Brompton Tessera processes Frozen on Drury Lane
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Using Brompton Tessera processing to help accurately recreate shimmering snow peaks, fjords and mesmerizing auroras in incredibly fine grades of colour, bit depth and brightness, audiences are transported into the magical world of Arendelle.
Produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, the team worked in close collaboration with Finn Ross of FRAY Studio who oversaw video design; Jonathon Lyle of Ammonite, in charge of developing system design; and video equipment rental company, Blue-i Theatre Technology, to bring this show to the heart of London’s West End.
“We had used six Brompton Tessera M2 LED processors on the original Broadway production of Frozen, as that was the version available at the time,” explains Jonathon Lyle, who is Frozen associate video designer, Frozen video programmer, and director of Ammonite. “It worked incredibly well for a single 4k screen. The Tessera SX40 was developed as the show’s use of high-res LED expanded, so it was a natural upgrade to the workflow.”
ROE Visual LED panels have also been deployed since Frozen first opened and are used to create the show’s backdrops, with real and digital scenery often seamlessly blended. “Unsurprisingly, much of the show includes auroras and snow,” says Lyle. “The auroras have incredibly fine grades of colour. Other LED processors struggled to handle this without banding, but by utilising Tessera’s Dark Magic functionality we were able to achieve impeccable visual performance, significantly improving the quality of the image on LED screens that are operating at less than maximum brightness.”
The show’s set features 10 fjord cliff faces and a wooden proscenium, all made from semi-transparent cast resin with low resolution LED screens illuminating them from within. “Whilst this created some interesting looks, it quickly reached the limit of what a 25mm pitch 8-bit screen could deliver,” Lyle explains. “As we planned for touring of the show, we worked with ROE to produce a custom LED tile that would allow us to create modular tiles with unique edges, at a 3.9mm pitch and with beautiful colour depth.”
For the West End production, a 2m x 8m ROE Visual Black Pearl 3 upstage LED wall, with further BP3.9 used to create fjord cliff faces and the proscenium, are driven by a total of 10 Tessera SX40 4K LED processors with 22 Tessera XD data distribution units, keeping cable runs to a minimum. The same setup has also been deployed for productions in Tokyo, Hamburg, and both the North American Tour and Australian tours.
