As part of its continued sponsorship and support of the Edinburgh International Festival, mclcreate has teamed up with Blue-i Theatre Technology to provide Technical Support and additional projectors for a jaw-dropping opening which will launch this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.
Standard Life Opening Event: Deep Time will see 59 Productions create a stunning animated narrative beamed onto the western side of the historic Edinburgh castle, celebrating 350million year history of the unique city in just 18 minutes on Sunday August 7.
Video mapping projects on this scale are few and far between and there are few technical suppliers in the UK that are able to take on a project of this size. Having worked historically with 59 Productions, Blue-i Theatre Technology in partnership with mclcreate provide their extensive fleet of projectors, D3 4X4 PRO media severs and infrastructure for the event.
Projects on a similar scale include the projection mapping onto Hampton Court Palace for REWIND, and the projection mapping of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton.
160 hours of programming and pre-production at Blue-i HQ will be dedicated to ensuring the 7 day rig onsite goes without a hitch. A total 42 projectors, delivering 840,000 lumens of light output, will be rigged over the period, each one carefully placed and synced by a team of technicians to turn Edinburgh Castle and the bedrock it stands on into one enormous three dimensional canvas.
The free event will signal the start of Edinburgh’s festival season, with a unique soundtrack provided by Scottish rock band, Mogwai. Each year the Edinburgh International Festival welcomes the most exciting cultural performers from the around the world across dance, art, music and theatre.
Ross Blair, Operations Manager at mclcreate, comments: “The partnership between Blue-i Theatre Technology and mclcreate has helped to create one of the must see events at the 2016 Edinburgh International Festival. Blue-i has provided projectors, servers and infrastructure for the event, and this expertise and professionalism has made the project fantastic to be involved in, and we are looking forward to seeing the impressive Standard Life Opening Event: Deep Time.”
With its industry leading expertise, mclcreate alongside Blue-i Theatre Technology has provided unparalleled technical support for the display. Edinburgh Castle will be used as a canvas for an exploration of Edinburgh’s history, 350 Million years in the making, through an animated story created by 59 Productions.
“Projection is a powerful tool for engagement at these type of events,“ comments Ed Cooper, Blue-i Theatre Technology. “Working alongside mclcreate has allowed us to effectively support this show stopping display at the iconic Edinburgh Castle. We can’t wait to see it.”
Leo Warner, director of 59 Productions said, “mclcreate helped us to deliver last year's EIF opening event The Harmonium Project, to huge critical acclaim and - more importantly - overwhelmingly positive audience feedback. In teaming up with Blue-i for the Standard Life Opening Event, Deep Time, they have created one of the few partnerships capable of delivering on a project of this scale and ambition from within the UK. We are confident in Blue-i's dedication to ensuring that we are able to technically deliver on our creative vision, and will be relying heavily on their team for their thorough planning and market-leading support throughout the weeks leading up to the show.”
John Robb Head of Technical Edinburgh International Festival added, “Standard Life Opening Event: Deep Time is a fantastic, complex and daring event which demonstrates the ambitions and skills of all those involved. It is great for us to be working with mclcreate and Blue-i Theatre Technology as it gives us the kit, expertise and facilities to deliver a production of such scale and technological complexity.”
Celebrating the unique geological history of the city, as well its rich cultural past, the event will begin at 10.30pm and last for 18 minutes. The event’s name, ‘Deep Time’ derives from the philosophical concept of geological time, developed in the 18thcentury by esteemed Scottish Geologist, James Hutton who was based in Edinburgh.
mclcreate is partnering with suppliers Blue-i Event Technology to provide technical support and projectors for the historic event. Providing support for the Edinburgh International Festival for the last ten years as a main supplier, mclcreate is also sponsoring the event.
“Sponsoring, and being part of this event is important to us as we love to see the latest display technologies being used in the heart of Scotland. It gives us great pride to work with The Edinburgh International Festival and look forward to doing so for many years to come.” concludes Ross.