The new DMX capabilities of WATCHOUT version 5.2 are put through their paces.
Through the Polish systems integration and live-events show specialist MOOV working forlocal events production company Prestige MJM, Dataton WATCHOUT was used to sync and drive multi-screen video content for a spectacular concert by the Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.
Staged on 29 April at the impressive new Atlas Arena in the Polish city of Lodz, the Bocelli concert – part of the singer’s ‘Notte Illuminata’ world tour – featured a 160 square metre LED mesh screen as its backdrop, comprising twenty 8-metre strips of Barco’s Mitrix solid-state display wall product. Either side of the LED wall were two 16:9 projection screens measuring 7.45m wide by 4.31m high, each showing images from a Barco FLM series 20,000-lumen projector.
The projection screens were used mainly for showing live IMAG close-ups of Bocelli, the most popular singer in classical music history, and his co-performers – which included a full orchestra and choir. Meanwhile, the LED wall content varied between IMAG and pre-mixed movie clippings and other effects, ranging from archive news footage from before World War II to a vast stained-glass window.
Marek Kurzawa from Prestige MJM explains: “The Atlas Arena is one of the biggest indoor concert venues in Poland and, with more than 10,000 fans inside for the Bocelli event, it wasimportant for the show to contain large-screen visual elements that would keep those toward the rear of the venue on the edge of their seats.”
Piotr Majewski, MD at MOOV adds: “By using two computers installed with WATCHOUT – one for the LED wall and the other with two outputs for the two projectors – we were able to synchronise the pre-recorded video with the live camera feeds for the IMAG content. Thus the audience was treated to a constantly shifting, dynamic video experience to match the excitement and energy of the musical performance itself.”
Fredrik Svahnberg, Marketing Director, Dataton, adds: “For almost every genre of music, today’s concert-goers expect to see an impressive show, as well as hear one. WATCHOUT allows multiple video content channels to be combined together into a single timeline with complete reliability, regardless of the size of the screens involved or thetechnology they use.
“To complete the picture, as it were, we are also able to sync pre-recorded audio content via MIDI and lighting-control commands via DMX – effectively making WATCHOUT a ‘one-stop shop’ for show designers all over the world!”
