Qing Show, staged in Qingdao, China, is the latest offering from artistic director and show creator, Luc Petit. Disguise solutions were used for the production with disguise 4x4pro units powering the show’s extensive video projection mapping.
The show is staged in an immersive theatre seating up to 1,500 spectators, featuring two sets of revolving bleachers and a 360-degree view of the action. The 50m wide water stage is backed by a beautiful 15m high projection screen. More than 430 special equipment pieces, 263 costumes, 2D and 3D flying systems and thousands of props are used on set for this unique storytelling show.
Stan Walbert of Stello Productions, who managed the video mapping for the show, said: “This is a large venue with a cyclorama, big inflatables and some fountains as projection surfaces. This ambitious project took four years to design and create. The venue was built for the show and projectors, so their position and coverage had to be determined precisely.”
Walbert and the team used disguise’s projection study tool to determine luminosity, coverage and the number of projectors to use. He added: “Disguise’s Projection Study tool was an essential part of the process ensuring accuracy in positioning of projectors, as well as providing a way for the content team to test their files with the disguise project.”
He explained that the story takes place in universes representing Fire, Ice, Water and Nature where projection mapping is mixed with 2D and 3D actors, flying props and automated scenery. All available surfaces are projection platforms in this immersive scenography. That challenging setup represented a total of 12 screens, five of them automated, in a wet environment that included seven large inflatables, a large curved cyclorama, a rear-projected fountain screen.
Walbert said: “Projection mapping is an essential part of the show and makes the whole stage come alive. The venue building was specially constructed so all of the ground level could become a pool during the show. The construction had a few months of delay, but the opening date stayed the same, so we had to move fast and efficiently, and the disguise workflow was the perfect solution for those conditions.”
Workflow partner Evoke Studios from Europe found OmniCal to be a viable problem solver, especially in aligning the curved cyc whose physical screen had six corners, not all of which were visible at time of calibration.
Vincent Steenhoek, managing director for Evoke Studios who together with its technical director Kristaps Liseks, managed on-site mapping, programming and systems, said: “We achieved solid calibration results on a screen it’s safe to say anyone would have had a rather hard time with. OmniCal made it the proverbial walk in a park. It’s a tool you can count on that slides into your existing workflows with great ease, filling in some gaps one might run into. OmniCal enables us to resolve the challenges that projects like this bring and increases our confidence in project delivery and the achievable level of finish.”