This year, the special theme of the Tattoo is the bicentennial commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar, and Jameson thought all the elements were in place to integrate projection into his show.
Ashton was asked to storyboard a 10 minute projection show narrative and design artwork to be beamed onto the Castle battlements and Gatehouse for the Battle of Trafalgar sequence. The 60 metre wide by 30 metre tall pictures told the dramatic story of the battle as it unfolded.
The biggest technical challenge, explains Ashton, was that they had to cover two surfaces - the curved castle wall/battlements and the Castle Gatehouse - to fill the end-of-arena space evenly. The battlements were about 30 metres behind the gatehouse. Added to which all of it was all a dark brown uneven surface - not ideal for projection! "It's probably the most three dimensional surface I have ever worked with" says Ashton.
They are using four PIGI 6Kw projectors all with double rotating scrollers and 85 cm lenses. These are rigged on top of the control platform and seating area at the opposite end of the arena. They are configured as two cross-fading pairs, each pair soft-edged together to make one image. The two surfaces of the Barracks/Wall and Gatehouse are treated separately, each with their own projection artwork beamed from the relevant set of projectors.
E//T//C's programmer and operator is Karen Monid. The show is controlled using the PIGI OnlyCue PC-based system. Monid was joined for the get in by E//T//C crew member, Steve Cameron. Lighting for the Tattoo is designed by Gerry Mott and supplied by PRG and audio designed by John Del'Nero with equipment supplied by Wigwam.
(Jim Evans)
