Hoyts wanted their foyer areas to be unique, colourful and most of all dynamic. They turned to Michael Trudgeon and David Poulton of Crowd Productions, the chief architects of Hoyts' public spaces, to design an environment that reflected the ever-changing nature of the cinema world. Their idea was to install colour-changing panels and lighting right through out the foyer and surrounding entrance areas.
Trudgeon and Poulton approached Lightmoves to transform this complex idea into reality. Lightmoves accepted the challenge and worked in conjunction with Crowd Productions on the project for 12 months. The brief was to create horizontal colour-changing lines of light behind glass panels throughout the Ticket Box and Bar areas. After extensive research and experimentation by Lightmoves' Joe Casamento, Osram's Linearlight Flex LED strips were chosen not only for their compact and modular nature, but also for the fact that they offer an even colour wash and work directly off Dynalite LED dimmers.
Dynalite's DDLEDC401 LED controllers were used to control all LEDs on the project and were programmed offsite using visualising software and later downloaded onto an Enttec DMX Streamer controller on site. The Streamer's 26 different programs can be triggered by Hoyts' own computers using simple RS232 commands. The simplicity of this setup allows Hoyts to operate the system manually if desired or run automatically to timed events. The foyers and bar area now display eye catching displays of colour and excitement that change during various times of the day, ranging from subtle pastel colour shifts during the day to bright celebratory party colours at night.
Crowd Production's and Lightmoves teamwork was not restricted just to the foyer. Hoyts' new first-class cinemas, known as the Directors Suite, also received some LEDs: each of the cinema seats is accompanied by a food and drink table. Of the many proposals created by Michael and David, one of the more innovative and simple ideas was to attach a white, fully dimmable LED strip around the edge of each table. Whilst starting rather bright before the commencement of the film, these strips dim down to 1% by the time the movie begins, allowing the patrons to still see their food and drinks, without distracting themselves or others around them.
Watching Lightmoves bring this design to life was one of Michael's favourite aspects of the whole project. "The brief from Hoyts was to give the Directors Suite the most luxurious and prestigious feel possible. Having previously spent many years in the advertising industry, I know that the use of up-lighting on food and drink, particularly alcohol, can create this desired effect."
This original and colourful project proved once again that well designed and implemented lighting can have extensive creative and practical benefits for both business and the consumer.
(Lee Baldock)
