The Not Forgotten Association was formed in 1920 to provide entertainment, recreation and leisure to the serving wounded and ex-Service men and women with disabilities. As part of its 90th Anniversary celebrations it organised a summer concert for 450 serving personnel and veterans in the Ballroom by kind permission of Her Majesty the Queen.
In the early planning stages for the event, the small team within the Charity decided that telling the 90 year story of The Not Forgotten was to be the format and, if possible, wanted projections within the Ballroom to enhance the various acts making up the concert. Major Sir Michael Parker, who has a long-standing relationship with the Charity and has produced a number of concerts for them in the past, was asked if he would take it on.
The 90 minute show was projected by eight Christie 18K HD video projectors configured to form a fully immersive 'wrap around' projection onto all four walls - with a stage at one end - and the ceiling of the Ballroom.
The projection was required to provide a rolling narrative for the evening plus impressive digital scenery, backdrops and settings for some of the solo pieces including a 1930s style café for male vocal quartet Blake and a downtown neonesque cityscape for comedian David Copperfield.
Ross Ashton from The Projection Studio was asked to design the show which featured an orchestra and choir, plus live appearances by performers including Rick Wakeman.
The images on the two long walls were created from two projectors positioned at each end of each wall, cross focussed and blended back into the centre of the walls. This was the only way to avoid cross shadows from the rooms eight chandeliers.
The other four projectors were pointing upwards at 50 degrees - almost vertical - and cross shooting onto the ceiling, again positioned and focussed to minimise the chandelier shadows. All machines were fitted with short throw lenses.
The video content was created by Paul Chatfield as Ashton was in South Africa working on the World Cup Closing Ceremony for which he was the large format projection consultant.
The video footage was uploaded to OnlyView control system server, and the show was programmed and operated by Richard Porter. The projectionists were Karen Monid, Glen Jenkins and Viral Patel.
(Jim Evans)
