The Rundown
Topics: Lasers, Video, Lighting Integration | Published: June 2024 | 5 min read
World Procurement Congress 2024 marked the show's 20th anniversary awards, and the brief was to go further with visual content than any previous year.
With a milestone at its heart, the design was always going to be ambitious. Everything from the stage to the table centres carried the client's brand, and all of it was brought to life in the opening video sequence.
Four large rings became the central ident, and that motif was woven through every element of the show.
Here is how the stage, the table centres and the laser work were built - and how video, lighting and laser were tied to a single timecode.
Stage and Set
The Stage Design
The stage was built with three large circular steps leading up through the centre, culminating in a giant concentric steel ring set piece.
Both the steps and the rings were wrapped in PixNet LED strip. That means every individual pixel could be addressed and programmed separately - and so integrated directly into the opening video sequence.
The rings themselves were custom fabricated in steel, fronted with frosted acrylic and backed with the programmable LED tape.
Why This Technique Works
It is relatively simple to implement, and it immediately adds depth to a performance.
Opening video stings are notoriously two-dimensional - a picture at one end of a room. Extending the same content out into the set means light and pattern travel towards the crowd rather than staying trapped in the screen.
Table Centres
We used the Astera AX3 LightDrop range. Puck-shaped and not much bigger than a coffee mug, they are wireless DMX-controlled RGB fixtures with a huge amount of flexibility.
We have used them to light corridors and to surround rooms for light shows. Here they became table centres.
A custom shell was designed and 3D printed to fit around each fixture, and the ring ident was cut into acrylic sheet on a CNC machine to act as a diffusive centrepiece.
Mapping, Lasers and Light
MadMapper
To timecode the PixNet lighting, we used MadMapper.
The software lets you map each section of LED strip onto a grid, then play video across that mapping. Each LED pixel illuminates with the colour of the video pixel overlapping it.
That meant we could design video pieces alongside the main sting and map them onto the stage lighting seamlessly, producing synchronised light patterns locked to the show timecode.
Lasers
Lasers have a reputation as a club fixture - the sort of thing you would expect at a techno night rather than an awards dinner.
We think that undersells them badly. Used well they deliver a genuine moment for a corporate audience who may never have seen anything like it in that setting.
Tying Laser to Video
For this show we integrated the laser directly with the video content.
Using Pangolin Beyond, we programmed custom laser patterns, arranged them on a timeline and timecoded that to the video playback.
With the laser pointed at the screen and mapped to its bounds, laser and video became synchronous - producing an effect that reads as though the beams are emerging from inside the video itself.
The Result
One Idea, Every Element
The value in this show was not any single technique. It was that the ring motif appeared in the stage build, the table centres, the video content, the pixel mapping and the laser work, all running to the same timecode.
Guests do not consciously notice that kind of consistency. They notice that the room feels designed rather than assembled.
What Made It Possible
Three things: pixel-addressable LED integrated into physical set rather than added to it, mapping software that let video and lighting be authored together, and enough time in the schedule to programme and rehearse the timecode properly.
The last one is the most commonly cut and the most costly to lose.
Doing This at Your Event
None of these techniques are exclusive to a 20th anniversary awards show. Pixel-mapped set pieces work at a fraction of this scale, and laser integration needs a screen and a timeline more than it needs a big budget.
If you have a show where the visual content matters, talk to Premier Live on 0116 202 9953 or info@premier-ltd.com.
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