At countdown to the New Year, the Victoria Harbour foreshores erupted into a blaze of colour as the night skies were lit by hundreds of thousands fireworks, lasers, fibre optics, flares and pulsing lights. Tall city buildings and glistening waters of the harbour were washed in multi-coloured light and the tops of buildings exploded with sprays of molten light. Harbour spectators in their millions stood breathless as they watched and listened to the shows exhilarating sound simulcast.
The show technology represents the largest permanent lighting and special effects show ever attempted. Shows are 17 minutes in duration and are scheduled to run one or two times nightly throughout the year with greater concentration over national celebrations and public holidays. Laservision is responsible for the concept design and the production of the show, supplying their patented control technology to orchestrate what was one of this century's most spectacular and complex light shows.
Laservision's strategy for the lighting program was critical to the success of the production. Managing director Paul McCloskey comments: "We wanted to give the city skyline a memorable and dramatic visibility for both the locals and the many tourists. Our plan for the light show does this by lighting up the most spectacular and interesting city buildings in the central Harbour area in an awe inspiring way."
The production was built around selecting 18 key buildings so as to obtain a balanced visual distribution for the show. Each was equipped with Laservision Australia's Digital Data-Pump technology, a hub that allows seamless control of what are usually seen as incompatible mediums in the macro media industry i.e. lasers, architectural lighting, surround sound, large format projection and pyrotechnics.
The Symphony of Lights is featured in-depth in the March issue of Lighting&Sound International magazine.
(Lee Baldock)
