Event technical production solution specialist PR Live supplied stunning large format projection - using a combination of their new d3 server and six Christie 20K high powered projectors – which was applied to the side of a large house as the finale for an exclusive private party in the UK.
PR Live’s Dave Gillett led the team, designed the projection system and applied his experience in the specialist area of projection mapping which caught guest’s attention as they exited a big marquee that was erected in the garden for the event.
PR Live also commissioned the custom video content for the 4 minute looped show, created by artist Jack Beccegato, which was mapped to the 30 metre wide by 8.5 metre high side for the house.
The projection surface involved a number of bay windows, decorative brickwork and a raised surfaces at different depths, all of which had to be taken into consideration to fit the images perfectly to the building.
After taking a brief from the client, PR Live commissioned the material which included graphics, animations and a number of lighting effects, all integrated into the digital footage. Jack first made a 3D model of the surface area and then scaled the material, lighting and other effects to fit.
Dave imported the same 3D model into the d3, and was then able to align the projection content precisely to the building.
The physical system comprised the six Christie projectors which were run as two stacks of three machines for a super-bright image which was blended seamlessly in the d3.
The machines were fitted with long throw lenses and positioned 27 metres away from the building in special towers 4 metres off the ground. The towers were located in a gully on a slightly lower portion of the multi-level garden.
Being in the country with superior darkness and no ambient light spillage, the projectors pierced through the night sky producing super-bright, super-sharp images.
Dave used the d3’s powerful and flexible warp functionality on site to fine-tune the projection image to fit the building exactly. Due to the extremely tight timescale, a laser scanned 3D model of the surface was not available - so this functionality was extremely useful.
The build, set-up and programming was completed over two nights on site by Dave and the PR Live crew.
The biggest challenge, he elucidates, was the intense time pressure … as there was only a week between south London based PR Live between being confirmed for the project, and the event taking place, in which time all the artwork had to be created from scratch.
“The adaptability and power of both the d3 and the Christies helped make it a relatively straightforward task once we were on site” commented Dave.
PR Live has recently invested in the d3 control platform, and Dave has come on-board to assist in the ongoing expansion of the video and large format projection mapping division.