positioned on the roofs or buildings opposite were up to 170 m apart. That is too far for normal slide projectors. We therefore put in an early reservation for 40 of the only 50 high-power projectors available world-wide. Just one of these projectors weighs 200 kg, has a power of 7,000 W and is 1.5 m long. An additional difficulty was that all our erection work was carried out with normal urban activity going on around us: 20 km of cable had to be laid across the city, special permission obtained, obstacles cleared."
The SkyArena took up a total of 10,000 m2 on the Frankfurt Skyline. The individual images measured up to 1,600 m2. The total lighting power was about 700,000 W. 26 loudspeaker towers on the river bank and on the lower Main bridge provided the sound. Up to 120 people at a time were busy with implementation and co-ordinating. These included 40 industrial climbers who took nine days to convert the façades into huge projection surfaces with a special foil.
Another event that is not quite as spectacular, but which will remain in place until next year as a permanent installation, is SPOTS: A light matrix made up of 1,800 fluorescent lamps on a surface of almost 1,400 m2 is integrated into the eleven-storey glazed main façade of an office building on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin - a building owned by HVB Immobilien AG - and has been showing varying art installations of internationally celebrated artists such as Carsten Nicolai, Jonathan Monk and Terry Gilliam & Friends for some months now. During the World Cup, the façade was used to show advertising spots for well-known companies.
SPOTS was designed by Tim and Jan Edler from realities:united, Berlin. The work of the two architects who made a name for themselves with the conception for the media façade BIX on the Kunsthaus Graz, has been awarded the Golden Nail of the ADC and the Inspire Award of Deutsche Telekom among others. The idea originates from Marc Fiedler, Café Palermo Pubblicità, Berlin. The light and media façade was installed on the initiative of HVB Immobilien AG.
The Caixia Galicia foundation exhibits works of art in a very special edifice: The building designed by the London architect Nicolas Grimshaw in the heart of La Coruña, Spain, itself impresses with its unique and unconventional shape. White marble laminated in glass forms a wave on the point of breaking. As a special feature, a second plane is suspended in front with 100 panes of glass. 25 of these have HoloPro films laminated into them in hardened special glass. Images are projected onto these from behind by projectors, resulting in a 7.50 m x 10 m holographic projection surface which, according to G+B pronova, Bergisch Gladbach, is the largest in the world. The structure provides information about the art collection and special events. The HoloPro panes form a media façade that harmonises with the architecture. HoloPro is developed and produced by G+B pronova in Germany. It is marketed through a world-wide network of dealers.Futuristically, dynamically and gigantically was how adidas AG staged the adidas brand with its newly built Adi Dassler Brand Center (ADBC) on the former "Herzo Base" army post in Herzogenaurach: Since May 2006, the building in the shape of a black glass monolith has provided ample space as an exhibition and presentation centre with a useful surface of around 12,500 m2. ict Innovative Communication Technologies AG, Kohlberg is responsible for the extensive and challenging media installations in the ADBC. A 370-m2 Softedge projection is only one of many challenges facing the ict team.
For this momentous projection, no fewer than 25 projectors (Panasonic PT-D7700) were installed in the 2,000-m2 "arena", an auditorium-like presentation area providing 700 seats. The ict team used laser equipment to measure the precise distances between the projectors that are suspended from the 6-m high ceiling. The projection surface is a flat exposed concrete surface that permits an image totalling 106 m in width and 3.5 m in height. The images are synchronised and blended in the Softedge procedure. In this way, the PC and video contents, PowerPoint presentations or live camera images can be arranged and controlled as oversize multimedia shows. Of course, it is possible to use just part of the overall project surface and show images fed from different sources in parallel.
As part of the 54th AGM of BASF Aktiengesellschaft in the Congress Centrum Rosengarten in Mannheim, the Wiesbaden-based creative agency circ corporate experience pioneered a 360° spherical projection. An image of the Earth as seen by an astronaut, images from the world of BASF and additional footage about "Mankind and Nature" were projected onto the sphere.
Computer software developed by meso digital interiors, Frankfurt, calculated the spherical projection in real time so that the globe could be rotated in any direction. The software permitted effects such as shifting the boundary between day and night or superimposing cloud cover. Two projectors projected onto the North and South Poles, four more, onto the equatorial plane.
The digital motion projection was implemented by the Forum e3 team led by Hans Reitz, the Creative Director of circ corporate experience. Forum e3 includes both circ and 3deluxe graphics as well as Heinrich Fiedeler Industrial Design, which are all based in the city of Wiesbaden. Further partners involved in the project were setcon Event & Expodesign, Hünxe and Gahrens + Battermann, Cologne.
