Over the past fifteen years, BARTKRESA studio has created captivating projections for countless HBO/WarnerMedia events. They endeavor to up the ante for each event, always showing HBO event designer, Billy Butchkavitz, and HBO/WarnerMedia’s guests something new and special. For the HBO/WarnerMedia Westworld Season 3 Premiere Party, BARTKRESA studio seamlessly incorporated the brand-new Panasonic PT-RQ50 50,000 lumen projector into the projection display.
When Panasonic introduced their 50K laser projector, they anticipated that large theme park installations would be the primary market. Bart Kresa, the founder and award-winning projection designer behind BARTKRESA studio, believes that technology and design elevate each other. In the case of the Panasonic 50K, this projector allowed BKS to overcome challenges presented by the event décor to create vibrant and eye-catching projections.
BKS projected animated futuristic looks for both the interior and exterior of the Dolby Ballroom, in Hollywood, California. Outside of ballroom, four 20K projectors filled the canopy over the main entrance with a constellation of rotating Westworld logos. This otherworldly prelude transitioned the guests from the world of 2020, into the world of Westworld. Inside, Billy Butchkavitz masked the main wall of the ballroom with a 100-foot-long curved, pleated fabric wall, and BARTKRESA studio transformed the wall into a mesmerizing tunnel of futuristic computer coding. This grand accent wall complemented a striking floor-to-ceiling sculpture of the Westworld logo. The combination of the projections with the set pieces created a bold and unforgettable atmosphere.
Butchkavitz designs his parties so that the technology is invisible, and the focus is on the guest experience. In order to hide the projectors from the guests, and to clear the large, central sculpture, Kresa and Butchkavitz chose positions against the side walls of the ballroom. On each side of the ballroom, two 20K projectors and one 50K cross-projected to cover the featured wall. Converging the six cross-projecting streams was challenging. The fabric added an additional challenge, as the HVAC caused the curtain to move throughout the night. The Panasonic 50Ks were important to tackling these challenges, as they allowed BKS to show the entire Westworld logo in one area, without having to blend. The combination of improved brightness and color over the previous generation of projectors insured the image quality. While these advancements might not have been identifiable to the guests, they perceived the impact of this centerpiece on the overall caliber of the event.
The use of the 50K projectors to spotlight the Westworld logo at the HBO/WarnerMedia Season 3 premiere was one of the first events to implement this new Panasonic technology. Both Billy Butchkavitz, and his HBO/WarnerMedia clients were amazed by the end result. BARTKRESA studio was glad to incorporate a new tool into their arsenal, proving a unique way to incorporate this technology into high-end productions of different scales.