E//T//C were approached by project director Mick Worwood from Ace Consultants, who had been commissioned to produce the event by Rear Admiral Burns, head of the Kensington & Chelsea branch of the British Legion. Burns initially had the concept of projecting onto a suitable building to make a stirring impact, and also to boost the two days of street collections that are an integral part of the annual Poppy Appeal. He worked with Colonel David Williams - head of the Poppy Appeal - and Ace Consultants to co-ordinate the Wellington Arch project.
E//T//C supplied four 6kW PIGI large format projectors - two for each side of the arch, and also produced all the necessary artwork. Its brief was to produce something that was immediately recognizable to the passing motorists coming up Constitution Hill, and that could be read and understood instantly. E//T//C's Ross Ashton explains how they photographed the Arch and applied 'architectural masks' to ensure that the large format artwork fitted exactly the shape of the Arch.
The police and local authorities were initially concerned that the projector's lightsource might blind or distract motorists. However, this potential problem was solved by E//T//C thanks to careful integration of the architectural photographic masking within the slide artwork, which eliminated all light spillage beyond the edges - inside and out - of the arch. To further the impact even more, E//T//C gelled up the normally white architectural night lights that beam up the underside of the Arch. These were matched to the cyan background colour of the scrolling projection. This aspect of the operation was undertaken by Rose Bruford College lighting design student Sven Ortell - who is currently spending time with E//T//C in the field whilst writing his dissertation on projection.