The Augsburg company Liquid Agentur für Gestaltung designed a "living book" for KUKA Roboter GmbH, which earned them the iF communication design award 2005. The media installation combines a book, film and audio to form an information terminal. By paging through the book, the user activates the scanner so that the film for that particular page is precisely projected onto the double page by a beamer. The film shows not only the book but also the contents in motion. For example, a statically printed object can be animated by the film projection or a real filmed host can guide you through the book. The film is backed up by sound providing speech, music or noises and adding an extra sense to the book. Versions in different languages are also possible with a switchover function. To add yet another sense, Liquid offers an olfactory application.
Screen Visions, the Stuttgart domiciled supplier of Video large image systems and LED modules, successfully pulled off a special premiere in May: the use of the currently "biggest video wall truck in the world" with a 72-m2 video wall on a mast. The screen showed exciting racing scenes and highlights from the pit lane. The entire screen consisted of 64 LED modules from the manufacturer Lighthouse and impressed with its 19-mm pixel size.
Apart from oversize and mobile uses, audiovisual media are especially useful for trade fair appearances. They not only offer informative and interesting functions but also surprise effects. For example, the presentation of the new Mercedes GL-class at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit started with a film shot in California that made a smooth transition to a laser projection. After rapid interaction between 3D impressions of vehicles and spatial beam effects, a green laser beam ignited a pyrotechnic effect at a position in the stand at which the new car floated down from above.
Thanks to ultra-compact projectors, the laser equipment was discretely hidden in the background, making the audience's surprise all the greater. Nevertheless, the technical effort behind the scenes was enormous according to the company that carried out the laser staging, LOBO electronic GmbH of Aalen: A total of four X15 white light lasers of the latest type provided pure white laser light crystal-clear projections onto a semitransparent screen with a total power of 60 W using a two-field projection technique. Another four monochrome laser systems were integrated into the back wall of the stage and provided 3 W each for brilliant spatial beam effects. The system was controlled by laser and multimedia workstations of the LACON series that could be controlled wirelessly by laptop directly from the show area.
The newly conceived trade fair appearance of Liebherr-Aerospace at ILA 2006 in Berlin-Schönefeld was implemented with full technical service and professional equipment from CT Creative Technology, Nürtingen, the international service provider for audiovisual media technology. The media technology highlight was an exhibit featuring professional 3mm LED technology as its central element. No fewer than 210 Barco ILite 3 LED modules were installed in a special moving construction made of three curved rings. The video contents specially programmed for the moving LED panels were matched to the stand concept and the exhibit drew the gaze of trade fair visitors to the Liebherr stand from far away. The professional technical solution provided complex sequential control of the video contents with the movement mechanism and the lighting effects of the exhibit.
CT is offering a new item of equipment for hire: the ChromaLED6 (LVD-605G). The sophisticated Chromatek processing, the brightness, and the panel design with 6-mm resolution supports high-resolution image rendering in flat, curved and spherical applications. With the 96-mm wide by 960-mm high light-weight LED strips, CT is offering an innovative LED product for trade fair stands, set design, staging and professional productions.
Christie, a vendor of visual solutions for business, entertainment and industry based in Mönchengladbach, is launching the Christie Roadster S+20KDLP projector on the market. It is part of the latest generation of the compact Roadster series, which was designed specifically for hire/event technology, for live performances, trade fairs and exhibitions.
The projector, which is driven by a powerful 3-chip DLP-SXGA+ motor and outputs 20,000 ANSI lumens, achieves excellent image quality and increased brightness levels with enhanced power and low operating costs. This makes the device suitable for the big challenges posed by unusual environments.
In World Cup year, visitors to Deutsche Telekom at CeBIT in Hanover were treated to a multimedia communication concept on a presentation surface equivalent to more than two football pitches, making the entire surface into an Infotainment experience. Gahrens + Battermann, Bergisch Gladbach, received its sixth order from the Berlin-based communication agency q-bus Mediatektur to act as its media technology partner for the CeBIT appearance. As the general contractor, the media company was responsible not only for implementation but this time also for preliminary and implementation planning of everything to do with video, audio, lighting, the entire IT technology and supervision of the various subcontractors working on the site.
At Baselworld 2006, Winkler Veranstaltungstechnik AG from Wohlen, Switzerland, supplied exhibitors - from around 45 nations - from one of the largest pools of equipment in Europe. Over 50 plasma screens were integrated into just one stand, including 24 50-inch plasma screens that formed two 4:3 plasma multiscreen walls. Current advertising spots were projected onto the large surfaces either side of the stand entrance. The multimedia department of Winkler VST produced the extensive video including aspect ratio adjustments for these imposing multiscreen walls. Further plasma screens were individually integrated into the stand structure. On two evenings, stand parties were held for invited guests. The entire interior was provided with sound especially for the occasion with exclusive transmission of the TV spots.
m+a report Nr.5 / 2006 vom 14.08.2006
m+a report vom 14. August 2006