Earlier this year AVU provided the full technical at the Samsung S4 Launch and their new brief was clear: To create something absolutely different from the S4 Launch as the same press and celebrities would be in attendance.
With a background in interior design, AVU's In-house Creative Designer, Garrith Castelyn, worked closely with colleagues Victor Vermaak (Project Manager) and Renaldo van der Berg (Lighting Designer) to come up with a concept that would work in that venue given it needed multiple guest experience areas and a modern, clean look that would embrace the effective use of space.
To use the space most effectively the guests would start off with arrival drinks and once a concealed door opened up, move along to the next area until they had progressed through to the conference and launch area, demonstration and exhibition area and finally arrive at a space where they would be entertained by live performances and enjoy drinks and canapés.
Conference Area
For the conference areas, six screens, five of which were projection screens and the other LED, worked as one. AVU's Guillaume Ducray and Martin Slabber, AVU's Coolux guru, had the challenge of building the multiscreen video timelines to ensure all screens played back seamlessly and in sync. An eye-catching feature was the screens placed at different depths which gave a multi layered impression. An exciting part of the conference was the interactive video projection that required spot on timing as a live dancer interacted with the footage.
After Party Area
Renaldo van den Berg was responsible for the lighting design in the entertainment area. The set itself was a LED square grid behind the stage large enough for the dancers to move in and out. The decor became part of the slick lighting design.
Samsung's theme was collaboration. Just as the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear worked seamlessly together, a 1 hour, 30 minute music session saw different artists representing different styles or genres merging as the audience saw rock bands, rappers and DJs. At the back of the stage, trapeze artists used a pully and were able to fly 50m across the middle of the venue from the one side to the other.
With 24 Robe Pointes at his disposal, Renaldo was happy. "The Robe Pointes were incredible," he said. "It's a three in one, a wash, spot and beam light. It was a fantastic fixture, the beams, the gobos you get, the low power, the light weight." Six Robe Pointes were used to point onto one mirror ball. It looked stunning.
The visual aspects and all LED was controlled on a grandMA2 light. Two Coolux Media Servers were used to play back all content onto the screens, and were cue triggered. Renaldo was able to add all video content and palettes before leaving for Cape Town.
