Wanting to attract a larger and more diverse group of evening visitors, the park commissioned media and entertainment studio Moment Factory to create a multimedia experience in the natural forest setting. Moment Factory's creative team took inspiration from the legendary characters found in folk tales from Quebec and around the world.
After dark, visitors explore the park's charms at their own pace, experiencing a scenography featuring lighting effects and video mapping accompanied by an original soundtrack. All along the 2 km 'garden of wishes' trail visitors meet fascinating beings that lead them into a fully immersive adventure.
Using the forest as the canvas for the experience, Moment Factory created custom elements for each of the trail's zones: backlit metal panels inscribed with descriptions of the main characters, lighting designed to suggest the presence of fairies in the forest, a transparent screen used for a subtle projection in a clearing, video mapping that brings a dead tree back to life, and more.
Justin Gauthier of distribution company Intellimix worked with Moment Factory to get the right product presented for the project and after a side by side demo against other units the client chose the outdoor-rated Elation SixPar 100IP PAR colour changer. Some 43 SixPar 100IP fixtures are used throughout the different zones, each fixture housing seven 12W 6-color LED multi-chips for an expanded palette of colours, including ambers, true whites and even ultraviolet, and a brightness that really radiates in the completely dark setting. The SixPar 100IP is just one luminaire in a series of rugged indoor and outdoor SixPar fixtures that feature 7, 12 or 18 x 12-watt LEDs.
The lighting required for the Foresta Lumina experience needed to be solid and reliable for use summer after summer as the installation is due to operate from July-October for the next seven years. The creative team worked to conceal the lighting fixtures, even in daylight hours, ensuring that visitors would see and hear nothing but lighting and video magic, and were also careful not to obstruct the growth of the trees.
(Jim Evans)
