Although the opening of the new facility is not until the Spring of this year, the opening of its Visitor Center was accelerated so that it could be used during the five days of the 100th Anniversary of the Ford Motor Company in 2003. The new visitor experience at the Ford Rouge Factory Tour will begin and end at The Henry Ford. And along the way the experience will include a tour of the historic Rouge site, detailing its rich history and the vehicles created there; and the Visitor Center, with two state-of-the-art, multi-sensory theatres, plus numerous touch-screen interpretive and hands-on displays.
The centrepiece of the visitor experience is a seven-screen circular theatre combining video, lighting, heat, fog and fans to create an immersive environment for the BRC film 'The Art of Manufacturing'. In this theatre, Electrosonic used seven Electrosonic HD Players and an Electrosonic SD Video Player. Overall show control is by Electrosonic ESCAN with an Electrosonic FrEND for I/O control. Projection is by seven Sanyo PLC-UF15 video projectors, which are custom-configured to run the HD media at 1080 24psf. The sound system includes seven Renkus-Heinz TRX-151 loudspeakers, three ElectroVoice Fri-181s subwoofers, 64 Aura Bass Shakers, 12 Crown CTs series amplifiers (over 20kW of power), Brainstorm timecode distribution, BSS Soundweb audio DSP control and Mackie SDR 24/96 Hard Disc playback.
The pre-show is a three-screen video presentation in The Legacy Theater on the history of the Rouge, celebrating the generations who made it an industrial icon. Here, Electrosonic used three Sanyo PLC-EF30 video projectors, Mackie SDR 24/96 Hard Disc audio playback, BSS Soundweb audio DSP control, Brainstorm time code distribution, five Mackie SR 1530 full-range and SWA 1501 subwoofer self-powered speakers. The video is sourced from three Electrosonic HD players with overall control by Electrosonic ESCAN and an Electrosonic FrEND. In both theatres, the user interface is via an AMX touch panel and projection screens are by Stewart Filmscreen.
Scenario Design were the scenic contractors, Show FX were responsible for special effects for the Art of Manufacturing Show, and City Design did the lighting.
(Lee Baldock)
