Christie 360 Experiential Studios, a digital strategy and content division of Christie, has partnered with the iconic TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA on a permanent multimedia production using advanced projection technologies.
Designed by the Christie 360 team to enhance the guest experience, the forecourt show was launched before an audience of Hollywood luminaries, local dignitaries, and media. Visuals of “forecourt of stars” handprints, Chinese dragons, and actual movie clips from memorable films that premiered at the Chinese Theatre emerged onto the theatre’s front entrance, which was digitally transformed into an architectural screen.
“TCL Chinese Theatre has always been a leader in delivering innovation in the cinema experience and we’ve upped the ante with this remarkable addition,” said Alwyn Hight Kushner, president and COO, TCL Chinese Theatres. “Over the next few years, our plan is to continue our integration of experiential media as a complement to our core business. The Chinese Theatre is an important landmark in Hollywood and it is crucial to our team that our space stays relevant and continues to be a must-attend for our guests. Christie 360 has shown us a total commitment to our objectives and we are very pleased with the results.”
Added Denys Lavigne, vice president, Christie 360, “The Chinese Theatre is such a fascinating environment. When you combine its rich Hollywood heritage, unique architectural signature, and the visionary approach of the management team, you allow for so much opportunity to connect and share with the audience”
The central motif of the show projected onto the Chinese Theatre façade is a Chinese pagoda enclosing a dragon in relief. Dramatic lighting highlights the dragon, and animated elements bring it to life on the adjacent walls. The motif is not just physically central but thematically as well, since its lush Chinese-inspired architectural detailing and interior design, a throwback to the showy extravagance of Tinsel Town’s Golden Age, has contributed to making the Chinese Theatre an enduring Hollywood icon.
The flipping, cascading tiles in the midst of the projection mapping show are realistic representations of the actual hand- and footprint tiles in the Chinese Theatre forecourt. Almost a century of stars leaving their marks in the wet cement of the forecourt has gone a long way in making the Chinese Theatre the institution it is. Imparting an illusion of depth to the façade, the rotating, cascading and flipping effects are a proven bit of the visual language of projection mapping.
The equipment used consists of high-brightness projectors (mainly Christie Boxer 3DLP projectors), the Christie Pandoras Box media server, and Christie Twist auto-alignment tools to blend the visuals.
