Kilowatt AV delivers video mapped sequence for Nissan

According to Kilowatt AV CEO, Dillon Jearey, "Events are no longer just about entertainment and networking. A combination of a well thought-out creative concepts and technical execution allows a brand to fully engage its audience and leave them with a strong brand connection and loyalty."

Kilowatt AV was contracted by leading SA production company, Mushroom Productions to technically support this series of events. "The brief was to convey Nissan's move into the urban market and - as with all our events - to help create a unique and memorable experience."

"Our approach involved working closely with our client to interpret their ideas into an impactful event design. We customised several elements for the shows, the highlight being the choreographed 3D animation - which was produced by content and animation studio, Lucan. This was also the first opportunity for our internationally trained technical director, Michael Edwards, to use our new Ai Infinity X media server. This - Kilowatt AV's most prized piece of equipment - is an award winning media server which allows eight full high definition (HD) outputs and takes video mapping and image blending to the next level. "

One of the greatest challenges of this job was the turn-around time. "With just three weeks to plan all technical production for three unique events and only one day for set-up of the launch - an activation of this size usually takes two - four days - we had to rely heavily on our planning and creative expertise."

Jearey explains the process of producing the awe-inspiring element. "Projection mapping, also known as video mapping or spatial augmented reality, is a projection technology used to turn objects into a display surface for visuals. The technology started to appear commercially about five years ago at international events such as Brazilian artist Amon Tobin's world tour."

"Our starting point was having our innovations department create a mock-up of the set in our warehouse. The Lucan team then captured the hip hop dance routine by filming the dancers against the set outline and the footage was used as a base to create the interactive 3D content for the video mapping sequence - a virtual world of city lines and mountains. At the same time we used 3D software to build the set - taking into consideration the venue's restrictions such as the fact that we had just 12 hours for construction. Once the content was finalised the Kilowatt AV team used the Ai server to playback the content into the UV fields that were mapped onto the set."

"Jearey concludes, "It's exciting that our new equipment and expertise enables us to be more creative and flexible, and to offer our customers services that are in line with global standards. What's more while elements such as projection mapping can be quite costly that local corporates are seeing the value in incorporating them into their brand activations and by doing so, funding the way for us to push the creative limits."

View the video of the sequence from the Nissan show: