Optoma
| Industry Visitor attraction |
| Region Middlesbrough, UK |
|
Type of Solution Three Optoma ProScene X501 projectors with BlackBox 120 HD Media Players |
|
Installation Company Blackbox-av and Indigo Multimedia |
| www.blackboxav.co.uk |
| Indigo is an award winning digital agency offering solutions in web design and development, mobile apps, video production and e-marketing. Blackbox-av specialises in audio visual interpretation solutions and products for the museum, heritage, attractions and retail industries. |
High brightness, excellent connectivity and amazing colours ensure the Optoma X501 installation projector is the perfect choice for any large venue or conference room.
X501
“We chose the Optoma X501 because of its very bright projected light. The visitor centre has natural light from a glass door, and the X501 is able to project bright, colourful images even when the sun is shining through.”
Annetta Park, Project Manager from Blackbox-av
“The fascination the projector displays elicit is very pleasing to see. Visitors tend to be drawn towards the projector wall as soon as they enter the room. Many comments have been overheard about how lovely it is to see the old footage of the town, and be able to reminisce.”
Andrew Graney, Digital Director at Indigo Multimedia
AV showstopper at Tees Transporter Bridge Visitor Centre
Challenge:
Indigo Multimedia was appointed to enliven and animate the Tees Transporter Bridge Visitor Centre. – a light, simple, unmanned space that is also used for community functions.
Solution:
Blackbox-av installed three Optoma X501 projectors and BlackBox 120 HD Media Players with auto-start looping presentations, amplifier, speakers and three interactive touch screens to show the innovation and vision it took to build the Tees Transporter Bridge.
Results:
Andrew Graney from Indigo Multimedia said: “We designed the experience to be both immersive and interactive, and the projector displays really do transport the audience back in time in a way that static media can’t do.”
The Challenge
Middlesbrough Council commissioned Indigo Multimedia to design and develop a completely new visitor experience at the Tees Transporter Bridge.
Tees Transporter Bridge is Teesside's most iconic landmark and the longest transporter bridge in the world. Affectionately referred to by locals as 'The Tranny’, Tees Transporter Bridge connects Middlesbrough, on the south bank, to Port Clarence, on the north bank. Now a Grade II listed building, it opened in 1911 and carries a travelling car, or 'gondola', suspended from the bridge, across the river in 90 seconds. The gondola can carry 200 people, nine cars (or six cars and one minibus). The Tees Transporter is a total of 851 feet (259.3 metres) in length which makes it one of the longest Transporter Bridges in the world.
The brief for Indigo Multimedia was to enliven and animate Tees Transporter Bridge Visitor Centre. This is a very simple space, generally unmanned by staff and just 9m by 5m. It is bright and used for a variety of functions by the community in Middlesbrough, as well as visitors to the bridge.
The Solution
Andrew Graney, Digital Director at Indigo Multimedia said: “A wall showing projected images of the bridge was one of our first ideas. We considered installing screens to show the media content, but felt that projectors would create a much more atmospheric mood. The projected images would be much larger and more impactful than screens, and the dramatic lighting would really contribute to the key message we wanted visitors to leave with which was a sense of awe at the unique and iconic bridge.”
Blackbox-av was appointed to install three Optoma ProScene X501 projectors, each with BlackBox 120 HD Media Players with auto-start looping presentations. One of the projectors also has a BlackBox sound amplifier with two speakers.
Annetta Park, Project Manager from Blackbox-av, said: “We chose the Optoma X501 because of its very bright projected light. The visitor centre has natural light from a glass door, and the X501 is able to project bright, colourful images even when the sun is shining through.”
This XGA projector boasts a brightness of 4,500 ANSI lumens and provides real flexibility in installation with its 1.6x zoom. All Optoma projectors use DLP technology, pioneered by Texas Instruments. This uses millions of mirrors to produce high quality imagery which does not suffer colour degradation over time, as sometimes experienced in other projector technologies. The dust-sealed, filter free design prevents dust and dirt from affecting the system ensuring optimal image quality with minimal maintenance. With full support for Crestron, Extron, AMX, PJ-Link and Telnet LAN commands, the projector can be controlled and monitored remotely over a LAN.
In contrast to the vintage feel of the projector displays, Blackbox-av also installed three interactive touch screens on site. These bring a high tech element to the visitor experience, and show the innovation and vision it took to build the Tees Transporter Bridge.
Andrew said: “It must have been quite marvellous to see such a thing as a mechanical bridge in 1911, and we wanted visitors to feel the legacy of technological innovation, quite literally, at their fingertips!
“The media we wanted to show were film and photographs of the Tees Transporter Bridge from the last 100 years since it opened. We worked closely with the North East Film Archive, which was brilliant at sourcing and editing the films for us. We were amazed and delighted to find a film of the opening ceremony in October 1911. It is only three minutes long but it is a real show-stopper. It is always great when a visitor spots the Chaplin-esque moment captured on the film when a spectator falls into the river and has to be rescued by the local bobby!
“The other films are also vintage (one from the 60s and one from the early 80s), and showing them using a projector seems so much more appropriate from an interpretation point of view, than using a flatscreen panel.”
The Results
Andrew Graney, Digital Director at Indigo Multimedia said: “The projector wall looks even better than we hoped it would. The feeling of movement and life it gives to the exhibition room is a vital part of what we wanted to achieve through the visitor experience design.
“The Tees Transporter Bridge Visitor Experience project has been a fantastic challenge for Indigo Multimedia, as it has required input from every facet of our team and our skills. The project has been genuinely consultative. We have brought audience engagement to the fore, working closely with Middlesbrough Council, the bridge staff, and the local community to develop the storylines and interpretative strategy.
“We designed the experience to be both immersive and interactive, and the projector displays really do transport the audience back in time in a way that static media can’t do.”
The other exhibition elements include printed graphic panels, touch screen interactives, a mobile heritage trail app with augmented reality, a hard-hat audio tour and a responsive website.
Andrew added: “The fascination the projector displays elicit is very pleasing to see. Visitors tend to be drawn towards the projector wall as soon as they enter the room. Many comments have been overheard about how lovely it is to see the old footage of the town, and be able to reminisce.”
The Tees Transporter Bridge Visitor Experience was unveiled by Middlesbrough-born artist Mackenzie Thorpe on 19 June. The new developments, supported by Heritage Lottery Fund, include a new gondola and glass viewing lift, the 21st Century visitor resources and the construction of a Winding House Viewing Area.