For Britain’s Remembrance Day, the poppy is a national symbol of respect and remembrance for the veterans and victims of war. Walking down a London street or driving through a British town, you can’t help but notice a poppy on every man’s suit, every woman’s jacket, and makeshift poppy fields in public gardens to honor war heroes. For the last three years, projection specialists E\T\C UK have taken the Remembrance Day symbol to new heights by covering the 323’-high Shell Center on London’s South Bank with giant projected poppies. This year, The Bank produced the event for Shell UK.
The 26-story building–once the tallest in the UK–was covered by eight 6kW PIGI projectors that were sited 100m away on the edge of the corresponding riverside path, housed in a curtain-sider truck. Six of the projectors, complete with double scrollers running vertically, produced the poppies: three targeted at the top of the tower and three at the bottom.
The stunning red on turquoise background images were overlaid to maximize brightness and scrolled faster this year to draw people’s attention. The projection was clearly visible from anywhere along the South Bank, which runs along the south side of the Thames River, with clear sightlines of the building.
The other two projectors produced the text line "Your Best Way To Remember," the slogan of the 2004 Poppy Appeal, a fundraising event to raise money for those affected by war.
Sam McLaren programmed the projectors while Karen Monid teched. PIGI OnlyCue software was used for control. E\T\C UK completed the installation process in two days–a short period for the amount of kit involved, the environmental challenges, and the precision line-up time needed to ensure the projections looked their best.
Roger Oakley of Word of Mouth Productions project managed the projections and events staged along the river for the 2004 Poppy Appeal.