Mode Studios provided lighting and media design for Nokia’s sizable Nseries presence at the 2007 Consumer Electronics Show. Partner and principal designer Bob Bonniol devised the monolithic lighting approach as well as creating onsite media for display in the booth.
“The premise for Nokia was to appeal to the very hip and urban demographic that are the target for Nseries. These are users who seek out the edge of culture, who want to lead more ‘cinematic’ lifestyles, and want to capture those lifestyles with their Nseries devices,” says Bonniol.
The Nseries booth was constructed outside the Las Vegas Convention Center, in a space defined as the “Festival Area.” A structure provided by StageCo housed the Nseries space. Measuring 70’x70’, with a 60’ high roof, it provided ample real estate for an amazing environment. Jack Morton Worldwide produced the Nokia Nseries installation.
“We had extraordinary verticality. The challenge became not just to illuminate the booth, but also to provide a scenic value to this vertical space. It also had to reflect the very well developed brand aesthetic that Nokia has for Nseries, and be consistent with the spirit of the ‘Festival Area,’ which was very rock n’ roll,” Bonniol explains.
The scenic design brief from Jack Morton Worldwide incorporated an urban landscape feel, with the booth being anchored by an open park area, complete with turf and playful park benches. Surrounding the park were various urban experiences, including a Nokia store, a music area, the loft, as well as a concierge area hosted by Nseries Brand Partner W Hotels. Bonniol devised an iconic lighting rig that incorporated a large circle truss over the park, with radiating trusses that extended out over the surrounding areas. The whole array of high trimmed truss was lined with Color Kinetics Color Blast units.
“The blasts let me create really broad beautiful moments with color. They were my sky,” comments the designer. The trusses also contained 16 VL3500 profiles, 22 VL3000 profiles, 20 VL3000 wash lights, and 12 VL2500 profiles. Truss toning was applied throughout with ETC Source Four PARs, equipped with scrollers. Scharff Weisberg provided the complete lighting and multimedia package.
“We have a great relationship with Scharff Weisberg. We know that the gear will be top notch, and we’ll get the fantastic support,” says Bonniol.
With a tight timeline, Mode made extensive use of preprogramming and visualization with their ESP Vision suite. Bonniol handled the grandMA programming in pre-viz. “The ESP was completely instrumental in discovering some missed opportunities. After I had been cueing for about a day, it became apparent that the structures vertical side trusses were providing a perfect place for various scenic drop lighting, and environmental toning. So we made the adjustment in pre-viz, and the end result at the show really benefited,” he concludes.