The spectacular public event organised by the Mayor of London and Visit London, included a memorable pyrotechnic, lighting and visual extravaganza designed to capture the spirit of London at the start of 2007. The event took place along the Thames, encompassing the South Bank between Jubilee and Westminster Bridges, including iconic landmarks like the London Eye and Big Ben. It was enjoyed live by 200,000 people on the streets, and broadcast live on BBC 1 to several million viewers.
The eye-catching black and white photographs by Mark Livemore illustrating the dreams and aspirations of selected pupils from the Johanna Primary School in Lambeth - were projected on the 352ft high Shell Tower before the 60-second countdown to the midnight show began.E//T//C UK has worked with Jack Morton on the last two New Year's Eve events in London, and have also projected onto the 26-storey Shell Tower several times before, including for Remembrance Days 2004 and 2005.
E//T//C's Ross Ashton designed the projection format, covering the full surface of the building with eight PIGI 6Kw projectors to produce mega bright images. The projectors were sited 150 metres away on the edge of Jubilee Gardens, in a curtain-sider truck in a 4-top/4-bottom arrangement, complete with 40cm lenses. Each machine produced a 50 x 50m image - and these were overlaid for optimum brightness. The truck was specially accro'd to ensure it stayed stable in the high winds leading up to the day.
Artwork for the slides - including the countdown and the 'Happy New Year' finale image - was co-ordinated by Jack Morton's creative director Dan Colborne, while E//T//C undertook all the camera obscura and perspective correction work required to fit the images to the building.The get-in took place on 28 December, and was followed by overnight programming and rehearsal sessions before the impressive show which was operated by Karen Monid using a PIGI OnlyCue system. E//T//C UK's chief engineer was Andy Murrell, all the project's logistics were handled for them by Paul Highfield, and the get-in technicians were Michael Barry and Simon Doddimead.
E//T//C's Ross Ashton comments: "It was a great privilege to be working with Jack Morton on this seminal event again. Everyone combined imaginative energies, talents and enthusiasm to create a unique work for a special moment in time, and the images looked particularly stunning on the building."
The evening culminated in a breathtaking fireworks and pyrotechnics show - detonated from the London Eye and a series of barges, designed for Jack Morton by Christophe Berthonneau of Groupe F. The Eye itself was specially lit for the occasion by Durham Marenghi and Paul Cook, and the show was produced for Jack Morton by Jim Donald.
(Lee Baldock)
