Theatre of Illumination

After winning the commission for the project, OMNI Pictures director and designer Will Simpson took on the challenge to bring his work to life with the help of a specially assembled team: Julien Lasson (3D artist), Lee J Malcolm and Tom Hopkins (sound design) and QED Productions for projection.

Simpson had a clear vision for the creative design from the start: “I have always wanted to create work that used only white light. Certain colours in the spectrum work better than others, and you often find yourself creating content that’s extremely high in contrast in order for it to be seen. When looking at a project stylistically, certainly on the stage, I would always go for high contrast or white light if the project allow for it in the design. Monochromatic design has great impact and means that you have to tackle the design in a different way. I really enjoyed that challenge. It left us to focus on the design rather than constantly changing our ideas because of the limitations of the medium.”

Dan Gray at QED Productions, who provided the disguise equipment and specific projection expertise, says of this creative approach: “Here at QED we knew from the outset that in order for this project to be successful the template for the content had to be as accurate as possible, to avoid line-up problems onsite. It also needed to be conducive to the OMNIworkflow to allow them to create the animations, specifically the straight line effects, parallel to the edges and features of the building. Resolution was also key, so we opted to deliver everything at 4k.”

Without a 3D laser scan of Vincent Hall’s iconic neoclassical Civic Hall building available, Simpson and his team used photography to work towards a usable content template. Simpson elaborates: “A 3D scan is ideal of course but not always an option. We took photographs and used a head shot of the building, corrected the perspective, and started working with that. It’s a rudimentary way of doing things but it works.”