PUBG goes live with Robe
- Details
The first-person shooting action was boosted by an energy-fuelled opening show. Event producers Production Associates asked visual specialists Live Legends to create a high-impact lighting design for the Opening Show and the championship, for which around 600 Robe moving lights played a central role.
Between the start of the project and getting to site in Berlin, Live Legends’ initial brief for the lighting design was also considerably expanded to include lighting control, set design, video content and control and full creative direction for the opening spectacular.
The Live Legends team on site was led by Jeffrey Goes. They have previously worked with Production Associates on Xbox and FIFA events.
Their challenge was to create a fully 360-degree visual environment - with the stage in the centre of the room - that connected the audience with the gamers and all the on-screen thrills-and-spills … and this had to look fantastic on camera for live streaming and recording.
For the Opening Show, Jeffrey and the team utilised 48 x 30K projectors which were mapped cross the set, the arena floor and a massive 20-metre-high cylinder shape made up of scrim attached to a 30-metre diameter circle truss centre stage.
Highly detailed graphics from the game were projected and integral to setting the scene, taking the audience right inside the world of PUBG, complete with 16 violinists and a swoop of ‘paratroopers’ (aerial artists) who dropped in from the roof, SWAT-style, as if they were playing the game.
In translating specific PUBG content for the live game sessions, Live Legends’ design utilised various prevalent shapes for both the set and the lighting effects. They looked for nice groupings of lighting to give powerful but clean looks - a task harder that it might seem with around 1500 fixtures in total on the rig!
In the roof, several curved and circular trusses were installed. The centrepiece featured a 30-metre diameter scenic element at the top and that same truss also provided flying facilities for a series of LED screens hanging below, covering a 360-degree viewing angle around the room - allowing all the audience to enjoy the games action close-up.
The 252 x LEDBeam 150s were used inside the centrepiece to create a giant lightbox around the underside of the LED screens.
The 124 x LEDWash 800s were deployed between the 360-degree LED screens, utilised to create an array of attractive colour washes and colour effects for some of the crucial show moments like the Awards ceremony.
The 50 x BMFL Blades were also rigged in the centrepiece, used both as a powerful effects lighting with searing beams, as well as to create special front lighting positions “thanks to their great multifunctionality” explains Jeffrey.
The 176 x MegaPointes were used to trace the outlines of the concentric circles and curves of the floor set pieces, and for creating multiple circles within the actual team playing booths
Jeffrey worked closely alongside his Live Legends colleagues Serge Patist (set design / production manager), Jim de Brouwer (visual effects specialist) and the company’s creative director Ad de Haan, among others. All lighting and video was supplied by PRG Germany.
Hotly tipped and highly rated Chinese team OMG nailed first place in the tournament after several consistent show-stopping and blistering performances.
(Jim Evans)
