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A NEW CHEVY BILLBOARD SHOWS OFF IN
TIMES SQUARE
Chevy has a new 61 x 40 foot (18 x 12 meter) billboard on one of
the most prominent city corners in the world - One Times Square.
Fisher Theatrical was contracted to program the LED fixtures on
the billboard, which was built by the entertainment division of
Oceaneering International. The challenge was how to program the
lighting from a distance to allow visibility of what they were
doing.
Kevin Moore, Vice President and Owner of Fisher Theatrical
explained the initial challenge: "Working in one of most
populous areas and most congested RF environments in the world
can be a challenge for any wireless technology. But when you
have hundreds of channels of real-time data that has to be
communicated reliably in all weather conditions from over 2
blocks away, suddenly the challenge starts to look more like a
nightmare!
"We recognized early on that programming for the Chevy Icon was
going to be difficult. We would either have to lock the console
operator in a closet at One Times Square with no sightline to
what they were programming and then establish communications
from the designer to the programmer, which of course would raise
security concerns and access limitations to the building.
The design team at Fisher Theatrical designed the layout of the
fixtures and made recommendations to purchase Martin
Architectural Units. They installed an ETC Sensor rack, then
Kacey Fisher, President and Owner of Fisher Theatrical, did the
pre-programming of the ETC Congo Console and downloaded the
looks to an Alcorn McBride Show Control Unit. To send the
signal, they recommended W-DMX by Wireless Solution. They tested
the W-DMX in their parking lot ahead of time, which spanned the
distance they were going to have to cover in New York to be sure
it would work. An IP65 rated W-DMX receiver and directional
antenna system were installed to complete the setup.
Onsite programming was provided by Moore, who set up the console
and did the initial DMX testing and programming and also made
sure the W-DMX was working properly. Programming was done from
the Marriott Marquis with a line of sight hotel room on the 42nd
floor.
Fixtures used to light the billboard include 18 Articulight
Spectacolour 600 LED RGB
http://www.articulight.com/led/SPECTACOLOURPC_files/index.html,
6 Articulight Spectacolour 1200 LED RGB
http://www.articulight.com/led/SPECTACOLOURPC_files/index.html,
5 Articulight Spectacolour 1800 LED RGB
http://www.articulight.com/led/SPECTACOLOURPC_files/index.html,
6 Martin Architectural Exterior 600 Projectors, 48 Permlight
ENBS LED Floods, 6 Articulight Aqua HP LED RGB
http://www.articulight.com/led/LEDAQUAHP_files/index.html,
6 Articulight UV Pars, 1 Articulight Quazar Strobe, and 3 Rope
Lights.
Moore continues, "As soon as we had the
directional antenna properly aimed toward the other end, the two
ends immediately synced up and we had rock solid DMX. We put a
Lil' DMXter DMX analyzer on the receiving end and ran the link
through its paces. Everything was totally rock solid. No dropped
frames of DMX, very low jitter. No errors. It was as good or
better than a hardwired run of cable.
"For the rest of our weeks of programming in New York we worked
through all of the issues inherent in trying to get a complex
rig of color-changing LED and conventional fixtures 26 stories
high in the air on the side of a building all communicating and
addressed correctly, but throughout our time there we never did
run into an issue of getting DMX from our Congo in the hotel on
the 42nd floor down to the 26th floor billboard over 2 blocks
away."
The Chevy sign can currently been seen
prominently displayed on the junction of Broadway and 7th Avenue
in New York City. |
