This saw numerous inspirational shows and industry master classes illustrating the latest techniques in colour, design and finishing, together with business building and planning strategies and superlative networking opportunities for over 3000 hairdressing professionals to realize their potential and 'Learn Better, Earn Better and Live Better' with global hair brand, Redken.
XL Video's project manager Toby Evans comments, "It was the first time we had worked for this client and both the pressure and the expectations were intense. However great teamwork and the talents of our three highly skilled media server operators really helped make it a huge success."
The symposium's primary showspace comprised a large stage in the main hall at Olympia, built with an impressive double decker set - measuring approximately 20m wide by 7 high - including six sets of opening doors on two levels and a catwalk at the front into the audience area, complete with travelators.
This was designed by Marc Lewis from Production Cartel and built by AT Set & Stage.
XL was asked to apply its knowledge and production expertise to ensure that the specially created video footage for the spectacular opening show would be perfectly mapped and precisely cued to line up with live performer interaction.
The content, specially commissioned by L'Oreal and produced by Hello Charlie, was shot in London and featured a lively collage of iconic images from around the city.
The fast-moving show was choreographed so that performers would exit the actual doors in the set which would appear - with the overlaid video - in several different formats to be those of the London Underground (tube), London buses, its famous black taxis or other landmarks at various different times.
Each interactive element entailed the mapping to be millimeter perfect and the playback timing - executed by timecode to track - absolutely spot on.
Three of XL's Coolux Pandora's Box media servers were utilised.
The first was programmed and operated by Chris Bowman, who spent a huge amount of time and devoted much attention to detail in the building of the show. He worked closely with James Cooksey who created all the time-lines and set up the parameters for mapping in the Pandora's Boxes and also operated the second system, with the third Pandora's Box run by Erica Frost.
Evans and the XL team specified three Barco HDQ-2K40 40K projectors for the project, which were all rigged on a front truss and edge-blended via the Pandora's Box.
XL also supplied two 10m wide side screens fed with IMAG camera images.
The one hour opening show ran like clockwork and kicked the event off to a visually mind-blowing start before morphing into a large party, complete with DJ, whose own VJ visuals were hooked in to the XL system and played out onto the set via the projectors.
(Jim Evans)
