How AV Companies Can Also Be Magicians

New Year’s Eve Display

As you welcomed in the New Year, you may have been watching the London firework display on TV and been amazed at the graphics that appeared on the centre of the wheel. In the AV world we sometimes incorporate a bit of innovative technical magic to impress the audience and the New Year’s Eve display was a perfect example of this.

The event designers and the BBC wanted to use graphics in the display to add an extra dimension to the effects they could achieve. Installing a large LED screen or projecting onto the wheel were nonstarters due to the short timeframe available to install the technical elements on the London Eye, as it is still carrying tourists until 3pm on New Years Eve. After some brainstorming, the content creators, PixelArtworks.com, came up with the idea of ‘virtual projection’ on the structure. This was achieved using a simple solution. A small mesh screen was set up on the opposite riverbank. They positioned one of the BBC cameras so that the mesh aligned with the centre of the wheel. When projecting the graphics onto the mesh, viewers at home get the impression that the graphics were ‘in’ the wheel.

You may have noticed all the shots showing the graphics were from one aligned camera angle, with the mesh. It looked great for viewers at home but was non-existent for the crowd assembled in London.

If you want AV magic at your next event, then please get in touch with Istead by emailing enquiry@istead.co.uk

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