The design idea seemed simple enough: display lit Blachere snowflakes in the windows of the front of the building facing the main square downtown and put on a nightly light display every evening from mid-November through 27 December. Ola Melzig of M & M Production Management was contracted by DDB Stockholm to come up with the design and logistics surrounding the concept.
The first idea was to hang the lighting on the exterior of the building below the windows on floors two through six for a total of 26 Blachere snowflakes. However, just one week prior to the install, the idea was cancelled due to commercial rights of the company owning the LED display wall and Versa tubes on the façade of the building. The company was concerned that the snowflakes would take focus away from their advertisements on the screen.
With just one week to go, Melzig and his team moved to plan B, hanging the snowflakes on the interior, which didn't leave adequate time for an interior sight survey. Melzig said, "We had to believe, we'll hang inside, drill here and there and add blackout curtains. What could possibly go wrong?"
The installation was scheduled for 17 November 17 from 6pm to 4am, with the entire install to be completed in that time. A six-channel switch pack was placed on each floor with a grandMA Light placed on floor 3. 1 W-DMX G4 transmitter was on floor three and four W-DMX G4 receivers were located on each of the other floors to send signal to the snowflakes on those floors.
Timo Kauristo programmed the grandMA Light using the calendar function to run the lights 5pm to 6am on weekdays and 3pm to 6am on weekends. The W-DMX equipment and grandMA were supplied by Starlight. The Blachere snowflakes were purchased by TeliaSonera. The design incorporated a variety of chases and different looks to keep the look dynamic.
The first problem encountered was the fact that since there was no proper interior site survey, they didn't anticipate the massive drilling through the ceiling to run the electric cables, and the blackout screens didn't go up as quickly as planned. By 3am, only three of the five floors had been completed and a second night shift had to be scheduled.
When it came to floor six, the managing director floor, there was an even tighter time constraint and required a constant security escort from the Swedish Security Police, SÄPO. The team had trouble getting a working signal as the W-DMX receiver was only 2m under the LED screen outside which was constantly running. In addition, security had installed scrambling devices due to the high level of security on that floor. Melzig had to physically walk around with the receiver to find a working spot and placed it there, where the signal managed to go through four walls with no interruption.
(Jim Evans)
