Two Millennia Of Heroism

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In the framework of the 60th year celebrations for the State of Israel, the Israeli Police planned the production of their annual event. The client’s brief expressed their intention to create an event with an emphasis on the stories of outstanding policemen who put their lives on the line defending the civilian population with substantial risk.

Jiminy Creative staff understood that the connection between historical heroism and the courageous actions of our time—both in terms of the location and in terms of the substance—would create a perfect event that would connect the people both physically and emotionally.

They invested a lot of thought into finding a location that could be integrated into the substance of the event. After two weeks of searching, tours, and technical tests, the staff chose to implement the production at the Tower of David in the Old City of Jerusalem, a place which provided inspiration for heroism since the Second Temple days more than 2,000 years ago.

Creating a performance event within the walls of the historical Tower of David is not an easy task. The location poses many challenges: the use of the archeological elements, which become integrated as natural environmental decoration, while maintaining strict archeological laws. And in addition, integrating the human element: tens of actors, dancers, and musicians, who need to move within the archeological space, between the hidden technologies, lighting fixtures, and sound equipment without creating disturbances. They learned where to walk in the dark and how to identify every stone, rock, wall, and step in the historical compound.

From a visual perspective, the idea was to turn David’s fortress from “inanimate walls” to “walls of hope.” The staff spent many days creating a complete mapping of the fortress while photographing with the lenses of the projectors which were to be used in the event, in order to work in the most precise manner. Because of the short production time, it was decided to integrate Xenon scroller instruments and a seamless video projectors system.

The creative staff created a presentation with three basic themes—heroism, heritage, and hope—and with each one of the pictures, the old walls took on a new form.

In order to further intensify the experience of the viewers, the creative staff decided to hide “feeling intensifiers” between the seats of the audience: scent machines, wind machines, heaters, and more.

Since the place serves as a heritage museum during the day, the construction and rehearsal time at the site was limited to four days. While there was sunlight, the staff planned and designed the sound and special effect systems, and at night, meticulous work was done designing the lighting and building precise projection masks for video screenings.

The entire event took 40 minutes, and at its end, the response of the crowd was amazing. People at the event shed tears and got emotional, and the Police Commissioner and the Mayor of Jerusalem said, “This was one of the most impressive events which have been seen in the city in the last few years.”

Design Team
Creative manager and director: Ron Carmi (Jiminy Creative)
Visual director and technologies integrator: Kobi Hoffmann (Jiminy Creative)
Project coordinator: Shulamit Zrihen (Jiminy Creative)
Visual technologies: AVS (Israel)
Technical director: Asaf Shem-Tov (AVS)
Programmer: Zohar Levi (AVS)
Animation and post production: Locomotion Animotion Studios
Animation director: Amit Fisher (Locomotion)
Chief animator: Ron Ayalon (Locomotion)
Art director and designer: Yael Shoam (Locomotion)
Post production producer: Keren Har-Noy (Locomotion)
Lights and sound: Krispel
Lighting designer and programmer: Judah Zrihan

Equipment
2 Medialon Manager V5
2 Barco FLM R20+.
4 Sanyo 12kW LCD Projector
3 E/T/C PIGI 7,000 Xenon Projectors
14 Dell PCs w/ Dataton Watchout System
2 RME FireFace Sound Card
2 DeckLink Blackmagic HD Capture Card
2 Kramer 16x16 DVI Matrix Switch
20 Space Canon Xenon
24 Clay Paky Alpha Beam
44 Robe ColorSpot 1200
36 Philips Vari-Lite VL3500
36 Martin Professional MAC 600
10 Studio Due CityColor IP33
24 D.light PAR LED 64
4 8-lite Blinder
10 Haze Machine
10 Smoke Machine
3 Clay Paky Shadow QS Followspot
MA Lighting grandMA Light
10 SIMNOA Xcent Machine
15 40” Fan
50 Heat Blower