The 25th edition of Comic Relief's Red Nose Day 'Funny For Money' TV broadcast has so far raised a record amount of £75m for charities in the UK and Africa and was watched by millions of people across the UK.
Brought in by content creators, Framestore Labs, and working in the main studio at London's BBC Television Centre, QED fielded their front line armoury of Christie high-brightness 3-chip DLP projectors, including eight Roadster WU20K-J WUXGA DLP projectors, six Roadster HD20K-J HD projectors and five WU12K-M WUXGA projectors.
Said QED director, Paul Wigfield, "From our previous work for BBC there were no doubts about our ability to deliver such a complex technical project, but the big guarantee that we needed to provide the BBC concerned the projector reliability - there was no way in which any of the projectors could be backed up - and so we provided all the reasons why we trusted Christie projectors to deliver."
Aside from the short timescale, QED's task was made even more complex by the intricate rigging, tight angles and short throw distances required. "Only the Christies could achieve this," believes Wigfield "as all the projectors needed to perform to their optimum in every conceivable orientation." The robustness and reliability of the projectors was not only put to the test over the six-and-a-half-hour live broadcast to the nation (on March 15) but also during the three days of rehearsals leading up to it.
"Cleverly integrating video with the lighting control, Paul Wigfield added, "Not only was this the most challenging indoor projection mapping ever attempted but also the entire rig had to be installed in just one day, with line-ups only possible outside rehearsal times."
TV production designer, Rudi Thackray's stage set design provided the ultimate projection mapping challenge, and the solution required the projectors to be rigged on individual triangular truss sections in scarcely imaginable positions and orientations. The 14 Roadster WU20K-J and HD20K-J projectors were flown above the stage and the five Christie WU12K-M projectors were mounted underneath the stage, with everything seamlessly joined and blended to form the continuous canvas for lighting and graphics.
(Jim Evans)
