Point a reasonably powered telescope at the planet Mars and you will see
the so called canals beloved of science fiction writers. Turn that scope around
to view Earth from Mars and a new canal is clearly visible at the heart of
Dubai; and this one is no fiction (see DubaiSat-2 link below). Cutting an
elegant swathe through the city, the new Dubai Canal opened with a spectacular
ceremony hosted by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice
President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai. When it came to
providing the ultimate in fanfare, drama, and excitement, creative agency and
show producers Prodea Group, engaged
the services of Protec, the Middle
East’s largest and best known specialist event technology provider.
“With such a prestigious opening spectacular nothing can be left to
chance,” said Paul Flint, Head of
Production International Team for Prodea. “The
delivery of this event by Protec did exactly that; their attention to detail
was superb.”
With over three kilometres of canal side to cover, the provision of
equipment was huge, as Protec’s project
manager for this event Simon Travis
explained. “Prodea is an Italian company, they brought a clear creative vision
for the event. The brief they gave us was to support their vision; to create
something spectacular with lighting, audio and video, with an element of
automation for the aerial artists on the main stage. As such the project
engaged almost all the skillsets within Protec. With such a large waterfront to
cover we broke the job down into manageable chunks for all departments;
Pre-function VIP arrival area; Inside of the VIP tent; Main Stage presentation;
The Canal itself; and the Legacy Zone.”
“Lighting was arguably the most
stretched department, over three kilometres of canal bank each side takes a
huge commitment of resources. Over 430
Claypaky lights have been used: Alpha Spot 700 were complimented by large
numbers of Sharpy, Super Sharpy, K10 and
K20 B-EYE’s, Scenius, Mythos. Arguably the most artful lighting was at the
waterfall across the full 120 metre width of the canal, cascading from the
Sheikh Zayed bridge. Here we used the Clay
Paky Scenius, taking full advantage of the shutter function to minimise
spill off the water to spectacular effect. MA Dot2 and two full-size MA2 were
used at main locations, controlling an armada of lighting largely, drawn from
the Clay Paky range.”
“Video experienced the most taxing times, this was a big projection show
running content provided by Prodea who also brought their own media servers.
There were two main elements, a dozen Barco HDF 30Ks were deployed for the main
stage, plus another eight mounted to four towers for the water screens along
the canal. The water screens proved problematic in that coastal winds made them
unstable, backward spray rendering the projected images indistinct. Chris
Wimbush, our head of video, had his team resolve the problem by installing
gauze grids to stabilise the water-screens. But this introduces another
problem; water screens are a back-projection surface, but gauze based water screens
perform best with front projection, so the four sets of towers and their
respective projectors, had to be re-positioned to the opposite side.
Flint was delighted, “Our client, the Dubai Roads and Transport
Authority, wanted an event that reflected the importance of this massive
engineering project and Protec helped us achieve that with style and taste, and
with minimum of fuss. Linking as it does, Deira and Bur Dubai through the
extended waterway of Dubai Creek, Business Bay and Dubai Water Canal, we are
sure the new canal will benefit the Dubai community for many years to come.”
