On arrival, the delegates entered a plenary area, which was configured as an arena. Along one side, two, two- column MiTRIX screens flanked three projection screens and two, four- column sections of MiTRIX, the latter tracking sideways to reveal the vehicles. These showed a combination of still and moving images, produced by software producer Sharon Stansfield, to complement and augment video imagery provided by Toyota, including an opening sequence featuring a swimmer being chased from one screen to the next by a shark.
A five channel Watchout system was conceived by CT's Media Services' Tim Volker, to cope with the demands of both the individual and combined palette of screens. The Watchout channels were subsequently fed into CT's Spyder system for final control and mixing, combining PowerPoint presentations created by Jack Morton with IMAG from the seven cameras enlisted to capture the event along with other video elements from CT's new K2 hard drives.
Ultimate flexibility was required and, even with certain elements of the show being run from Watchout with timecode controlling other departments, the team was able to resolve any timing issues that were raised once the production moved into the arena and all elements were put together for the first time.
To ensure that the projection screens could cope with the TV-white painted floor, and that the colour temperatures were consistent across all the screens, four projectors were quadruple converged onto each projection screen and a mask was run over the MiTRIX screens.
"You couldn't tell we were using four projectors, which really is a testament to the two projectionists, Kevin Evans and Lewis Atkinson," says Gerry Francke, CT's project manager for the event. "And their colour temperatures worked really well against the LED, so we were able to match all the screens perfectly."
With a series of set piece theatrical items, a dance sequence with car reveals, as well as various presentations to cover, CT needed to supply seven cameras for this particular room. "A hot head camera was positioned directly above the stage to capture a particular dance sequence where the Toyota logo was recreated by the dancers lying on the floor," adds Francke.
From here, the delegates moved through to an exhibition hall, where a series of white, rectangular 'pods' were suspended above each vehicle. In each pod CT had positioned a 10,000-lumen projector, rear-projecting imagery supplied by Toyota onto its sides, plus a series of plasma screens situated at intervals around the hall.
(Jim Evans)
