Working with production company Ear to the Ground and event production manager Charlie Canavan, Transmission 001 featured headliners, The Flaming Lips and took place in the shadow of the towering Lovell Telescope.
The giant dish, which has been probing deep space for over 50 years in search of alien life, became an epic interstellar projection screen and backdrop to a unique performance by the cult band.
Canavan comments: "This gig was always going to be remembered for the projection and I was charged with making sure that it was for all the right reasons. Unusually the projection played a starring role in the overall creative concept of the event rather than being something that complements it. There was therefore considerable pressure to get it right from the outset and we were all delighted with the results. Pod and his team couldn't have done a better job."
Also in the line-up were British Sea Power, okgo, Wave Machine and Alice Gold. Perhaps because of the current popular fascination with science the event completely sold out in just 11 days. The success of this test Transmission Event, where music met science, has ensured that six 5000+ capacity events will take place in 2012.
For Bluman Associates the challenge was to provide the ambitious projection element. "Our job was to project the images and film, created by content creators Digital Insanity, in such a way that they would fill the dish of the giant Lovell Telescope," explains Pod Bluman.
"Ultimately what was great about the show was that the headliners - The Flaming Lips - bought into the whole concept 100%. Flaming Lips front man Wayne Coyne Introduced the three minute video with an enthusiasm that greatly enhanced the impact of the whole show - it could not have worked out any better."
To achieve the desired effect Bluman and his team used six Christie S+20k projectors in two stacks of three. Identical images were overlaid, one on top of each other in the dish to deliver the brightness required.
(Jim Evans)
