A four-minute immersive experience designed and produced by Master Image Films will be staged at the Singapore Airshow in February 2010, followed by Berlin, Hamburg and Farnborough. The film will breathe life into an aircraft that has only ever been modelled in 3D using computer-generated graphics.
The project began in March 2009 when Master Image Films (Toulouse), an Airbus partner for 20 years, was asked to design a system to allow Airbus to spread the word about its future A350 wide-body jet and use the world's largest airshows as a platform to announce the start of production.
To design and complete the project in record-breaking time - less than three months - the brief facing the Airbus teams was to put the innovation and eye-catching appeal into the simple idea of a 1:1 scale model of the interior of the aircraft. In response to this real challenge, Master Image Films instantly came up with the idea of transforming the aircraft's interior into an immersive movie theatre.
Given the project's narrow timeframe, Bernard Birebent, CEO of Master Image Films, gambled on Christie's responsiveness to provide eight Roaster HD10 projectors. "Not only did Christie supply the eight Roadster HD10 projectors at the drop of a hat, but they also delivered flawless technical support and competitive equipment in terms of performance and price," explains Master Image Films' CEO. "We knew that Christie would provide reliable equipment capable of running non-stop at each show."
The eight Christie Roadster HD10 projectors were used with very short focal lenses to suit the projection environment. Thanks to the illumination power and compact design of the Christie HD10 projectors, mirrors were used to conceal the projectors flat on the floor beneath glass plates. All the images were stored on clusters of rackable PCs and modified Macintosh Minis.
(Jim Evans)
