TDC projection brings Vienna to Sydney Opera House
Published: ASIA
AUSTRALIA: Technical Design Company (TDC) provided a visual spectacle to power a recent multimedia artistic collaboration between the Vienna Tourist Board and the Sydney Symphonic Orchestra. A total of 14 cameras captured a performance by the orchestra of Viennese music, which was combined with visuals celebrating the artistic and musical heritage of Vienna from Ample Projects and projected onto the ‘sails’ of the Sydney Opera House using Barco high-brightness projectors. A d3 Technologies 4x4pro video server facilitated the event’s broadcast across the world in a live web-stream.
‘During design, TDC’s team of creative and technical experts created a content template so that Ample Projects and the Sydney Opera House Recording and Broadcast Studios were all working from the same plan,’ explained TDC technical manager, Olin Winton. ‘This also helped to save time on site. We worked closely with the Sydney Opera House production team and other suppliers to overcome any technical issues.’
A project of this size was bound to encounter some technical challenges however. For TDC, these included the building’s massive size, the long throw distances required, the busy Sydney Harbour sitting in the projection path and multiple microwave broadcast links.
‘A finely tuned methodology developed over a number of years has led to us sourcing specific locations to project over the ferries and cruise ships that come into port – isolated projection platforms are designed for long projection throw distances,’ continued Mr Winton. ‘Additionally multiple signal transmission paths, HD signals as well as communications and embedded audio for broadcasters were located at the Sydney Opera House.’
‘The smooth lines and white surface of the iconic Sydney Opera House are great to work with,’ furthered Mr Winton. ’Depth of field and maintaining a sharp focus across multiple stacked projectors can be a challenge that’s solved using a well thought out projection plan.’
‘Having worked with Michael Hassett and his expert projection design team already back in the 1990s we knew we could turn to TDC again for another unforgettable visual spectacular,’ enthused Astrid Mulholland-Licht, director of the Austrian National Tourist Office in Sydney. ‘TDC are a dream-team to work with.’