15th Oct 2009

Working the Arabian nights

The inauguration of the brand new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) has taken place in Saudi Arabia and we were invited to join the event's creative team by Simon Ransom, Technical Director for Filmmaster Events, the event management company heading the project.

We were asked to provide our set building and automation expertise to create a dramatic theatrical experience on a stage over 80 metres wide. We provided six giant tracking front projection screens, each a unique shape and size, with the largest 14 metres high by 10 metres wide. We also provided two 20-metre long back wall screens, a further screen that lifted and another that folded down. All of these screens overlapped to form a collectively massive tracking projection surface.

"These were the biggest screens that I have ever seen in over 25 years in the industry and once in place they formed an awesome sight," said Steve Dolan, Project Director, Stage One. He added, "they were so large that we needed to give special consideration to both the materials and the construction method in order to ensure that they would be of a practical weight for tracking, although in the end each screen still weighed approximately 1,000kg's."

Using Qmotion, our in-house motion control system, each screen was capable of moving independently and at its own speed, offering the Creative Director, Daniele Zambelli, full flexibility. In total we provided 12 axes of control, hydraulics and stock positional winch control systems to control the screens, which were carefully timed to track in co-ordination with the video imagery.

In addition to the tracking screens we were responsible for providing a lectern that was stored below the stage and raised via a Qmotion controlled scissor lift. The lectern was used for speeches as well as containing the trigger for the screens to pull back and reveal the university campus through a huge PVC window. Finally, we provided a flown GRP manufactured sphere, 4.5m in diameter, covered in mirror panels and containing embedded MiTRIX LED's.